Play ball! Big MTA meeting underway

And it's standing room only with overflow crowds being directed to 
the cafeteria. I'm in the board room and here's what I'm hearing:

There is a lot of concern from various interests that even if a sales 
tax is placed on the November ballot, the tax may not prioritize 
certain projects. The longer it takes to build projects, the more 
expensive they get.

So the big question is whether public officials from across giant Los 
Angeles County can cut a deal and unite to stump for a sales tax hike. 
And whether they can lock in language to get everyone's projects 
funded in a timely manner.

More later when the board starts making decisions.

--Steve Hymon

Comments

[Dan W.]

I just got back from the Metro Board of Directors Meeting. It was the zoo I expected.

There were large groups there in favor of the Expo Line and the Gold Line and the BRU.

One big pet peeve about the public comment portion:

Why does the BRU get a block of time (10 minutes) without an organization like the Rail Riders Union or SCTA or the Transit Coalition getting their 10 minutes? There were also other people with the BRU speaking as “individuals”. There were many people and many organizations with differing opinions who didn’t get to speak and be heard because the BRU was allowed 10 minutes, plus several individual comments as well.

Also, who is this John Walsh who spoke several times in his anti-rail rants when so many people, some who waited for hours didn’t get to speak once? I guess signing up to speak for every issue on the agenda is one way to get your same rant out there over and over again while depriving others of a chance to speak later.

As for the results, I had to leave after the public comments, but before any votes were taken. But, the attendance spilled over into the two backup rooms and the cafeteria. There is certainly a lot of passion about this topic, as their understandably should be.