Thursday, December 16, 2004
The Man With the Golden Contract
What would you do for a living if your name was James Bond? Travel exotic places? Shake down resident evil-doers? Build an empire of riches? Well, according to some, James Bond is currently doing all three as head of (insert dramatic music here!) the Central Parking System of Massachusetts.
Headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee.
James Bond is alive and well and whistling country music.
But don't feel too bad for him. Because according to a report by the state Auditor's Office, Bond's Central Parking Inc., which recently absorbed Kinney and Allright Parking, took in $16 million in parking fees from MBTA commuter's over the past six years, during which time the T collected a total of $300,000. (source: Boston Globe, 12/14/2004)
This largess is the result of a contract signed in 2002 by Transportation hold-overs of Team Weld/Cellucci. Remember those orange "Privatization is a Weld Scam" stickers? Yeah, we don't either.
Part of the problem appears to be that Central Parking may have been the only bidder when the contract was let. As such, competitive market forces did not force much of a competitive market.
Team Reform, however, remains unimpressed with the problem. A spokesman yawned that "between now and 2006 the MBTA will find out what it needs to do to stimulate interest in order to foster more competition." (source: Boston Globe, 12/14/2004)
The Fraud Governor has yet to jaw-bone action on the issue.
Too bad the MBTA parking lots weren't being run by a consortium of unionized members of the higher education workforce. The Fraud Governor could simply direct his minions on the MBTA to refuse to recognize or pay the contract.
What would you do for a living if your name was James Bond? Travel exotic places? Shake down resident evil-doers? Build an empire of riches? Well, according to some, James Bond is currently doing all three as head of (insert dramatic music here!) the Central Parking System of Massachusetts.
Headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee.
James Bond is alive and well and whistling country music.
But don't feel too bad for him. Because according to a report by the state Auditor's Office, Bond's Central Parking Inc., which recently absorbed Kinney and Allright Parking, took in $16 million in parking fees from MBTA commuter's over the past six years, during which time the T collected a total of $300,000. (source: Boston Globe, 12/14/2004)
This largess is the result of a contract signed in 2002 by Transportation hold-overs of Team Weld/Cellucci. Remember those orange "Privatization is a Weld Scam" stickers? Yeah, we don't either.
Part of the problem appears to be that Central Parking may have been the only bidder when the contract was let. As such, competitive market forces did not force much of a competitive market.
Team Reform, however, remains unimpressed with the problem. A spokesman yawned that "between now and 2006 the MBTA will find out what it needs to do to stimulate interest in order to foster more competition." (source: Boston Globe, 12/14/2004)
The Fraud Governor has yet to jaw-bone action on the issue.
Too bad the MBTA parking lots weren't being run by a consortium of unionized members of the higher education workforce. The Fraud Governor could simply direct his minions on the MBTA to refuse to recognize or pay the contract.
