Friday, August 9, 2013

Monthly streetcar reports apparently don't mean "monthly"

As COAST reported here, on June 26 -- some 45 days ago -- Council voted to fund the Streetcar cost overruns to the tune of $26.5 million.  To lessen the political blowback from that decision, they also voted to require the City Administration to report monthly on the progress on the Streetcar, presumably against benchmarks for budget and timeline.  There have also been some vague promises that, after eight years of planning for the Streetcar they would finally present an operating budget.

So, we figured that monthly meant monthly, and after thirty days we asked the City to provide the first such report. 

Today we received their response.  It's about that you would expect.  They included a report prepared in 2012 and this cover e-mail:

Attached you will find the document responsive to your public records request dated July 29, 2013 which requests a copy of the monthly update or report and any figures relative to the operating budget for the Streetcar.  Please note that the date of this information is October 2012 and the operating plan is being adjusted by SORTA.
 I believe that this completes the City’s response to your public records request at this time.  If you have any questions, or you believe that there is a document missing, please feel free to contact me.
 Thank you,
So, it sounds to us like monthly does not mean monthly and they can get away with proceeding with this project without any public accountability.  They also seem to expect that, even in an election season, no news outlet will hold them accountable for their serial lies. 

Business as usual. 

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