Posts tagged Wmata Governance
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Govs, Gray hastily jump on BOT’s WMATA bandwagon
Last night, following a conference call between Governors O’Malley (MD) and McDonnell (VA) and DC Mayor-Elect Vince Gray, a press release went out seeming to endorse the recommendations in the Board of Trade’s report on WMATA governance. The press release from the offices of the three executives seemed to endorse the report’s recommendations, including… Keep reading…
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Serious fixes for WMATA, part 4: Act regionally as a group
Do you have opinions on WMATA governance? Come talk about it at a public meeting tonight, 7 pm at WMATA HQ, 600 5th Street, NW. Also, the Board of Trade and MWCOG will release their report on WMATA governance this morning. It should be interesting to see what the group, co-chaired by DC Council Chair-elect Kwame Brown, has signed on to. Continuing our discussion of the RAC report on… Keep reading…
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Serious fixes for WMATA, part 3: Bring in the CEO
Previously, we discussed two of the six elements of the Riders’ Advisory Council’s report on WMATA governanace: setting high standards for Board members’ attendance and ridership, and the Board focusing on high-level policy. Another very important element of the recommendations is getting more of a CEO to run WMATA, and treating him or her like a CEO. WMATA… Keep reading…
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Serious fixes for WMATA, part 2: Set goals and policies
Besides appointing members who actually show up to meetings and ride transit, the WMATA Board can start fixing the authority’s problems by spending more time on high-level policies and performance metrics instead of trying to decide every individual small issue. One of the biggest criticisms of the Board has been that they micromanage the agency. Ironically, one of… Keep reading…
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What can we seriously do to fix WMATA?
Everyone agrees WMATA has problems. Unfortunately, there are a lot more criticisms of the problems going around than actual solutions. That’s because solutions are hard. But if we’re going to actually fix WMATA, instead of just complaining about it, we need to seriously discuss how to fix what’s broken. Calling for all WMATA Board members to be lined… Keep reading…
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Metro’s governance task force needs more sunshine
Back in May a group of business leaders formed a task force to look into how Metro is governed. Soon thereafter the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments appointed a group of former elected officials, staff and three current elected officials to join the cause. As a member of MWCOG’s Board of Directors, I voted against MWCOG’s involvement because I didn’t… Keep reading…
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Should there be two WMATA Boards?
What is the WMATA Board supposed to be? Should it be a high-level policy board, which only looks at big picture issues and leaves specifics to the General Manager? Or should it be delving into decisions of staff to try to make sure any problems are rooted out? Should it be made up of a number of elected officials, like a legislature, which listens to citizens but is perhaps somewhat… Keep reading…
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Dear COG and Board of Trade: Democracy is healthy
Last week, the Board of Trade/COG WMATA Governance Task Force held a public meeting to hear ideas from stakeholders about improving WMATA’s governance. Sadly, the Board of Trade and COG continued their trend of keeping the task force quite distant from those who actually work hard to improve WMATA. The meeting was structured like a typical public hearing where public… Keep reading…
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Give input on new railcars, WMATA governance
Tomorrow, the WMATA Riders’ Advisory Council is holding a public meeting on the design of the 7000 series railcars, the next generation cars WMATA will be shortly purchasing. Riders have often asked for more opportunities to talk directly with WMATA staff on important issues. The design of the 7000 series cars is one issue very important to riders. Last time we discussed… Keep reading…
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On the calendar: Panel tonight, happy hour next week, WMATA governance, 7000 series railcars
Sustainable mobility here and around the world: Tonight, I’m speaking on a panel hosted by the Heinrich Böll Foundation and Goethe-Institut about bicycling, walking, and public transportation. Keep reading…