Monday morning the traffic light on the corner to my left was not working. The entire intersection was F.U.B.A.R There was a cop directing traffic and a couple of guys and a van working on the box that controls the traffic light. I moved on with life.
But on Tuesday the light on the other corner was broken. The van looked familiar. So I asked the dudes what was broken. They said nothing broke, just an upgrade.
An Upgrade, at 8:30 in the morning. Why did traffic have to be backed up for blocks because they had to do this at 8:30? Because they did not care. Because they were from New Jersey. Not that I have a problem with New Jersey, but they did not work for the Dept of Transit.
Daidone Electric from Newark wasoutsourced to upgrade the traffic lights at the lowest cost. So they did it at 8:30AM. To Hell with everyone who is trying to get to work or wants to walk 3 blocks without hearing a continual barrage of horns.
Government employees might have more "red tape" involved in getting this job done, but maybe one of those pieces of tape would have told them to wait till 10:30 to shut down a busy street in Park Slope.
Sometimes privatizing is not a great idea. Very often outsourcing is not a great idea. Put 'em together and what have you got?
ReplyDeleteI have found the same problem in Canada. Traffic flow interrupted when we least expect it.