Metrolink chief's job in jeopardy

The Metrolink Board of Directors has put an item on its agenda for today's meeting that allows members to discuss in closed session whether they want to terminate CEO David R. Solow. Whether they make such a decision remains to be seen.

Solow has been  under the microscope since the Sept. 12 Metrolink crash in Chatsworth that killed 25 people.

Solow took over Metrolink's top spot in 1998 from Chief Executive Richard Stanger after an audit criticized agency leaders for the way they handled contracts, billings, employee relations and planning.

Until now, no one on Metrolink's board has said Solow's $220,000-a-year job was in jeopardy.But several members have expressed to The Times disapproval of the railroad's reaction immediately after the Chatsworth crash. "I think he did an abysmal job the weekend of the incident," said Richard Katz, who was appointed to the Metrolink board shortly after the accident, in an interview with The Times last fall.

-- Steve Hymon

More: Jeff Gottlieb's profile of Solow.

Photo: David R. Solow. Credit: Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[calwatch]

Even if Solow wasn't to blame for the botched handling of the crash aftermath, he is to blame for staying in that position for too long (11 years!) Roger Snoble had the right idea when he decided that he had accomplished what he had needed to do and gracefully exited. Solow needs to do the right thing and voluntarily resign, while helping the successor clean up the mess and implement new safety procedures on trains.

[Pete Begich]

I have been riding the commuter rails twice a day every work day for 25 years and riding Metrolink since its first day of service. Amtrak has been, and always will be it seems, the "F-Troop" of commuter railroading and they have not improved in those 25 years. Metrolink has been a breath of fresh air from its inception with timely schedules and well-maintained equipment and what is really an enviable safety record. Now because one engineer was stupid enough to do some typing instead of taking care of business, we're supposed to forget all the rest that Solow has accomplished? Just one more sickening example of the Pound-of-Flesh / Scapegoat mob mentality ! Blame the engineer for the people who died... it was HIS fault... not Solow's ! Politically incorrect?