Meet Joe Boardman

While SEPTA's perennial money woes remain to be addressed, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports that the NorthEast Corridor-area private sector is rallying round a bill before the senate that would give Amtrak $3.2 billion a year for the next six years to maintain and expand the NEC. Sounds good to me, but this is where the Philadelphian in me starts to boo relentlessly:

"The Bush administration has criticized the proposal, arguing it undermines any incentive for the railroad to become more efficient and businesslike. Joseph Boardman [pictured], administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration, told a Senate subcommittee this week that the administration had 'serious reservations' about the bill and that the federal government must stop subsidizing Amtrak."

It is unfortunate that the current administration clings to the idea that "businesslike" means "efficient," and that "government-agency-like" does not. It is a far cry from the depression-era Public Works Administration (or, more recently, the Cold-War era intelligence agencies), who proved that government agencies--because they are not businesses--are capable of long-lasting successes. Meanwhile, the "businesses" whose company Bush keeps, let's say Enron, for example, aren't exactly models of efficiency either, unless "efficiency" is defined as lucrative gains for the top of the pyramid. It has been reasonably well-established since the collapse of the private rail giants that if your business is passenger rail travel, this is not at all realistic. Your perks come in different forms: sure, you won't be driven to work in a different Mercedes every day of the week, but why would you want to be, when you have a comfortable, reliable, and affordable train to take instead?

And then there's something else. Unless he has been living under a rock for the last five years (and, according to his bio page, he hasn't), Mr. Boardman is doubtlessly aware that President Bush has poured billions into Iraq without any apparent concern for efficiency, or whether the expense--in dollars and in human lives--would turn a profit. For some reason, if unwinnable "defense" projects now merit a bottomless budget, why is it that quick, cheap, safe, clean rail transportation does not? Joseph Boardman, I am hereby calling for your resignation, on the grounds that no self-respecting public servant should ever willingly become an instrument of such hypocrisy.