Senate President calls for resignation of RIPTA CEO
By Steve Ahlquist,
UpRiseRI
At 5:30pm on a Friday,
Rhode Island Senate President Dominick Ruggerio (Democrat, District
4, North Providence) released a statement calling for Rhode Island Public
Transit Authority (RIPTA) CEO Scott Avidisian to step down and is submitting legislation to put the agency under the control of the Rhode
Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) and its Director, Peter
Alviti.
Fung and Avedisian (Cranston Herald)
“RIPTA has been
plagued by enduring challenges that have only grown more severe over the
years.,” said the Senate President in his statement. “Despite federal funding
that presented an unprecedented opportunity to make necessary reforms, there
has been no change in direction. Foreseeable challenges, such as a driver
shortage at the start of the school year, were left unaddressed until there was
a crisis. There have been unacceptable management gaffes, such as the granting
a no-bid lobbying contract to a political ally,
apparently without the Board’s knowledge. No meaningful plan to confront the
agency’s fiscal challenges has been presented to the General Assembly, and we
are again faced with putting band aids on a gaping wound.
“A quality,
well-functioning public transit system is vital to the people of our state and
our economy. It is time for wholesale reform at RIPTA.
“The time has come
to place the agency under the auspices of the Rhode Island Department of
Transportation, and I will be submitting legislation to that effect. I am
asking that CEO Scott Avedisian step down immediately, and that the governor
conduct a national search for someone with expertise in transit to head Rhode
Island’s public transit office, under this new structure.
“Finally, I have asked Chairman Mark McKenney (Democrat, District 30, Warwick) to convene the Senate Committee on Rules, Government Ethics & Oversight to conduct an oversight hearing of the agency. “
RIPTA Boardmember Patrick Crowley, who is also the Secretary-Treasurer of the RI AFLCIO, tweeted his support for the Senate President’s ideas.
Transportation advocates, like Rhode Island Transit Riders, however, are wary about putting RIPTA under Director Alviti, calling the Director “car-centric,” citing his history of not truly engaging with the public on transportation matters, and not taking climate concerns seriously.
Christian Rosalund published an oped in Uprise RI, calling on the
Senate to not re-confirm Director Alviti for another term running RIDOT, but
given the Senate President’s enthusiastic support and his ironclad grip on the
chamber, that re-confirmation is all but assured.
Scott Avidisian had
spent early Friday at GrowSmart RI‘s Transit-Oriented Development forum
where he was introduced by GrowSmarts’ Executive Director Scott Wolf as a”long
time champion of community revitalization and expanding forms of transportation
choices for all Rhode Islanders.” Wolf added that under Avidisian RIPTA has
been a model on how state agencies “can and should engage with the public and
with stakeholders.”
At that same GrowSmart
forum Rhode Island’s Speaker of the House Joseph Shekarchi expressed
friendship and support for Avidisian, saying that the being the CEO of RIPTA is
“not an easy job. Everybody wants service, nobody wants to pay for it.
Everybody wants free RIPTA. There’s no free. It may be free
for the people who ride it but it still costs the rest of us taxpayers
[Editor’s Note: Bus riders are also RI taxpayers]. Avidisian has done a good
job, as best as he can. We’re going to continue to give Scott the resources he
needs. We will continue to look at ways to be smart and productive regarding
affordable housing, transit-oriented housing… they are not separate issues.
They can all co-exist.”
Shekarchi’s comments,
of course, were made hours before the Senate President issued his press
release.
There is a lot at
stake, and the timing of the Senate President’s statement is telling. The
federal government just passed the largest investment in public transportation
and infrastructure in decades, and the head of RIPTA will be instrumental in
determining how those funds are spent. Whoever controls these funds will shape
the course of transportation in Rhode Island for generations to come.
This is the response RIPTA issued defending Avedisian:
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