The CYA at Metro gets a little wider this morning as ABC 7 reports:

Two sources who must remain anonymous because they are close to the investigation allege that Metro technicians knew about a serious circuit problem on the track five days before the deadly accident and that they allegedly reported the problem to supervisors days before nine people lost their lives.

Sources say the technicians all claimed they notified supervisors and Metro’s maintenance operations center about the circuit problem five days before that collision and that the information was entered into Metro’s maintenance computer database.

Here’s the deal:  The public is pissed about the entire Metro system and it’s wide-ranging list of screw ups.  Everybody at WMATA realizes this issue is not going to quietly go away.  Some sort of action, most likely a firing or two, is going to be needed to put this shit storm to bed.  The only question is who’s it going to be?

It won’t be Catoe or any of his cronies.  So the list of possible ejections is severly cut right there.

The company who makes these sensors is already being lined up to take some of the hit, but that probably won’t be enough.

Who does that leave? Maintenance guys.

Apparently, somebody over in maintenance wised up and said we better get the info out that we did our jobs before we end up taking the fall.  Good move, guys.

The saga continues…

Okay, Metro riders, it’s time to chill the eff out.  Riding the old 1000 series cars is bad enough for your health without everybody wigging out and getting a big dick.

Since yesterday afternoon 3 of you have been screwing around and making a bad situation worse.

Read it and weep:

Red Line trains delayed after man struck, killed

A man who was struck and killed at the Forest Glen station was on the tracks intentionally, Metro says.

The transit agency says the man was hit by an eight-car red line train shortly after 4 p.m. Metro did not have any additional information about the man.

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Man pushed into side of moving Metro train

Metro officials say a man was hurt when he was pushed into the side of a moving train during an altercation at the Gallery Place-Chinatown station.

Metro spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein says two men began to argue on the platform for green and yellow line trains around 6:40 a.m. Tuesday.

She says one man shoved the other into the train as it pulled into the station.

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Man in wheelchair falls onto track at Metro Green Line station

A man in a wheelchair fell onto the trackbed after exiting a train at Metro’s Southern Avenue station in Prince George’s County shortly before 11 a.m. Tuesday.

The man suffered head injuries, according to Metro spokesman Steven Taubenkibel, and was taken to a hospital treatment. Taubenkibel said he did not know the man’s condition.

It was unclear how the man ended up on the tracks of the Green Line station. Taubenkibel said the man may have fallen asleep after exiting the train and rolled off the platform and dropped onto the trackbed.

What the hell is going on?

Everybody just take a step back, breathe in and out real slow, and enjoy the ride (assuming John Catoe and his “safe” 1000 series cars don’t kill you).

Another day, another Metro victim.  But this is not your run of the mill Metro story.

A man in a wheelchair fell onto the trackbed after exiting a train at Metro’s Southern Avenue station in Prince George’s County shortly before 11 a.m. Tuesday.

The man suffered head injuries, according to Metro spokesman Steven Taubenkibel, and was taken to a hospital treatment. Taubenkibel said he did not know the man’s condition.

It was unclear how the man ended up on the tracks of the Green Line station. Taubenkibel said the man may have fallen asleep after exiting the train and rolled off the platform and dropped onto the trackbed.

I should add more commentary here, but I’m gonna hold off on that until we know for sure that the man actually fell asleep.

WaPo this morning confirms that John Catoe and Metro are determined to kill again by leaving the 1000 series of Metro cars in service.  On top of all that, the brilliant plan to move these cars to the middle of the trains will happen when ever they care to get it done.

Metro spokesman  Steven Taubenkibel says:

“It’s not like you can take the Red Line to Gallery Place and hang a right…It’s not like moving a couple of cars out of an auto dealership.”

Ohhhh poor baby.  Is your job hard?  We all feel for you.  Really we do.

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In other news, let’s party like it’s 1989!!!!! ( I know that was lame, but I couldn’t resist.)

WTOP and others are touting the District is on pace to have the fewest homicides since ‘89:

With 66 homicides reported by D.C. police so far this year, Washington is on pace to have the lowest yearly total for homicides since 1989.

The number is 20 percent below last year’s figure and if the homicide rate continued through December, the total for 2009 would be 134. That would be 52 fewer slayings than last year and 47 fewer than in 2007. It would be 35 fewer than in 2006.

But don’t slap on that party hat and pop open the bubbly just yet.  Criminologists say homicides often rise during the summer months.  Apparently summertime is a murderer’s busy season.  Who knew?

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Speaking of homicide, the mother of a cop killer later killed in his jail cell by cops Ronnie L. White is suing Prince George’s county for $150 million:

The family of accused killer Ronnie White, whose death in a Prince George’s County jail was ruled a homicide but produced no charges, is planning to sue Prince George’s County officials and correctional officers over his death.

White’s mother continues to blame the jailhouse guards. A year after her son’s death, she is filing suit for more than $150 million against Prince George’s County officials and those correctional officers who she believes killed her son.

I have personally never forgotten this story.  Say whatever the hell you want about what kind of person Ronnie White was, the fact remains nobody deserves to kill someone and get off scot-free. It’s been an effing year and even though everyone in PG knows these guards killed White no one in the prosecutors office has done a damn thing about it.

It’s a vicious circle really.  I don’t want the White family to get $150 million of the tax payer’s dollars, but at the same time I want someone who is refusing to enforce the law to pay a price.

This is the kind of bullshit we have to endure when the people are too damn busy with their own life to actually pay attention to what is going on in their government.

Somebody cue Mussolini.  ABC 7 reports this afternoon that John Catoe has rejected the proposal to remove the 1,000 series Metro cars because of the significant wait times it would cause on the Red Line.

D.C. council member and Metro Board chairman Jim Graham supposedly made the suggestion.

[Metro spokesman]Taubenkibel says Metro simply can’t afford to give up one-fourth of its fleet of cars and keep a record number of commuters on track.

“What that would mean is during rush hour, no more eight-car trains,” Taubenkibel added. “It would mean longer waits … and [strand] people at platforms.”

Let’s see…a few more minutes of waiting or the added potential of being crushed to death under 10 tons of metal?  I’ll take the wait.

This story wouldn’t be complete without this bit of Catoe logic:

Catoe has compared the 1970s-era 1000-series cars to 1970s automobiles, saying that of course modern train cars are safer than older train cars, just as modern passenger vehicles are safer than vehicles built in the 1970s. But Catoe has rejected the idea the 1000-series cars are unsafe, calling it only a passenger “perception”.

It’s not a “perception” that something made in this century is safer than something made last century, John.  It’s a fact.

But while we are talking about perceptions, it seems to me the only one you need to concern yourself with is that a lot of people (including myself) see 9 dead bodies from last week’s crash as a result of you and your staff’s incompetence.

If you don’t get your head out of your ass and start thinking realistically about the safety of the Metro passengers, I can see that perception really taking off.

The Red Line is back in service and so far that is the only change.

After all the hotair about the changes that needed to be swiftly instituted in the name of public saftey with regard to the 1000 series Metro cars absolutely nothing has changed as of this morning.

ABC 7 reports:

Observers at Metro stations will still see 1,000-series rail cars leading trains all over the system.

I get the feeling that WMATA thinks passenger safety is a Monday through Friday, 9 to 5 type thing.

Didn’t Metro know they were going to re-open the Red Line today?  So wouldn’t somebody over there in that gaggle of incompetents think it would be important to do what they can to supposedly improve the safety of the cars before re-opening it?

Oh, I know I know.  They had a tough week.  Let’s cut them some slack.  Bullshit!

How much sense does it take to say to yourself, “We totally screwed this thing up when we didn’t listen to the NTSB and get those things out of the system 2 years ago. Now we can’t afford to get rid of them which makes us look even more like incompetent assholes. We better do whatever it takes to get these adjustments made by Monday to try and cool off the shit storm. Hey, boys, get ready for some over time work!”

As usual, Jim Graham has to run his beak:

Metro board chairman Jim Graham, in response to the news that 1,000-series cars still lead many trains, said, “Any kind of hazard that’s presented to our traveling public is not acceptable to us and all of that is being figured out right now.”

Graham promises that this week a “significant number” of 1,000 series trains will be removed from service altogether.

Promises, promises, Jimmy.

While you and your obviously concerned colleagues sit around with your thumbs firmly planted in your asses, let’s hope another bunch of people don’t suddenly get dead.

Metro will come up with a plan to put its 1000 Series cars in the middle of its trains.The decision made Thursday morning by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority came four days after the worst crash in the subway system’s 33-year history.

The decision could mean slower trains because of the time it will take to reconfigure the trains.

Also, there is no timetable yet for when the full Red Line will be back up and running.

Correct me if I am wrong here, but the fundamental flaw with these 1000 series of cars is that they crumble too much under a crash situation. Right, Debbie Hersman NTSB member?

“It’s a 75-feet car. Fifty feet of that 75 feet was crushed, and so that kind of survivable space is not something the safety board wants to see when it comes to accidents.”

So basically what we have is the Metro Board betting (with your life and mine) that by moving the 1000 series cars to the middle this type of carnage will not happen again.

I mean just read what Jim “I-wear-ridiculous-looking-glasses-and-a-bow-tie” Graham had to say:

“The cars do not appear to be the cause of the accident. The way the car was crushed was a consequence of the accident. If you can control the consequence, you don’t have the issue of the cars. The cars themselves, absent this type of impact, are safe and they have been operating safely.”

Uh…Jimbo…you people haven’t been able to control dick lately so please explain to me why this is a good idea.