the gift that just keeps on giving

Montgomery Co. approves millions more for Silver Spring Transit Center fight

http://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2017/06/14400706/

congratulations to sucker taxpayers. 

(that's ALL of us--federal, state and local)

Déjà vu all over again--Metro and the Silver Spring Transit Center

The stories are similar; the endings are the same: 

• a "monumental debacle" public works project that is 5 years over schedule, tens of millions over budget and is flawed by design, construction and inspection "errors and omissions"
• a once state-of-the-art subway system, only 40 years old (a baby as far as subway systems go), plagued by serious safety, operations and maintenance problems, ruined by public and private incompetence in the form of mismanagement, neglect and political malfeasance

Who pays for these disasters?

We taxpayers do--all of us. No one goes to jail. No one loses their job. 

Once again, we're left holding the bag.

a juror's comment on the Silver Spring Transit Center trial

Juror 97 •
As a Juror on the trial, don't believe what you read. Mismanagement and bad decisions by county are main factor to issues. The county would have lost.

PEretired
thanks for your juror's perspective. from an engineer's perspective, without the benefit of witnessing the trial, I see all parties at fault. KCE's report made that pretty clear to me (even though IMHO KCE went easy on the county's mismanagement). However, after the cracks became public, all the way to the trial, all we got from the media was the county's perspective. Insurance companies and their lawyers have a big impact on how these issues are settled. IMHO the settlement is about money, not who is to blame.

County Agrees To Settle Silver Spring Transit Center Lawsuit - Bethesda Beat - Bethesda, MD

"You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time."  
Abraham Lincoln 

can secret settlements save fubar metro?

"Metro, which now operates the center after the county turned it over to the transit agency, was originally part of the case, but settled just before the trial, according to 'The Daily Record'." Really??? Where are all of the reporters who were reporting every statement that David Dise made for years, after the cracks became public, but before the SSTC was opened to the public? Isn't WMATA settling the case news? how much was the settlement? who paid whom? what are the details? are there conditions? the public has a right to know.
Trial Begins in Silver Spring Transit Center Lawsuit - Bethesda Beat - Bethesda, MD
that's one.  

"Settlement equals cash. Since we all know that cash does not grow on trees, it has to come from somewhere: That’s were your purse comes in. Every year, you pay DC taxes. Every year, the DC government provides WMATA a subsidy derived from DC tax dollars.

Call me crazy, but if DC tax dollars are being used to settle a lawsuit then I think we, as DC tax payers, should have a right to know how our money is being spent."

K. Denise Rucker Krepp is the ANC 6B10 commissioner.

The Hill is Home | WMATA Settlements and Your Tax Dollars | The Hill is Home 

that's two.