This is beyond believable:
Months before signing legal documents assuring federal officials they could build light rail for $232 million, Hampton Roads Transit leaders knew it would actually cost tens of millions of dollars more, a new state investigation reveals.
In fact, HRT senior officials maintained a separate, internal accounting of light rail costs that was intentionally kept “secret” from government entities footing the bills, documents show.
Unexcusable? Absolutely. Am I surprised? Unfortunately not.
Supporters of light rail in Virginia Beach are going to have another hurdle to overcome: public confidence.
The report is here (pdf) and HRT’s action plan is here (pdf).
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
Great reporting, but I wonder why she left out this very important fact from an article she wrote over 2 years ago;
http://hamptonroads.com/2008/12/cost-norfolks-light-rail-project-increases-24-percent
“Wright said a problem with the project from the start was that almost nobody believed light rail would be approved by the federal government, so the city did not begin to fully flesh out the budget numbers until after it was approved.
There were years of study and delays before the project won federal approval and money. Over time, the budget had been slashed from $360 million to meet stringent federal funding criteria.
“We had to go in with a bare-bones budget to get federal funding,” Wright said.
“Then reality set in,” he said. “Light rail is going to be around for generations after we are gone. We have one chance to do it right.”
So the city new the budget was low balled just to get approval, they knew there was an original $370 million budget that was hacked up just to make it look feasible, and they still complained about so called “cost overruns?”
Is it really a cost overrun if you originally knew it was going to cost around $370 million? It would be interesting to compare the original budget to the current $338 million budget and see where they overlap.
Yes, that little point seems to be always overlooked.
Vivian,
I’ve read the IG’s Report this morning. 3 of the 4 HRT employees seriously implicated (Townes, Davenport, and Price) are gone. Jayne Whitney is left holding the bag on this one.
The City of Norfolk side is nearly as bad:
1. Senior City Staff knew overrun information and intentionally withheld it from your City Council.
2. Randy Wright knew of the second round of overruns 7 months before the rest of the TDCHR and public knew.
I haven’t had a chance to read thru the entire report – I scanned it last night – but it is certainly damning.
Take them to court for fraud, and penalize them whatever amount is required to make up the shortfall.
Warren, please. You know very few go to prison in this country for white collar crimes like fraud. And no one goes to prison for bribing government officials.
While I understand the skepticizm about Hampton Roads banding together, I think on issues like this, the “high speed rail” agreement being an example, the citizens will band together.
It is up to us to make sure our “leaders” agree to do what is in the best interest of the region.
The quote marks because I question the validity of the terms used!
OOPS should have posted this on the Transportation post. May be appropriate here, too.