PAT looking for excuses

Pittsburgh PA - The Port Authority of Allegheny County (PAT) is trying to find excuses to continue renting expensive office space while it's old administration building that it owns, sits vacant. The Pittsburgh Tribune Review gives us the story of PAT's attempt to find excuses to keep renting the expensive office space.

The big point is missed however and that is that PAT should not have moved in the first place. Why isn't the name of former Executive Director Paul Skoutelas, the man who devised new ways for PAT to waste money, mentioned by anyone? He was responsible for the move that is continuing to waste precious operating money that is needed for transit service.

The simple fact of the matter is here is this. PAT's administration doesn't want to go back to slumming it in the old administration building that was built in 1973. They will find any and every excuse they can to continue to rent expensive office space in the high rent district of Downtown Pittsburgh.

While PAT is hardly alone in the transit industry with the "Taj Mahal" mentality for the main offices at public expense, they simply can't afford it. Other systems have built what have literally been called palaces for their main operations. What these idiot administrators fail to realize is that they are a public agency, not a private corporation. The money to pay for these expensive administration offices comes from the taxpayer, not from profits from the product they offer.

About the only way PAT will move back to their old building is if they are literally under court order to do so or if their precious funding is tied to moving back. That is very unlikely to happen as the politicians don't have the backbone to force PAT's hand. The politicians are all bark and little bite and PAT will continue to rent expensive office space that it can't afford.

Let's look at a quick fact. PAT could apply for a Federal or State non-transportation grant to remove the asbestos and do the repairs that it claims are the reasons they can't move back. PAT won't apply for such a grant. To do so would mean they could no longer rent the expensive and luxurious office space in Downtown.

PAT gets another Lance for finding excuses to continue to waste money.