MAX Light Rail is the centerpiece of the city's public transportation system (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
While claiming poverty, the Portland development firm transit agency known as TriMet, having been forced to cut bus services while building more light rail lines, has nonetheless managed to scrounge around and scrape together nearly one million dollars in order to bestow generous pay raises upon 50 of their very best "managers".
Last year, as TriMet cut bus service for the fifth time in four hard years and saddled riders with the biggest fare increase in the agency's history, its managers discreetly gave themselves $910,000 in pay raises.
Well, you know, you really don't want to lose the managers who've been working so hard to drive the agency into the dirt.
At least the "general manager" who miraculously found the cash didn't try to explain that It's For The Children™. Of course, Neal McFarlane, along with most of the governor-appointed board at TriMet are - like the current and former governors themselves - long-time members of FON (Friends of Neil). The stink of the Goldschmidt era wafts on in Portland.
