The Limits of Friendship
Memory Brushes the Same Years, Silently Sharing the Same Fears
‘Old Friends’, Simon & Garfunkel, 1968
38-year old Milena Devalle of Jamaica Plain, a passenger in a vehicle, was killed when a 40 foot section of a concrete ceiling tile in the I-90 tunnel that connects to the Ted Williams tunnel to Logan fell on a vehicle, crushing it. The driver of the car, 46-year old Angel Devalle, managed to crawl out of the car and was not seriously hurt. The incident happened around 11:15 Monday night, and was immediately observed by horrified drivers travelling to the airport from the city and the Mass Turnpike.
So – how many Legislators are now scurrying away from Outside Section 65 in this year’s Budget, their attempt in the Conference budget to subvert Mitt Romney’s patient attempts to get rid of The Chairman, Matt Amorello, in light of the tunnel collapse fiasco? How many regret not having voted for Outside Section 157 in the 2005 budget which would have merged the Turnpike Authority - and the Big Dig- with MassHighway, similar to what was done with the MDC and the State Park system, which was shot down in the legislature? Ah, well, no friend is that good, and the art of politics is knowing when to get off the stage. Welcome, Beth Lindstrom!
In the meantime, the Chairman is spinning like a mad Sufi dervish with his turban slid down over one eye and his saber badly bent. The tunnel section? Aha! They it was built in 1996! No, 1995! Kerasiotes’ watch, not mine! No, that T-bar construction is obsolete, and we didn’t use it in the beautiful Tip O’Neill tunnel! Unitary construction, newer technology, was used there! Safe as houses! Of course, maybe there are a few joins, and few hundred feet out of the miles of Tunnel in the Big Dig, but we can locate those bad joins! Any minute now! Never mind why we keep declaring the job done, and don’t bother going back! Keep your grubby paws off that curtain! Why, I’m The Chairman! I’m the recipient of the first annual John Joseph Moakley Award for Public Service from the Engineering Center of Boston, the Artery Business Committee's Distinguished Leadership Award and the Frank Sargent Clean Harbor Award! Did you know I was once in the Senate?
This whole incident is a grisly Christmas Morning for the Christy Mihoscampaign. For years, Mihos has said that while he drives in the tunnels, he would not allow his wife or daughters to drive in them. Porcupine always looked askance at this assertion by Mihos, and confesses he merrily drove through the tunnels daily, even after the cement scandal broke and even when they did mysteriously leak. Like many others, Porcupine will think twice and thrice before doing so again.
‘Old Friends’, Simon & Garfunkel, 1968
38-year old Milena Devalle of Jamaica Plain, a passenger in a vehicle, was killed when a 40 foot section of a concrete ceiling tile in the I-90 tunnel that connects to the Ted Williams tunnel to Logan fell on a vehicle, crushing it. The driver of the car, 46-year old Angel Devalle, managed to crawl out of the car and was not seriously hurt. The incident happened around 11:15 Monday night, and was immediately observed by horrified drivers travelling to the airport from the city and the Mass Turnpike.
So – how many Legislators are now scurrying away from Outside Section 65 in this year’s Budget, their attempt in the Conference budget to subvert Mitt Romney’s patient attempts to get rid of The Chairman, Matt Amorello, in light of the tunnel collapse fiasco? How many regret not having voted for Outside Section 157 in the 2005 budget which would have merged the Turnpike Authority - and the Big Dig- with MassHighway, similar to what was done with the MDC and the State Park system, which was shot down in the legislature? Ah, well, no friend is that good, and the art of politics is knowing when to get off the stage. Welcome, Beth Lindstrom!
In the meantime, the Chairman is spinning like a mad Sufi dervish with his turban slid down over one eye and his saber badly bent. The tunnel section? Aha! They it was built in 1996! No, 1995! Kerasiotes’ watch, not mine! No, that T-bar construction is obsolete, and we didn’t use it in the beautiful Tip O’Neill tunnel! Unitary construction, newer technology, was used there! Safe as houses! Of course, maybe there are a few joins, and few hundred feet out of the miles of Tunnel in the Big Dig, but we can locate those bad joins! Any minute now! Never mind why we keep declaring the job done, and don’t bother going back! Keep your grubby paws off that curtain! Why, I’m The Chairman! I’m the recipient of the first annual John Joseph Moakley Award for Public Service from the Engineering Center of Boston, the Artery Business Committee's Distinguished Leadership Award and the Frank Sargent Clean Harbor Award! Did you know I was once in the Senate?
This whole incident is a grisly Christmas Morning for the Christy Mihoscampaign. For years, Mihos has said that while he drives in the tunnels, he would not allow his wife or daughters to drive in them. Porcupine always looked askance at this assertion by Mihos, and confesses he merrily drove through the tunnels daily, even after the cement scandal broke and even when they did mysteriously leak. Like many others, Porcupine will think twice and thrice before doing so again.
posted by Peter Porcupine at 1:32 PM
1 Comments:
It is a terrible tragedy, but I hope it will give our governor the opportunity to bring to light the corruption that has plagued our city for years.
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