Metro Meeting Wednesday Provides Opportunity for Input on New Colors Proposed for Rail

As our friends at The Source have previously noted, Metro is in the midst of creating "distinctive styling and graphics for the new [Kinkisharyo] rail cars as well as the entire rail fleet". A presentation on the light rail vehicle color paint scheme by Jorge Pardo, Director of Art & Design for Creative Services at Metro, will be made Wednesday at 6:30 pm at the monthly General Assembly meeting of Metro's Citizens' Advisory Council (CAC).

After the presentation there will be a period for questions and answers, first by the CAC members followed by those members of the public who have signed up in advance to speak (in this case for agenda item #3). Generally there is a limit of 60 seconds for the public to pose their questions although often between the staff presentation and the questions posed by the Council members I find there is little of substance left to ask about. The agenda is posted at this link.

I have been attending the Council meetings on a regular basis for over a decade. The presentations by Metro staff are informative and unlike at the Metro Board meeting not done at a gallop. Plus the questions the Council members raise are often probing and illuminating. Quite a lot I know about transit was learned from witnessing these meetings and the information presented therein.

The meeting is at Metro's headquarters building on the third floor. Walk past the security guard, turn left at the security gates and go forward past the bank of elevators and through the double doors to the Union Station conference room. Who knows?

Besides me and the usual 2-3 regulars maybe John Walsh (who attends CAC meetings 2-3 times a year) will show up. Sometimes he can be bombastic (as is his habit at the Metro Board meetings) but other times asks quite pertinent questions. And I do think staff take seriously the concerns raised by the Council members and even those of us in the audience. So if you wish to give feedback on the new color scheme proposal here is a great opportunity to share it with the Metro staff overseeing the project.

During the general public comment portion of the meeting (agenda item #6) I will be using my 60 seconds as an ambassador to the CAC on behalf of the Rail Users' Network, a non-profit educational organization dedicated to the betterment of the rail passenger system of North America. After being a member for some years I recently joined the Board of Directors of RUN for a three year term. Via conference call I listened to its annual meeting held Oct. 17th jointly with the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority Citizen Advisory Committee (SEPTA operates public transit services for Philadelphia and environs). Emphasis was placed on RUN's desire to work with agency advisory committees, as evidenced by the announcement that RUN will hold its 2014 annual conference in Philadelphia in cooperation with the SEPTA CAC along with other local rail organizations such as the Delaware Valley Association of Rail Passengers. There has been expressed a desire at some point for RUN to hold its annual conference on the West Coast as part of a drive to increase its membership and presence on this end of the country. I'll be handing out copies of the latest RUN newsletter to the Metro CAC members and encourage them to consider exploring formal ties with RUN in hopes that facilitates the conference being held in Los Angeles some year after 2014. Any L.A. Streetsblog readers wishing to consider joining RUN should send an e-mail inquiry to Chairman Richard Rudolph at rrudolph@fairpoint.net; he'll be glad to send a sample newsletter which includes a membership form on the back cover. If nothing else membership is worthwhile because it includes a subscription to RUN's quarterly newsletter which includes excellent coverage of rail news around the U.S. by local activists. I always read it cover to cover. And even contribute articles from time to time.

I'll conclude with some Metro CAC related housecleaning. My June post on the Metro Budget included a defective link to a presentation made to the CAC on May 22nd as noted in a comment by NM. Here is a belated link to the document, with my abject apology. All I can say is my then impending trip north distracted me from fixing it at the time and thereafter things have just been a bit too chaotic to find time to fix this oversight. Oh, well. I guess better late than never.