Metro riders and transit advocates have expressed concern about the Virginia governor’s request to appoint two representatives to Metro’s board of directors, in place of local elected officials who currently fill the seats, saying the local politicians tend to be more responsive than other appointees already on the board.
Now, one says she has proof that Gov. Bob McDonnell and his Richmond-based administration may not be responsive enough to riders’
concerns already.
Penny Everline, an Arlington rider who serves on Metro’s Riders Advisory Council, said she hasn’t received a response to two e-mails and two phone calls to the McDonnell administration about the plan to withhold $50 million in state funding to the transit agency unless he gets the seats on the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s board (www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/Congressmen-slam-McDonnell_s-threat-to-withhold-Metro-_50M-96613324.html
She said she was told after calling the governor’s office that he had a backlog of mail, as did the transportation secretary, delaying a response to her June 7 e-mail. After she said a June 17 e-mail also went unanswered, even by automated response, she wrote a third missive on Thursday:
“I must say that if this experience with my governor’s office and the
Secretary of Transportation’s office is any indication of how a
governor-appointed representative on the WMATA board would respond to
a WMATA rider’s concern or inquiry, I do not want a bovernor-appointed
representative,” she wrote. “Put simply, this lack of responsiveness
is NOT in the best interest of Metro or its customers.”
The governor’s office did not immediately return a call for comment.
