[PRCo] Re: Government Corruption (was Wheels__&__Shoes)

[Fred Schneider]

I know a hell of a lot of good government people too, Harold.  I was lucky because
most of my people were excellent.  But that didn't happen everywhere.    I remember
when our bosses told us that we were to "empower" other people ... nobody really
meant it but I took it seriously and told my people to do what they had to do ...
don't bother me with questions if they knew how to do it ... just do the job but let
me know before they walked me down the garden path to destruction.  That was when I
found out how good my people really were and how management really didn't mean to
delegate responsibility because they were now unable to micro manage.  Last year one
of the women who worked for me was so frustrated that she and her associate (happened
to be her mother in law) just decided "to do it Fred's way" ... do it, put it in the
mail, and then apologize and go on with life.  I thought it was hilarious.  It ended
months of bickering with the number one dog over change words back and forth.  And I
was still remembered in a positive way three years after I retired.  Only I don't
think I would have allowed it to go on as long as they did without reacting.  I miss
those people and I still go out with them for lunch.
But I also met some incredibly bad people who would file a union grievance before
they would lift a finger to work.  I also met those who hated work so much that they
would empty the pencil sharpeners in file cabinets just to get even with someone who
told them to earn their money.  I remember a manager whose entire day, month after
month, was filled not with productive work but responding to state representatives
who were investigating why one of their constituents was being mistreated (i.e. being
told to work instead of socialize all day).  When you are forced into that kind of a
life, getting the job done really does not matter, now does it?   I thought many
times how I would react if I were to be placed in that man's shoes, and concluded
that I would give up too.

Harold Geissenheimer wrote:

> Greetings
> No apology.  PAT had good dedicated employees at least until 1976
> when I went to Chicago.  Rail car rehab was in the hands
> of Phil Castelano, now President of a large engineering project.
> He came to PAT from CMU and did an excellent job.  He did the
> two LRT front PCC's..  PRC staff was not that great.  Transportation
> was better than maintenance.  Transportation would not even trust
> maintenace to clean their toilets.  They had T Dept janitors!.
>
> Ken Hussong did a hell of a job in reorganizing mantce.  He executed
> the mod trolleys, etc and rebuilding.
>
> Why this constant running down of dedicated people?   I just dont
> agree with this negative attitude;.
>
> Same at CTA.  They had a dedicated workforce and stgill have many.
> Look at the CTA el cars designed by Walter Keevil.
>
> Sorry Fred.  We were born to disagree.  I knew too many
> sincere PAT employees.  And the PRC staff was not really
> that great.   It took people from thebus lines to reoganize. PAT.
>
> Harold Geissenheimer
>
> Harold Geissenheimer
>
> Fred Schneider wrote:
>
> >Not quite Ken.  Remember that PAT took over in 1964 and the PCCs quit running
> >about 1998.  That's 34 years, much longer than the normal worker holds a job.
> >PAT started with excellent people.  One motorman at the end of the PCC era
> >confided that the people they had then didn't have a clue how to fix those
> >cars.   Maybe true.  Maybe they simply didn't order parts in time or didn't want
> >to order new parts at all or didn't want to pay to keep them running in the last
> >year or two.  We also need to understand that governments' purposes are not
> >necessarily to serve the public so it doesn't matter if the cars work or don't
> >work.
> >
> >Twelve years?  Interesting.  My VW Passat is half way there and I only have
> >121,000 on it now.  The dealer tells me that 200,000 is a given but 242,000?   I
> >wonder.
> >
> >Remember that the bus companies were just as starved for cash as the railways
> >before them.  I remember Charlie Nissley showing me a GM that Conestoga
> >Transportation had repainted and spruced up in the early 1970s.  It looked
> >really nice.  I asked him if it would start on compression or if he needed
> >ether.  The response was, "We don't have the money to fix engines.  We can't
> >even keep the affirmative action people happy because we don't have the money to
> >instal a toilet for women."  I think the reason Fitzjohn, Brill, Ford, Marmon,
> >and all the rest of those builders of 27, 28 and 30 foot buses went out of
> >business in the 1950s was simple ... The market place for their product existed
> >only once after World War II.  Once they sold a bus to Henry's Bus Co., that was
> >it.  If Mr. Henry needed another bus, he would find a used one from some other
> >company that went out of business.  And that would hold Mr. Henry until he too
> >went out of business.  The life of the little transit companies was essentially
> >the life of the bus.  Places like Baltimore and Pittsburgh sometimes managed two
> >orders for the same service ... we have GMC TDH 4506-0001 (immediate post war)
> >in our collection at the Baltimore Streetcar Museum ... it lasted, I think,
> >right up until Maryland MTA bought the property from NCL.  Some of those
> >1955-1958 GMCs from Philly were still running on SEPTA in the 1980s ... NCL
> >didn't have the money to buy new ones from GM.
> >
> >I expect to receive some hate mail on this one ... someone will provide more
> >detail on companies that did keep coaches longer.  And there were some.  There
> >were some like Harrisburg Railways that bought new fishbowls, ran them for a
> >year or so, and then moved them off to another ATA property that needed them
> >more ... Cincincinnati, Newport and Covington.  But they did buy GMs in the
> >1960s to replace Whites from the 1950s.
> >
> >I expect to receive some hate mail on this one ... someone will provide more
> >detail on companies that did keep coaches longer.  And there were some.
> >
> >fws
> >
> >ktjosephson at earthlink.net wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> >>----- Original Message -----
> >>From: "Fred Schneider" <fschnei at supernet.com>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>>......  When he left state service
> >>>we said he was going to write a book about his experiences in government.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>A year
> >>
> >>
> >>>later he told me he abandoned the project "because no one would believe
> >>>
> >>>
> >>what he
> >>
> >>
> >>>wrote."   The truth is, no one would believe how corrupt government can be
> >>>
> >>>
> >>unless
> >>
> >>
> >>>you are lecturing to the choir.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>So true. Many of us (public employees) know of some awful situations and
> >>incidents going on where we work. We also know if we revealed them, we would
> >>not only get framed and fired, but we would forced to leave town, looking
> >>over our shoulders. I am serious. The "whistle blower" laws are a big joke.
> >>
> >>I know of one public entity which has a former newspaper reporter employed
> >>as their public relations official. His real job is to use his connections
> >>with the local media to keep that entity's mis-steps and dirty dealings out
> >>of the press and off the T.V. news.
> >>
> >>It's funny how local politicians and their cronies in the press hammered
> >>PRCo for years when it was an "evil" (read PRIVATE) profit-seeking company.
> >>I wonder if today's politicians keep some of PAT's affairs (read total
> >>screw-ups with TAXPAYERS' money) from the media. That is, unless they have
> >>an axe to grind with an appointed transit offical and want to pressure or
> >>embarrass him/her enough to leave.
> >>
> >>As I understand it, transit buses currently purchased with federal funds
> >>(formerly local money that has been hijacked to D.C. for the "general
> >>welfare" of the masses) have to be retained for about twelve years.
> >>Therefore, instead of the dependable beasts of burden from a generation ago
> >>(and before), we wind up with buses that are worn out and not worth
> >>rebuilding after just over a decade of use. Love 'em or hate 'em, most of
> >>those old Macks, GMCs, Brills, Flxibles, etc. could last long after they
> >>were fully depriciated. And of course, struggling transit companies would
> >>give them the necessary TLC to keep them useable for many years.
> >>
> >>I don't know how long today's rail cars are designed to last, but I wonder
> >>if they will be able to haul loads as long and as reliably as Chicago's "Old
> >>Pullmans" (1907-1954) or as most PCCs did. Fred will point out that
> >>Pittsburgh had to make their remaining PCCs last as long as they did since
> >>they had nothing else to put on the rails prior to the Steel City's "light
> >>rail" era. But PAT did have knowlegeable and skilled shop crews that did
> >>their jobs well. And many of them stuck around long after the former PRCo
> >>engineering staff was given the boot.
> >>
> >>K.
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >