the BScubed/Putting Lipstick on a Pig Award goes to...

Metro General Manager Richard Sarles
Montgomery County Councilmember Nancy Floreen
Tim Firestine, chief administrative officer for Montgomery County
"Short" (Charlie Scott?, senior government relations officer with Metro)
Montgomery County Council member Roger Berliner
David Dise, general services director for Montgomery County
news media (print, TV, radio, internet)

http://www.wtop.com/?nid=46&sid=3618969

When asked about Metro's decision to wait until repairs are complete, Metro General Manager Richard Sarles told reporters "It will be opened, and it will be safe."

Councilmember Nancy Floreen pressed for an answer to the question. "You know, at the end of the day, people want to know, so, when are we going to be able to get in there?"

Tim Firestine, chief administrative officer for Montgomery County, told the council, "Our goal, still, is to complete the center and turn it over to Metro by the end of the year."

Short (Scott?) said it would depend on the course of the repair work but added, "We'll do everything we can to expedite" the opening of the transit center.

Council member Roger Berliner, who leads a county committee on infrastructure, joked, "What time is your meeting? Maybe we'll all just sort of hang out."

After the council hearing, David Dise, general services director for Montgomery County, was pressed yet again on when the project and all the needed repairs would be completed. "We won't know the full details until we have finalized the current design and worked with the general contractor on that." Dise has repeatedly told the county council that taxpayers would not be on the hook for the cost of remediation and repairs at the Silver Spring Transit Center, but when asked directly if those costs wouldn't have to be made up front with taxpayer dollars, he conceded. "That may be required, yes." But he then insisted that it's the county's position that taxpayers should not have to cover those repair costs. However, Dise said he fully expects it will take lawsuits to recover the cost of repairs. Of the contractors who could be held responsible by the county, he said "I would expect that they're all working through counsel that are making sure they keep their hands in their pockets."

The citation for the BScubed/Putting Lipstick on a Pig Award reads: "Especially noted is how such a large group of supposedly responsible people can be so concerned with making themselves look good, and when the SSTC will open, and so blase about public safety."

Congratulations to all of you. The BScubed/Putting Lipstick on a Pig Award is yours.