Cap Metro Staff Shoots the Messenger!

 

Howdy Comrades!

Here we go again!  Cap Metro staff is recklessly attempting to make major changes to our service area once again.  Moreover, in the spirit of "kill the messenger", staff wants to combine the Access Advisory Committee with a puppet Advisory Committee that pretty much tows the line.  The line is towed when they manage to get a quorum, a real happening, if you get my drift.  I'm not sure how this post will appear now that we've gone to the Windows Seven platform, but I feel it's urgent to post the information before the April meeting of the Cap Metro Board.  Below is a thread of communications between the Access Advisory Committee liaison with the Customer Service Advisory Committee.  Any resemblance to actual persons may be a sheer coincidence or maybe not.

Regards,

Chairman Mal

Power to the Peeps!

Hello Transit Advocates!

I did not receive David's message in time to attend the CSAC meeting.  Be advised that both major consumer groups of the blind oppose any disruption of Metro Access service to these areas and will likely file complaints with the FTA if service is discontinued for any of their members.  I advise you of this not as a threat but to emphasize our opposition to the proposed combination of Advisory Committees and possible service changes affecting the blind community and others with mobility impairments.

Regards,

Malcolm Graham

Metro Access Member

Chair, Metro Access Subcommittee

----- Original Message -----

From: Chairman Mal

To: David Patterson

Sent: Wednesday, April 14, 2010 7:12 PM

Subject: Re: CSAC Meeting this evening

 

Howdy DP!

Thanks for this information.  Do i smell a whif of rushing to judgement recklessly without fully considering outcomes?  The answer is yes.  Metro Access customers, by and large, no nothing about the possibility that service changes proposed this month could result in their loss of paratransit service.  Moreover, it makes no sense to combine Advisory Committees at this time.  Members of the CSAC would face a steep learning curve in terms of understanding the complexities of paratransit services and Access Advisory Committee members will be shut out of much of the information because Metro staff has no plan to make information available to those of us requiring print material and visual information presented in alternative formats such as Braille and Audio Described presentations.

Regards,

Malcolm Graham

Access Advisory Committee

Chair, Metro Access Subcommittee

----- Original Message -----

From: David Patterson

To: Diane ; boonejblocker@austin.rr.com ; Malcolm Graham ; anelson004@austins.rr.com ; charlesshavers@gmail.com ; Jane Lansaw ; Mary Ellen Sanchez ; Michael Zitz-Evancih ; queenqew@hotmail.com ; Sandra Seekamp

Sent: Wednesday, April 14, 2010 4:22 PM

Subject: Fw: CSAC Meeting this evening

 

Colleagues,

For the ACCESS members, this is to forward tonight's CSAC agenda although I realize that you cannot now reserve a ride
for tonight's meeting.  As previously reported I will attempt to get CSAC to recommend to the Board to delay the final approval
until the May board meeting.

For CSAC two observations:

    1.  If what we do is so important to the board, it would seem that we could have our agenda out prior to the meeting date.

     2.  Once again we have NOT discussed the details of the fall 2010 service changes at CSAC, although I attempted to do
           that last month.  We did discuss Service Plan 2020, but without specific dates only non specific phases.

Respectfully,
dp

 

----- Forwarded Message ----
From: "Cortez, John-Michael" <John-Michael.Cortez@capmetro.org>
To: ~CSAC E-mail Group <~CSACE-mailGroup@capmetro.org>
Cc: "Perkins, Adam" <Adam.Perkins@capmetro.org>; "Caldwell, Dinita" <Dinita.Caldwell@capmetro.org>; "Gonzalez, Roberto" <Roberto.Gonzalez@capmetro.org>; "Gamez, James" <James.Gamez@capmetro.org>
Sent: Wed, April 14, 2010 10:13:23 AM
Subject: CSAC Meeting this evening

We look forward to the CSAC meeting this evening.  Below is the proposed agenda.  The focus of this evening's meeting is the proposed August Service Changes.  As mentioned previously, these recommended service changes were discussed several times at CSAC as they were developed through the ServicePlan2020 process.  Information on the proposals is available at the link below.  Additionally, over the course of the past few weeks our staff have been out in the community to get input on these proposals. We heard some great input on these proposed changes from riders and have recently made some alterations to the proposals based on customer feedback – a link to that information is also below.   Our Board is currently scheduled to act on these proposals at their April meeting, and we hope to have CSAC provide the Board with some formal recommendations on the proposals for their deliberations.  

 

Please advise me if you CANNOT attend the meeting this evening, 6 PM at 323 Congress.  Thanks – jmvc

 

 

Proposed August Service Change: http://www.capmetro.org/news/news_detail.asp?id=8437

 

Updates to service change proposals: http://capmetroblog.com/2010/04/12/fall-2010-service-change-proposal-revisions/

 

 

 

 

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION ADVISORY COMMITTEE 

 

Wednesday April 14, 2010

323 Congress Avenue

6:00 PM

Agenda

 

I.                    Introduction of CSAC members, staff, and visitors

II.                  Approval of Minutes for January 13, 2010, February 10, 2010 and March 10, 2010 CSAC Meetings

III.                Citizens Communication

IV.               Proposed Fall 2010 Service Changes

V.                 FY 2011 Budget Guidelines

 

 

VI.               CSAC Officer Vacancy

VII.             Report from Urban Transportation Commission – Rich MacKinnon

VIII.           Report from ACCESS Committee – David Patterson

IX.               Report on Action Items – John-Michael Cortez

X.                 Discussion Regarding May Agenda Items:

A.     Vehicle Maintenance Update

B.     MetroRail Update

C.    All Systems Go! Update (Regional Service Expansion)

D.    Customer Call Reports

E.     Capital MetroRapid Update

F.     Facilities and Amenities update

G.    Update on Basic Transportation Needs Proposal

H.     MetroRail Connectors and Downtown Circulator

XI.               New/Other Business

A.     Restructuring of Board Advisory Committees

B.     Proposed CSAC Meeting locations

C.    Items from CSAC members

D.    Capital Metro Board of Directors Regular Meeting 3 PM 04/26 - Report from CSAC

 

XII.              Adjourn

 

 

 

 

 

 

John-Michael V. Cortez

Capital Metro

512.436.0250