Good morning, Metro riders and stakeholders!
The gavel will soon drop on the Metro Board of Director’s meeting, scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. The agenda is above; click here for the html version.
If not in attendance, you can listen to the meeting online by going to this link once the meeting begins at 9:30 a.m. or shortly thereafter. You can also listen over the phone by dialing 213-922-6045.
I know there’s a lot of public interest in the station renaming motions — Nos. 74 and 75 on the agenda — by Board Members Pam O’Connor and Ara Najarian. Those items are currently on the consent part of the agenda, meaning the Board will vote on the items along with the other consent items unless there is a request from a Board Member(s) to publicly discuss them and vote on them individually.
Of course, there are plenty of other items on the agenda, too. Please take a look — even if you don’t link to the accompanying staff reports, the agendas provide a good overview of the many different programs and projects at Metro, as well as the contracts awarded by the agency.
Categories: Policy & Funding, Projects
Steve, it would be more helpful if these agendas were posted ONE DAY IN ADVANCE so that we have time to struggle through the fine print and bureaucratese. TIA!
Hey Mike —
Duly noted. One thing to know: the agendas with the hyperlinks to staff reports are usually posted three days before the meetings on metro.net at this link: http://www.metro.net/about/board/agenda/. In addition, most of the agenda items are included in the Board Committee agendas at the same address. Those, too, usually post three days before the committee meetings. See the same address. Hope that helps!
Steve Hymon
Editor, The Source
I’ll say this much… If the MTA Board decides to rename stations after living people (Ethel Bradley, Rosa Parks, Tom Bradley, Julian Dixon, and Alfred Huyon Song are not) I will vote against any and all future tax increases or extensions MTA puts on the table. The fact that even one minute of staff time is easted on self-flagellation like this is abhorrent. And, given how razor thin past MTA tax measures, like Measure J, have failed, and the lack of voter interest to drop the percentage amount for tax increases to pass, this is something that they need to consider – the voters who think that this is bad policy. The MTA Board has another chance, in January 2015, to reject the renaming of the stations and they need to do that.
I could not have put it better myself. There are a lot of people in LA who really dislike Metro, some have a legitimate reason, some merely like having someone to point the finger at.
That being said, the fact that this was even considered makes Metro look terrible, even to the people who genuinely love Metro and rely on this system for their day to day commutes and errands.
Please vote against this/publicly admit that it wasn’t a good idea. If not we will be adding ammunition to the Anti-Metro crusade.