Tuesday, April 29, 2008
 
Drop Removed From Bucket
Kudos to the Metropolitan Mass Transit Boondoggle Association for getting a bill reduced $95,000:
    A consulting firm that worked on Metro’s failed lawsuit against MetroLink designers has agreed to knock $94,617 off its final bill after the agency questioned some travel expenses and other charges.
Too bad the ill-conceived bucket was so big as to make this win negligible:
    Metro, formally known as the Bi-State Development Agency, spent more than $21 million on its three-year legal battle against the original designers and construction managers of the Shrewsbury MetroLink line. But after a three-month trial, a St. Louis County jury ruled in favor of the defendants, who had counter-sued.

    Metro later reached a $6 million settlement with the contractors — bringing the agency’s total trial cost to $27 million.
With enough judicious budgeting like this, the whole thing will take an extra 30 minutes to go bankrupt.

 
To say Noggle, one first must be able to say the "Nah."