Airport Authority Head, Boston 9/11/2001

[Otter]

Interesting read for all that care to read it.

I had no aviation experience when I was appointed to head the Massachusetts Port Authority in September 1999. What I had were political connections, the right gender, and a governor's faith in my abilities. The learning curve was steep, but the allure of aviation quickly captured my imagination - until the events of September 11, 2001.

 

[vraiblonde]

Good read

It's dismaying when something like this happens and our elected "leaders" can't get past the politics and CYA to deal with it effectively.

 

[itsbob]

Good read

It's dismaying when something like this happens and our elected "leaders" can't get past the politics and CYA to deal with it effectively.

My thoughts exactly.. and I hate to say it, but it looks as though (at least to her face) Kennedy and Kerry were the only ones that treated her right. I don't recognize the Governor but I hope her politicing days are over.

 

[donbarzini]

I was born and raised in East Boston. The Massport director has always been a political appointee. It was considered a "reward" job for loyal underlings who showed a penchant for administrative abilities. While I personally don't believe that she was solely responsible for the shortcomings at Logan; she was the one in charge and as such, she should be the one to fall on her sword. As far as Kennedy/Kerry: It was easy for them to "commiserate" because at a moment's notice they could have distanced themselves by saying it was a "local not national" issue. And with "Governor" Swift she came within an eyelash of being indicted for malfeasence/misfeasence for an incident the my little pea-brain does not recall now. She was so bad at it that she knew better than to run for re-election, and blamed it on her own pregnancy. So while I feel a little bad for the author because she was "out of her league"; the old adage: "If you can't stand the heat...etc."

 

[Bruzilla]

What I took from this fluff piece was that this woman doesn't see that she's not one bit different than the people she's whining about. This woman was offered a leadership position that she wasn't qualified for, and she had every opportunity to bow out. No one forced her to take the job.

Next, when her people needed her the most, she did a lot of busy work and CYA while she waited for the Feds to come to the rescue. That's not leadership. What she did was what all poor managers do when there's a crisis... they run about trying to close the proverbial barn door after the horse has left and spen all their energies on trying to keep the barn door closed in order to keep the horse in while the field goes unplowed. Her job after 9/11 was to focus on keeping the airport up and running, not on keeping it closed until everyone else covered her ass by saying things were good to go... and yet she criticizes the governor and mayor for distancing themselves from the decision. A real leader would have just got the job done.

Pre-9/11 there was nothing that was done/wasn't done at Logan that was any different than any other airport, and it was just bad luck that the terrorists picked her airport. She acted just like any other political hack would do, and when she calculated it was time to cut her losses she quit.