From Buzzflash
It hit home for me when I learned that David Gunn, who was arguably the best railroad professional in the country, was fired by the Amtrak's Board of Directors.
I had the pleasure to know David Gunn when he was president of the New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA). Mr. Gunn assumed the helm of the subway and bus system in the 1980's when it was at its worst. The subway system was plagued by graffiti covered subway trains that frequently malfunctioned in mid-commute. Back then, the mean distance between train failures was only 9,600 miles. Today, it is over 114,000 miles.
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Then Gunn took the lead at Amtrak and made substantive improvements.
However, there was a major difference. In New York, elected officials hungered for an improved subway and bus system and thus wanted Gunn to succeed. The Bush Administration, philosophically hostile to government programs, wanted Amtrak to fail... Read the entire viewpoint