This opens up new avenues - Any way we can take some other Oregon politicians and ship them off?

Making Hansen the "thinker-in-residence" regarding transit is like making Sam Adams the "mentor-in-residence" for teens.

And we thought Ted Wheeler's Twitter expert was a waste of money. The Aussies are way ahead of us ...

While this will be a very good change for us, I'm not a fan of exporting worthless bureaucrats to countries I like. Can't he get a job building trains in Zimbabwe?

I don't know if he deserves a job at the Outback Steakhouse...

FYI:

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/05/trimets_leader_will_consult_au.html

That makes more sense; he's just double-dipping, with the blessing of the Tri-Met "board".

"Hansen the "thinker-in-residence""

Uh-oh, that means he's going to have to learn some new job skills before he moves.

Steve's right - let's revive "transportation" in the old penal sense for most incumbents, state & local. On to Botany Bay!

I didn't know that Neil Goldschmidt still had
contacts in Australia!

Since Tri-Met is already going down under it shouldn't be much of a change for him.

Collapse is coming, Hansen is going

http://www.brainstormnw.com/archive/jun03_feature.html

According to agency records, between 1994 and FY 2003-04 the number of employees increased 25 percent, total salaries and wages went up 75 percent, and the cost of health benefits increased 179 percent. Annual pension costs for union members went up 242 percent between 1993 and 2002.

The total cost of all fringe benefits was 60 percent of payroll in 2001 and 65 percent in 2002; they are likely to exceed 70 percent in 2003. In essence, employee benefits are rapidly cannibalizing the general fund budget.

There is also a growing problem with unfunded pension liability. TriMet, like many public employers, operates a “defined benefit” retirement plan for most of its employees (separate from the state program, PERS). This means once TriMet employees retire, they are eligible to receive certain benefits such as monthly income and health insurance for as long as they live. TriMet is required to put money into the pension fund every year to ensure that enough cash is available to pay for the obligations to current retirees. However, if the fund does not have enough money to pay for all the estimated obligations to future retirees, that creates what is known as an unfunded accrued liability.
In 1993 the unfunded pension liability for the bargaining unit plan was $38 million. By 1997 it had grown to $61 million, and by June 30 of 2002 it was $112.4 million. The growth in liability has outpaced TriMet’s growth in employment, as evidenced by the fact that in 1993 the unfunded pension liability per TriMet employee was $18,630 and by 2002 it had increased to $43,230.

Fred Hansen has been appointed as our next 'Thinker in Residence' here in Adelaide, South Australia. His role will be to advise the State Government on Public Transport improvements. He is scheduled to start in October. I hope he is better than the people who we have had doing our planning.

Mr McFetridge,

If Fred Hansen is who you are looking to for help, RUN FOR THE HILLS!

As usual, Sam Smith nails it: This piece could have been written for Portland instead of DC --

http://prorev.com/2009/05/what-rails-and-roads-tell-us-about.html

Of all the places, South Australia would seem to least need a "thinker" from elsewhere. Adelaide has the really innovative O-bahn that carries computer-operated buses from downtown to the distant suburbs at very high speeds on a concrete right-of-way. At about 1/10 the cost per mile of Tri-Met's MAX. Check it out.

http://adelaidemetro.biz/guides/obahn.html