The Washington Post: "Entitled, Fancy Pants" Metro Enablers

This is about The Washington Post. I think it's germane to this blog because I see the Post as complicit in Metro's decline. From what I can tell, they've forfeited their watchdog role and abdicated their responsibility to cover what should be a franchise beat for them.

They did break the big credit card fraud story, right?

And yesterday, the Post regurgitated a blog post from January 2011 about selling naming rights for station. Back then there was at least a news peg!

Maybe it's all a coincidence.

Anyway, I'll let someone familiar with the Post's local coverage tell you what's really going on over at the fourth estate:

The Washington Post local section has 80 reporters, yet if you look at who is aggressively turning over rocks in the D.C. region it's people like you, the City Paper, the Washington Times and even the Examiner, all of whom have only a fraction of the people.

If you FOIA the FOIA logs of any agency, those are the organizations that pop up. There is simply not a culture of the journalist as the aggressive watchdog in The Washington Post local.

It is an entitled, fancy-pants attitude where you're at the Post, so you are the esteemed arbiter of the D.C. region, and therefore aren't playing the almost antagonistic, adversarial role.

People also leak things to the Post because it has the largest audience, which makes them lazy, so even if they do something that seems like watchdogging, it's usually actually spoon-fed.

In fact, the Post's editorial board has tacitly acknowledged the local staff's absolute rejection of an investigative outlook, and made the unusual step of filling the gap.

Look at the Jim Graham (including Metro redevelopment) stuff they've been doing, the DC campaign finance, DYRS stuff, and Colby King and Joanne Armeo stuff.

They're straight-up doing the original reporting that 80 reporters formerly under the leadership of XXXXXXX, a copy editor and sports nut who had never worked in daily hard news, and now XXXXXXXX, who just moved here, has absolutely no grasp of the region, and won't.

Specifically on the transportation team, which is about five people, these problems are much worse.

The boss, XXXXXXXX, literally was lining up boxes for the TV guide pages in Miami when he was hired to do similar production work collating the magazine. He demonstrated intense work ethic and attention to detail in that kind of work--lining up text in boxes, putting graphics next to them and getting them to the printer on time--to a degree that he eventually transferred into an assigning editor's job, but based on his background, he is far more of a "manager" than an "editor."

There is no culture of coming up through the hard-scrabble authority-challenging reporter ranks.

The directive, then, is to cover Metro the same way a layout person works slot or the copy desk: Be punctual, complete, exhaustive, churn copy. Write up EVERY little nugget pertaining to Metro, even itemizing the times and location of every public input meeting in prime page inches.

You're the snooty Post, so naturally you're going to talk to the general manager, not the lowly workers in various departments who could be cultivated as sources.

If you pick up the B section of the paper, you will see that there are actually a disproportionate number of transportation stories. On any given day the section front might include a story about the ICC, the Purple Line, Dr Gridlock, and a story about Metro. What this is actually indicative of is a lack of news judgment.

XXXXXXXXX is like a robot conveying all this stuff, pretty aggressively, and without thought to whether some people even care about the day-to-day stuff.

Online, meanwhile, the Dr Gridlock blog is updated many times a day with the most fast-breaking, fleeting service disruptions, even though there are better mechanisms than the major print daily for keeping tabs on that kind of minutiae for the people that want it.

If there's something negative about Metro in the Post, it's usually only because board members enumerated some complaints at a public meeting, and they wrote down the remarks of those top officials.

Of course, when you're getting immense pressure from someone widely known as the least-friendly editor in the newsroom to do this day in, day out, you are not, as you've written, going to risk pissing off Dan Stessel, because regurgitating mindlessly whatever he tells you is 99 percent of the job, and there is no one in charge giving you the idea that maybe you should be pushing back.

XXXXXX is known as the worst [person] at the Post to work for, so people don't want to volunteer for the job, even though covering a major transit system is on its face more appealing than being out in Loudoun County or something. Reporters will try to get moved elsewhere, and the ensuing vacancy will not be volunteered for by anyone. The person who winds up there is not coming into the beat, therefore, wide-eyed with anticipation and interested in the subject.

Sounds like a great place to work! Heck of a job Postie.

Other items:
Speak out against sexual harassment on Metro
Oops! More waste and incompetence (PDF/WMATA)

Taborn on the Ropes?

The two Metro employees who pleaded guilty to stealing nearly a half million in fare revenue from Metro may not be the last heads to roll.

Rumors are swirling at the transit agency that Metro Transit Police Chief Michael Taborn (the guy you hear constantly blasting over the loudspeakers in the Metro stations) is about to be forced out.

Several sources close to the police force say the theft incident could have been the last straw for Taborn.

Back in January, several sources alleged that Taborn's reduction of police officers involved in the escorting of Metro's revenue was a factor in the theft.

Said one source:

Consider that for 30 years, when the system was much more cash heavy, they protected revenue the same way and nobody stole any real money. He comes in and immediately “fixes” a system that was not broken (unlike most things at Metro) and then we have a big inside job theft. And why do they fix things that aren’t broken, but can’t fix things that are broken?

In January of last year, Metro cops started a petition seeking Taborn's removal.

Taborn was also criticized by fellow officers for playing fast and loose with the facts about increasing the number of police on patrol in the system.

Another major factor, sources say, is a recent, scathing report by the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP). The report, one source said, described the MTPD as "stuck in the stone age, top heavy and unstable because too many supervisors are rotated too many times."

Rumor is Sarles was not pleased.

Several sources said Sarles may be considering some of his buddies from New Jersey Transit, where he used to work, to fill the gap.

Sarles has cut his top cop before. Back in New Jersey he fired NJ Transit police chief Joseph Bober, amid complaints of sexual discrimination.

Other items:
Funny cartoon (Examiner)

Money and Time Well Spent?

This was posted on Metroforward's Facebook page.

I'm all for a little seasonal decor, but maintenance people were used to do this?

Don't they have some higher priority things to maintain?

Here are some more shots:




Other items:
Told ya. (How does a newspaper survive that's two weeks late with the story?)

Oh, Metro!

New "Rush Plus" Map

Click for larger

From an email Sarles sent to employees:

As many of you prepare to roll out our Rush Plus rail enhancements, I want to make sure everyone begins to learn about the coming service improvements.

Rush Plus, the new rush hour service that begins June 18, is designed to ease crowding and improve the commuting experience for Metrorail riders on the Orange, Blue, Green and Yellow lines. By providing additional trains every rush hour, Rush Plus adds more seats for customers and more transfer-free rides. Additionally, Orange and Yellow Line trains will be serving more destinations.

Employees will be receiving more detailed information beginning next month that will enable you to help customers better navigate through the system. To assist in clearly communicating the changes, we have redesigned the iconic Metro system map, which will be shared with employees next week before its public release.

High Speed Metro

Holy smokes!

It takes only 10 minutes to get from East Falls Church to Cheverly?

At least that's what this chart, which hangs on the station manager's kiosk at East Falls Church, says.

Unfortunately, as with so much of what Metro says, it's not true. It's a typo.

But worse than that, a source says the signs were riddled with typos when they were wheeled out after the last fare hike. According to the source, Metro has replaced the signs all over the system "two or three times," trying to get all the errors fixed.

Alas, after all that money and manpower, mistakes remain.

Wonder if they'll be as careless with the next round of hikes, which will no doubt require printing a whole new batch(es).

If Metro is this inept with the easy stuff, how are they are with the difficult stuff?

Metro Track Work Weekend Open Thread

What are you seeing out there during a busy weekend in which Metro is doing work on all lines and there are a lot of bus detours?

Share the good, the bad and the ugly.

Lies or Incompetence?

Photo via @FixWMATA

On Wednesday night, there were some unexplained Red Line delays. Metro, after catching some heat on Twitter, finally coughed up the above tweet as an explanation.

Turns out it was only partially true.

According to this article in the Examiner:

A computer outage delayed some riders on the Red Line Wednesday night, leaving two trains stuck for more than 20 minutes.

I got lots of emails from people who said the delays were up to an hour. Several more sent pics of trains so packed you'd think it was rush hour.

"Train movement" was definitely affected, and people screamed "Metro lied!"

There could be two explanations for tweet.

One is that ^BA flat out lied.

The other is that the "social media trailblazers" were desperately fumbling to get some information out there, and they were lied to by another department, probably in CYA mode, that trains were not delayed.

Sadly, both seem plausible.

Throughout my three-plus years of blogging about Metro, I oscillate between the notion that Metro is run by evil bastards, and/or it's run by stunningly incompetent boobs.

Either way, we're screwed, and Metro's credibility sinks even lower, and the system becomes nearly unusable on the weekends and now, increasingly, on weeknights.

What do you think?

Dupont Project Hits Snag

It has been about six weeks since Metro shut down the south entrance at Dupont Circle for escalator replacement.

How's the project coming along?

Not so well, says a Metro source.

According to them, "nothing is being done; they've taken the metal panels off the sides of the escalators, and that's it."

Why?

Apparently, the contractor needs to lift out the three-part escalator truss (skeleton) with a crane. But to do that, they need to remove the canopy.

Metro won't let them do that.

So now, the contractor has come up with a solution, probably a specially designed crane, to work around the canopy.

"They're stopped while they make this crane," said the source. "How much is this costing Metro? Metro has all those transit police, all those other people there standing around. I guess the contractor is like 'we'll get to it when we can.'"

You'd think something like this would have been addressed during the bidding process.

Who could take 8.5 months to replace some escalators?

Metro! That's who!

Other items:
WMATA to bidders: don’t innovate with real-time signs (Raschke on Transport)
Overtime thief convicted (WMATA)
Dan Stessel locks down his Twitter account

It Takes More than an Email Address

Many Unsuck readers emailed the Metro Board of Directors expressing their concerns about Metro chief spokesman Dan Stessel's disgusting remarks about sexual harassment.

Here's the gist of the canned response from Lynn Bowersox Metro's Managing Director
Office of Public Relations (Danny's boss):

In referencing a statement by Metro Chief Spokesperson Dan Stessel in response to media inquiries, the blog presents only a portion of Mr. Stessel's actual statement. The omitted comment, which Mr. Stessel offered in response to a question about reports of sexual harassment in the Metro system, was, "One report is one too many." We believe that Mr. Stessel's original statement to the media, when taken in its full context as reported by most of the media, reflects a balanced and thoughtful response.

Really? So he's not going to apologize, and he's getting praised by his boss?

How can Metro say--with a straight face--that it takes sexual harassment seriously when the public face of Metro trivializes it on TV in front of an entire city?

I've asked nearly everyone I know if there's any neutral way to take "one person's harassment is another person's flirting," and everyone's jaw drops. "He really said that?" most ask in disbelief. "Was he fired?" ask many more. (They don't live here.)

A more interesting and better Metro reply did come to reader Allie, who you may remember.

Bowersox said:

Thanks again for sharing your personal experience with us, and we're sorry that you were harassed in the Metro system.

She offered Allie the chance to speak with a deputy chief of police, and Allie reports that the deputy chief did follow up with her about some of the elements of Metro’s partnership with the Collective Action for Safe Spaces. More on that below.

With respect to Dan Stessel’s comment that “It really isn't a big issue. There are a minuscule number of incidents of actual crime," Allie said:

I personally witnessed the man who assaulted me make five assaults. Two on me, two on other women on the train the second time I encountered him, and one in front of the investigator. Five assaults--that we know of for sure--and only one of those resulted in an arrest.

And are we really naive enough to believe that those are the only times that man has ever assaulted women in the Metro? C'mon.

This is not a one-off kind of crime. The men who do this are habitual.

I bet that with that kind of track record, there are at *least* a hundred women with my same story.

So Mr. Stessel should take that number if arrests for misdemeanors of a sexual nature, and multiply that number by at least five, or by a hundred. Add in numbers for all those people who are not reported or arrested, and I think that anyone, even Mr. Stessel, would be alarmed at the rate of these crimes.

There is no context in which “one person’s flirting is another person’s harassment” is acceptable. And even the language about “extended leering” mentioned on the web form makes me wonder about the culture at Metro. Does that mean that regular leering is acceptable?

And the plot thickens. Allie wrote the following:

I saw [the perp] again at the L'Enfant platform. I tried calling Metro Transit Police to report him, and the woman just kept saying she couldn't hear me--the signal was bad, and eventually hung up on me. I called Officer Lang, but unfortunately he was off duty that day. So he just pulled his same m.o. and jumped on a crowded car behind a woman at the last minute. Sickening. Clearly whatever "rehabilitation" he's receiving isn't working.

And then Allie directed me to this post, which she thinks is about her assailant who may be up to his old tricks.

Even though it is discouraging to know that the man who assaulted her is still on the prowl, Allie is positive about Metro’s partnership with CASS, saying that she thinks the web form and the new e-mail address are a good start.

I think that the saving grace here is that they're partnering with CASS. Unfortunately, I know from experience how difficult it is to make community partnerships work, and I think that the onus will be on CASS to follow up, follow up, follow up.

Here are some questions that I have about the partnership:

1) Once someone submits a form, where does it go? Who, specifically, is responsible for checking that in-box? Can complainants follow up? Will they be assigned a case number or anything that they can refer to in subsequent communications?
2) Will the information be made available to the general public, and how and when? Not identifying details, but things like how many reports were made, in which stations, have any patterns been established, etc., preferably with some thoughtful analysis of what the statistics mean.
3) What goals have they set for themselves out of this partnership, aside from setting up a form?
4) How are they going to get this information into the hands of people who need it? Will it be just a Tweet, or will there be a concerted effort to put (and keep) the information out there? Is it just a form, or is it posters in the trains and the stations, announcements in the stations, PSAs on local media, etc.?
5) What is CASS's role in this? For community partnerships to work, roles need to be clearly defined and each group has to take responsibility and have some authority in the outcome. This one might be a little dicey- I can't see WMATA giving CASS any say-so beyond nominal suggestions, but maybe I'm wrong.
6) What metrics are they using to measure success? Have they set a date/time to check in to see if they are hitting their marks? How are they planning to evaluate these actions? If so, when? And will the public be informed?
7) Is WMATA prepared to be flexible? If they aren't hitting their success metrics, are they willing to back off what they're doing and try again with something different? Or will they throw up their hands and say, "Oh well, we tried. It's the riders' fault for not getting us the information we need."?
8) Is CASS prepared to be persistent in holding WMATA accountable? And how do they plan to hold WMATA accountable?

The Transit Police is up against a lot. In the blink of an eye, their case can cross state and county lines, and they've got to follow a whole new set of procedures, a whole new set of regulations, etc.

People move so quickly on and off those trains- they can be gone in an instant.

The cell coverage is spotty, so even if someone wants to call, sometimes they can't.

Add into that all the usual crime issues, and I think they've got a lot on their plate.

If CASS isn't really on top of them, building the relationship and continually checking in, it could easily get back-burnered. Especially if results aren't seen within the first month, which really isn't a realistic hope for a brand new partnership. These things take time.

Most people don't realize that it takes time for these things to get traction. Every "boots on the ground" person that I've dealt with on the Transit Police really cares about keeping people safe. I think it just gets more warped and twisted the higher up you go.

It would be interesting if you picked a date six months from now to check in and see how the partnership is going. That would be what, September? Enough time for the initial furor to die away and to get a good picture of what's really happening.

Other items:
This is an annual salary story, but good to be reminded (WaPo)