Through a possible combination of a TransLink half-truth, incompetent journalism or the chronic problem of insufficient space for sufficient depth in Metro [and the other crappy free daily commuter papers], TransLink is able to hide another element of its new corporate fascist structure.
The new TransLink “board” [sic] will meet in secret. Its directors were appointed by business interests [almost predominantly]. The directors are accountable to themselves only, not the mayors, provincial government or the public as none can fire them but themselves. The new council of mayors is empowered to approve one of three plan options given it by the “board.” If the council of mayors rejects them all, the “board” has the power to pick one, essentially allowing the board to offer a crappy, crappier and crappiest option to the mayors, wait for them to reject them all, then go ahead with whatever the hell they want anyway.
In today’s Metro [above, click it to see it in full], you can see that TransLink spokesperson failing to claim the above rule about the mayors. Perhaps the Metro reporter didn’t push enough to get that, or perhaps the paper simply can’t be bothered to include enough actual words to complete the story.
Either way, this is nothing new. Since Falcon’s TransLink nightmare came to light last spring, we knew this was coming. How much unaccountable spending of public funds, especially for something so important to the public, will it take to get us mobilized?
