The report says that the authority is "doing an acceptable job." It says: "It is our impression that the current administration is attempting to operate in a business-like, apolitical fashion that is reflective of good government."
Your impression? What are you, artists or auditors?
DRPA is a longtime, bistate patronage bin that controls PATCO and bridges to Jersey and is mired in a mess that includes calls for investigations and reforms.
Its $180,000-a-year (plus a $9,000 car allowance) public-safety director, Michael Joyce, is gone, caught giving a free E-ZPass to his daughter.
Its managers make six-figures plus huge car allowances plus free E-ZPass, while bridge tolls increase: $2 in 2000; $4 today; $5 next year.
There are questions about its transparency, contracts and legal work. And then there's the obvious: The authority, run by appointees of Jersey and Pennsylvania governors, is a political playpen benefiting connected individuals and firms while thumbing its nose at the paying public.
"It's another one of these agencies that's easier to abuse than some of the more conventional parts of government," says the Committee of Seventy's Zack Stalberg. He adds that the "theory" of authorities is to do public business a little more quickly, not to become politicians' private reserve for jobs, perks and contracts.
This is an agency with a roughly $300 million budget and 900 employees that operates mostly in secret and has spent close to $400 million since 1999 on museums, theaters and sports stadiums in Chester, Camden and Philly.
Think there was any favoritism involved? Do you like paying tolls for that?
What I love is how those who trained and fed this dog are rushing to teach it discipline.
