Esperanza at the podium [1]

Last Tuesday, MTA notified the public of a Special Board meeting misleadlingly titled "2009 Long Range Transportation Plan workshop." This "workshop" was actually where they were scheduled to adopt the 2009 LRTP. The public had not seen an updated version of the LRTP since 2008! We knew we had to stop this undemocratic, unethical vote.

We immediately sent a letter to the MTA and reached out to Mayor Villaraigosa [2] to do the right thing. Meanwhile, within 48 hrs we mobilized 30 volunteer members to the Board meeting with a dozen of them prepared to vocally disturb the meeting if the Board seemed to be moving in the direction take a vote.

Our ability to respond quickly to lay the record and mobilize our people to this "workshop" created the necessary presence and pressure to stop the vote without having to disrupt it. We did it! The breakdown of what happened is in our press release [3].

Our members were excited to see that this is what can happen when we are well organized. For many of them, it was an important experience to see that the MTA boardroom is where a lot of the action takes place. We were approached constructively by the new CEO Art Leahy during the meeting and by Mayor Villaraigosa after the meeting.

So the LRTP will get voted on at the MTA board meeting on July 23. Until then, we're going to be organizing:

to build the support for our Clean Air and Economic Justice Plan [4] to push the need to create a concrete plan for Measure R 20% Bus Improvement Fund and
to reshape the LRTP to prioritize saving the planet from the climate crisis. The LRTPs we've seen do not address greenhouse gas reductions, limiting the auto and providing viable transit alternatives to the car.

Stay tuned...

At the podium

BRU member Rosa Miranda at the podium [5]

Mayor Villaraigosa steps outside to converse with BRU members

Mayor Villaraigosa steps outside to converse with BRU members [6]

Event Slideshow

Links:
[1] http://www.thestrategycenter.org/sites/www.thestrategycenter.org/files/BRU/Blogs/20090618_espyatpodium.JPG
[2] http://www.thestrategycenter.org/blog/2009/06/17/letter-mayor-villaraigosa-re-mtas-long-range-transportation-plan
[3] http://www.thestrategycenter.org/news/pr/2009/06/17/bru-helps-halt-mta-approval-long-range-transportation-plan
[4] http://www.thestrategycenter.org/campaign/clean-air-and-economic-justice-plan-measure-r
[5] http://www.thestrategycenter.org/sites/www.thestrategycenter.org/files/BRU/Blogs/20090618_atpodium.JPG
[6] http://www.thestrategycenter.org/sites/www.thestrategycenter.org/files/BRU/Blogs/20090618_mayorvisit.JPG