http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/morning_roundup/2015/05/amtrak-s-joe-boardman-out-in-front-when-tragedy.html
I came across this today and want to give it more exposure.
Once again Mr. Boardman demostrates his courage and decency.
Given all of my experience with Amtrak responsiveness, I believe the link below tells a more honest view of senior management at Amtrak.
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/05/amtrak-188-survivor-118123.html?hp=lc2_4#.VV3Md2fbLIW
Looks like Boardman did a good job with the 'optics' but not much to make sure the staff at Amtrak responded correctly and helpfully to the needs of the injured passengers, described by one passenger in the Politico article linked above.
C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan
Best quote: "Boardman demonstrated courage for choosing to be out in front."
Okay. Courage is not his problem. His problem is leading his people to follow him.
-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/)
wanswheel Excerpt from Politico http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/05/amtrak-188-survivor-118123.html#ixzz3azJhZEVcI’ve worked with disasters for a long time, but I have more experience being the help than the helped… I ran Hawaiian Airlines and successfully brought it out of bankruptcy. Then President Barack Obama appointed me to run the government’s Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp… Six days after the accident, I still had no information from Amtrak about whether they’ll reimburse my medical expenses or what they’ll do about my lost luggage and medications—just a statement that, sometime this coming week, I’ll receive another form. Excerpt from Pacific Business News, Nov. 13, 2008 http://www.bizjournals.com/pacific/stories/2008/11/10/daily59.html Joshua Gotbaum, who served as court-appointed trustee of Hawaiian Airlines when the airline was in bankruptcy, has been chosen to lead the Treasury Department transition team for President-elect Barack Obama… While Gotbaum was praised for some aspects of his leadership as trustee in the early months of the bankruptcy, his tenure ended on a sour note after he proposed to the bankruptcy court that he receive an $8-million bonus for his work, part of a $9.1-million compensation package he asked the airline to pay. Included was a bill for $276,562 in expenses, mostly for the rental of a luxurious beachfront home at Black Point.
"Shoot the messenger?"
schlimm"Shoot the messenger?"
From the same Politico article:
"Amtrak’s CEO published a letter claiming the railroad “took full responsibility” for the tragedy and implying that Amtrak was doing everything it possibly could to help its passengers. Such a public relations tactic might have been plausible were there any evidence that Amtrak’s management actually took responsibility. Instead, at each level, Amtrak employees seemed to say, “I’m doing my job. You’re someone else’s responsibility.”
"Going forward, it’s pretty clear that Amtrak needs a real overhaul. However, the way to accomplish that is not to cut the budget while leaving management and board exactly as they are, but to do the reverse."
Links to my Google Maps ---> Sunset Route overview, SoCal metro, Yuma sub, Gila sub, SR east of Tucson, BNSF Northern Transcon and Southern Transcon *** Why you should support Ukraine! ***
No matter how one handles an incident such as 188's wreck, not everyone is going to think that you have done all you could have or should have done - because there is no real agreement on what should be done. It goes with the territory!
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
schlimm "Shoot the messenger?"
No, but you have to admit that amtrak piece he wrote was 90% about his resume. Sounds like he's shopping for a new job/client/employer, what have you.
The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.
wanswheel I’m the messenger and the message is Joe Boardman serves his country while Josh Gottbaum seems to serve himself. My opinion. I don’t like that he kicked Amtrak for failing to treat him like a big shot (and he is, and Amtrak had better find his luggage and pay his doctor bills or he’ll write a worse article). He should be glad to be alive where 8 people died, instead of selling an ad about himself to Politico, disguised as concern about his fellow passengers. I’m sorry he was injured and wish him a speedy recovery.
I don't see him being upset for not being treated like a "big shot". He seems upset for not being treated at all. Amtrak failed in taking care him afterwords, and no doubt the other passengers as well. While yes, he should be glad that Amtrak did not kill him as well, he should be very upset at what seems as though a botched handling of the situation. The stuff you posted had nothing to do with how Amtrak dropped the ball, how they treated this passenger after screwing up, and was really a sad response on your part, my opinion.
An "expensive model collector"
The 'resume/vita' was one paragraph in the entire piece, hardly 90%. To be precise, the section in which the writer mentioned some prior work experiences is only 100 words (8.5%). Not much self-serving, blowing of one's own horn there.
n012944 wanswheel I’m the messenger and the message is Joe Boardman serves his country while Josh Gottbaum seems to serve himself. My opinion. I don’t like that he kicked Amtrak for failing to treat him like a big shot (and he is, and Amtrak had better find his luggage and pay his doctor bills or he’ll write a worse article). He should be glad to be alive where 8 people died, instead of selling an ad about himself to Politico, disguised as concern about his fellow passengers. I’m sorry he was injured and wish him a speedy recovery. I don't see him being upset for not being treated like a "big shot". He seems upset for not being treated at all. Amtrak failed in taking care him afterwords, and no doubt the other passengers as well. While yes, he should be glad that Amtrak did not kill him as well, he should be very upset at what seems as though a botched handling of the situation. The stuff you posted had nothing to do with how Amtrak dropped the ball, how they treated this passenger after screwing up, and was really a sad response on your part, my opinion.
+1 !!
schlimm wanswheel Excerpt from Politico http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/05/amtrak-188-survivor-118123.html#ixzz3azJhZEVcI’ve worked with disasters for a long time, but I have more experience being the help than the helped… I ran Hawaiian Airlines and successfully brought it out of bankruptcy. Then President Barack Obama appointed me to run the government’s Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp… Six days after the accident, I still had no information from Amtrak about whether they’ll reimburse my medical expenses or what they’ll do about my lost luggage and medications—just a statement that, sometime this coming week, I’ll receive another form. Excerpt from Pacific Business News, Nov. 13, 2008 http://www.bizjournals.com/pacific/stories/2008/11/10/daily59.html Joshua Gotbaum, who served as court-appointed trustee of Hawaiian Airlines when the airline was in bankruptcy, has been chosen to lead the Treasury Department transition team for President-elect Barack Obama… While Gotbaum was praised for some aspects of his leadership as trustee in the early months of the bankruptcy, his tenure ended on a sour note after he proposed to the bankruptcy court that he receive an $8-million bonus for his work, part of a $9.1-million compensation package he asked the airline to pay. "Shoot the messenger?"
wanswheel Excerpt from Politico http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/05/amtrak-188-survivor-118123.html#ixzz3azJhZEVcI’ve worked with disasters for a long time, but I have more experience being the help than the helped… I ran Hawaiian Airlines and successfully brought it out of bankruptcy. Then President Barack Obama appointed me to run the government’s Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp… Six days after the accident, I still had no information from Amtrak about whether they’ll reimburse my medical expenses or what they’ll do about my lost luggage and medications—just a statement that, sometime this coming week, I’ll receive another form. Excerpt from Pacific Business News, Nov. 13, 2008 http://www.bizjournals.com/pacific/stories/2008/11/10/daily59.html Joshua Gotbaum, who served as court-appointed trustee of Hawaiian Airlines when the airline was in bankruptcy, has been chosen to lead the Treasury Department transition team for President-elect Barack Obama… While Gotbaum was praised for some aspects of his leadership as trustee in the early months of the bankruptcy, his tenure ended on a sour note after he proposed to the bankruptcy court that he receive an $8-million bonus for his work, part of a $9.1-million compensation package he asked the airline to pay.
The messenger is defining his message from a conflicted point of view. He believes he knows how to handle disasters because he has been involved with them from a high level administrative point of view - but never experienced the disaster from the involved's field level point of view until this happening when the appropriate organizations got involved in the appropriate life saving activities. No transportation organization is designed to have 'full life saving staffing' during a disaster - that responsibility goes to local police and fire departments. A the time of the disaster the 'customer service' function has the lowest of priorities to that of getting getting the passengers off the damaged vehicle and to a place of reasonable safety; beyond that everything else is just a administrative paperwork and check writing exercise. No transportation medium has sufficient on board personnel to give Mt. Gotbaum the service he believes he deserved at the scene of the incident; and Mt. Gotbaum's prior experiences have no bearing on how those situations may or may not have compared to the Amtrak 188 incident.
Messengers that try to compare apples and oranges to define kumquats do not have an effective message.
BaltACD schlimm wanswheel Excerpt from Politico http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/05/amtrak-188-survivor-118123.html#ixzz3azJhZEVcI’ve worked with disasters for a long time, but I have more experience being the help than the helped… I ran Hawaiian Airlines and successfully brought it out of bankruptcy. Then President Barack Obama appointed me to run the government’s Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp… Six days after the accident, I still had no information from Amtrak about whether they’ll reimburse my medical expenses or what they’ll do about my lost luggage and medications—just a statement that, sometime this coming week, I’ll receive another form. Excerpt from Pacific Business News, Nov. 13, 2008 http://www.bizjournals.com/pacific/stories/2008/11/10/daily59.html Joshua Gotbaum, who served as court-appointed trustee of Hawaiian Airlines when the airline was in bankruptcy, has been chosen to lead the Treasury Department transition team for President-elect Barack Obama… While Gotbaum was praised for some aspects of his leadership as trustee in the early months of the bankruptcy, his tenure ended on a sour note after he proposed to the bankruptcy court that he receive an $8-million bonus for his work, part of a $9.1-million compensation package he asked the airline to pay. "Shoot the messenger?" The messenger is defining his message from a conflicted point of view. He believes he knows how to handle disasters because he has been involved with them from a high level administrative point of view - but never experienced the disaster from the involved's field level point of view until this happening when the appropriate organizations got involved in the appropriate life saving activities. No transportation organization is designed to have 'full life saving staffing' during a disaster - that responsibility goes to local police and fire departments. A the time of the disaster the 'customer service' function has the lowest of priorities to that of getting getting the passengers off the damaged vehicle and to a place of reasonable safety; beyond that everything else is just a administrative paperwork and check writing exercise. No transportation medium has sufficient on board personnel to give Mt. Gotbaum the service he believes he deserved at the scene of the incident; and Mt. Gotbaum's prior experiences have no bearing on how those situations may or may not have compared to the Amtrak 188 incident. Messengers that try to compare apples and oranges to define kumquats do not have an effective message.
Rather than continue to criticize the messenger (who was an eyewitness), what about his very specific complaints that apply to all the victims of this derailment? Valid or not? Airlines seem to quickly do a whole lot more in the way of being a clearinghouse of info for passengers and their families in crashes. Or are Amtrak and Boardman immune to criticism?
n012944 I don't see him being upset for not being treated like a "big shot". He seems upset for not being treated at all. Amtrak failed in taking care him afterwords, and no doubt the other passengers as well. While yes, he should be glad that Amtrak did not kill him as well, he should be very upset at what seems as though a botched handling of the situation. The stuff you posted had nothing to do with how Amtrak dropped the ball, how they treated this passenger after screwing up, and was really a sad response on your part, my opinion.
I did not criticize anyone who isn’t a public figure. I did not originate the relevance of Hawaiian Airlines.
wanswheelJoe served in Vietnam. He wore a helmet when Gotbaum was contemplating Harvard.
Joseph Boardman's service in the Air Force in Nam has nothing to do with the failures of Amtrak. Neither does Gotbaum's choice of graduate school. Had you read the article more carefully, without resorting to character assassination and nit-picking, you would see (in the 2nd part) that the criticisms were directed at Amtrak's poor follow-up for the passengers and families. Do you have some unspecified reason for your repeated irrelevant and personal attacks on Gotbaum? Are you some personal friend of Joe's?
schlimm The 'resume/vita' was one paragraph in the entire piece, hardly 90%. To be precise, the section in which the writer mentioned some prior work experiences is only 100 words (8.5%). Not much self-serving, blowing of one's own horn there.
Maybe you read it differently than me. Seemed like an ego trip to me.
schlimmAirlines seem to quickly do a whole lot more in the way of being a clearinghouse of info for passengers and their families in crashes.
They have a lot more practice?
wanswheel n012944 I don't see him being upset for not being treated like a "big shot". He seems upset for not being treated at all. Amtrak failed in taking care him afterwords, and no doubt the other passengers as well. While yes, he should be glad that Amtrak did not kill him as well, he should be very upset at what seems as though a botched handling of the situation. The stuff you posted had nothing to do with how Amtrak dropped the ball, how they treated this passenger after screwing up, and was really a sad response on your part, my opinion. I did not criticize anyone who isn’t a public figure. I did not originate the relevance of Hawaiian Airlines.
No you did not. However you included a new article for 2008 about a compensation package he was looking for when trustee of Hawaiian, and expenses he incured while doing it. It had nothing to do with Amtrak's failure to handle the derailment, and Mr Gotbaum's take on it. It was a cheap shot that was trying to discredit the author.
zugmann schlimm The 'resume/vita' was one paragraph in the entire piece, hardly 90%. To be precise, the section in which the writer mentioned some prior work experiences is only 100 words (8.5%). Not much self-serving, blowing of one's own horn there. Maybe you read it differently than me. Seemed like an ego trip to me.
Seems like naming his qualifications to criticize the lack of preparedness to respond to a disaster by a passenger hauling mode of transportation to me.
zugmann schlimm Airlines seem to quickly do a whole lot more in the way of being a clearinghouse of info for passengers and their families in crashes. They have a lot more practice?
schlimm Airlines seem to quickly do a whole lot more in the way of being a clearinghouse of info for passengers and their families in crashes.
Or are better at preplanning on a "what if"....
To know that one has to preplan for something takes skill. Something Amtrak management has always seemed to lack. I deal with their CNOC center often, and they always seem to wait for the freight railroad to come up with a solution to their trains problem. It seems to be a cutural thing.
Joshua’s opinion of the probable cause
http://www.rollcall.com/news/opinion/derailment-ntsb-blames-engineer-not-amtrak
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