Saturday, September 8, 2007

Batgate continues.

No, not the comic.

A couple of things. I did not know that the Fed's had paid for 80% of the buses. I had understood that this would only happen if they went through channels and bought new buses. So which is it? Did they get funding? Was this ever mentioned before, and if not, why not?

The thing that really jumped out at me is Councilor Bill Friedman's defensiveness. Quote: "Though he said he had heard about the memo, Friedman said he had not read it He could not recall how long he had known about the memo." Now's your chance, Bill, since it's publicly printed in the Bulletin, so about half of Bend now knows more than you do.

Chris Telfer seems to be the only one actually questioning what's going on, but apparently she was not given access to the memo until this week. So....at a guess, they were only showing the memo to those who wouldn't raise a stink?


On another front: The owners of Joker's accused of passing bad checks. I've said before, I think Poker is a very bad idea for our culture, and any business that encourages it is not doing us any favors. A table with 8 or 10 players, of which all but one lose all their money. Yeah, that's a great idea. Let's do more of that. Let's fleece the stupid and unwary. The lottery at the 7/11 can take what's left.
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3 comments:

IHateToBurstYourBubble said...

But Councilor Chris Telfer, who publicly questioned buying used buses more than a year ago, said she was “appalled” after learning about the memo earlier this week. She said she had not read a copy of it.

“I think we did a bad job of due diligence and I don’t think our actions are defensible”, she said.

She said that the memo is giving her added motivation to push for internal audits of how the city’s staff functions.

Telfers stock goes up in my book.

Councilor Bill Friedman has ardently defended the purchase of the buses, even in light of their maintenance issues. Though he said he had heard about the contents of the memo, Friedman said he had not read it. He could not recall how long he had known about the memo.

“We have provided a huge service,” Friedman said. “Having those buses here made that program begin and that program has been an enormous help to the residents of the community.”

Friedmans, down.

September 8, 2007 at 11:05:00 AM PDT
Carl said...

If Friedman spends the city's money like he spent our HOA's money, no wonder the buses were pieces of crap. As long as he is spending other people's money, nothing is too expensive or too dumb.

As a whole, this Council is a bunch of dim bulbs who have made more boob mistakes than the 3 Stooges.

September 8, 2007 at 3:34:00 PM PDT
Anonymous said...

this Council is a bunch of dim bulbs who have made more boob mistakes than the 3 Stooges.
*
Yes, but on their watch you ALL got rich on RE speculation. Thus you kept your mouth shut for the ride, and never once had the balls to open it until it was clear and safe that the ride was over.

A sad observation on the parasitic electorate of Bend, the essence of the comment of course is that you deserve your electable, for they are a mirror image of the people Bend.

September 8, 2007 at 9:24:00 PM PDT

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