My Updated Board Speech

Hello. I'm Cameron Johnson, 16 year old bus rider WITH OPAL's BUS RIDERS UNITE! CAMPAIGN. However, this time I am not speaking just for OPAL Bus Riders Unite. I'm speaking for everyone who is even the slightest involved with TriMet. Because it's no longer JUST Riders or JUST Union members.

Recently a letter was released from General Manager McFarlane to the Union regarding the LOOMING health CARE debacle. In the form of a veiled threat stated that if the workers didn't comply to the new healthcare, that TriMet would execute another $10,000,000 in service cuts. Now I'm sure that I'm not the only one who thinks this sounds like a devious threat.


Think about it. It's borderline extortion. If the Union were to still press on for their benefits, TriMet would open up the trapdoor on Bus Riders, and be able to say “If only your bus drivers had only complied to our terms, then you would not have suffered.” Then everyone's going to go up in arms against the drivers and the union.


But if riders go up in arms about this, the Union will see this as a force to concede and swallow the pill of a harsh blow to their benefits, then the riders are spared, but the drivers are going to have the riders to blame for their suffering.

Or it could go neither way. The Union presses on, riders get cut, and then they still screw over the drivers in the end. Then everyone's fighting with everyone. What you are forcing in this really cruel negotiation ploy will all but end in a riot. In some places, There's already an unfortunate schism between the general public and bus drivers

Don't tell me for an INSTANT that you can't get 10 million anywhere else. Do I need to bring up over-the-top salaries? Massive planning and consultants into future capital projects? Advertising “WES Works!” on buses in Gresham? ALSO, HOW ABOUT THAT YOU ACTUALLY SPEND MONEY PLAYING CLASSICAL MUSIC ON THE MAX? I mean, I'd much rather know my bus works than a train I'll probably never ride which never works anyways.

My point is, instead of fessing up and being responsible, you're starting to blind the riders and drivers of TriMet into fighting each other while hiding the fact that the only culprit here is you. You need to realize what your riders and drivers are worth. They are your backbone. They are your profit. It's high time that you took a moment and tried to benefit them instead of screwing them all over in one fell sweep when there are so many other ways you can get $10 million. We all do so much for you. Isn't it time you really did something for us?






Anyway, will upload my Twitter coverage of the meeting later.

My Next Board Meeting Speech-Please Give Advice! My Guts Need It!

Well, I finished my board meeting speech, already, yes, I know. But as I wrote it, I realized I was being pretty hard-hitting. Part of me thinks TriMet needs it but I don't wanna kick TriMet in the balls or anything, just splash water on them to wake them up.

Anyway, here we go. I'd appreciate advice and your opinion to make sure I'm not booted out or anything.

Hello. I'm Cameron Johnson, 16 year old bus rider. However, this time I am not speaking just for OPAL Bus Riders Unite. I'm speaking for everyone who is even the slightest involved with TriMet. Because it's no longer JUST Riders or JUST Union members.

Recently a letter was released from McFarlane to the Union regarding the health debacle. Pretty much flat out it stated that if the workers didn't comply to the new healthcare, that TriMet would execute another $10,000,000 in service cuts. Now I'm sure that I'm not the only one who thinks this sounds like a devious threat.

Now this is just too sneaky to sound like a mistake. Think about it. It's near blackmail. If the Union were to still press on for their benefits, TriMet would open up the trapdoor on Bus Riders, and be able to say “If only your bus drivers had only complied to our terms, then you would not have suffered.” Then everyone's going to go up in arms against the drivers and the union.

But if riders go up in arms about this, the Union will see this as a force to concede and swallow the pill of crappy benefits, then the riders are spared, but the drivers are going to have the riders to blame for their suffering.

Or it could go neither way. The Union presses on, riders get cut, and then they still screw over the drivers in the end. Then everyone's fighting with everyone. What you are forcing in this Hobson's Choice will all but end in a riot.

Don't tell me for an INSTANT that you can't get 10 million anywhere else. You say you have to replace the oldest buses in the fleet. Well tough luck, that should have taken place before you even made a vote about it, a vote, I may add, wouldn't even have gone towards new buses in the first place, rather operation costs to fill in your prior mistakes. And how do we even know it was going to operation costs, and not the MAX? I'm sure those old people on the poster you flaunted for the measure are thrilled to hear that.

Also you need money for the MAX Line. Cause you know the billion you gave last month wasn't enough. I know I pick on the MAX line a lot, but there's no way you can honestly tell me to my face that a loss of $10,000,000 would make it impossible to build the MAX. At most your shelters would have to go without glittery tiles.

My point is, instead of fessing up and being responsible, you're starting to blind everyone who rides or drives in TriMet into fighting each other while hiding the fact that the only culprit here is you. All because you're too miserly to spend $10 million on your employees. You need to realize what these people are worth. They are your backbone. They are your profit. They are what keeps your resume solid or keeps your budget higher than ours. It's high time that you took a moment and tried to benefit them instead of screwing them all over in one fell sweep. You attract more flies with honey than vinegar. I've tried to give you plenty of honey, but we're desperate for something sweet.

Just please...consider.

Took a look at the rules, or procedures for public testimony.

Me dun likey

1. There's 2 pages of rules. That's a lot!

2. They seriously can't spare more than an hour to listen to all their riders? >_>

3. And they're also going to tell us not to be repetitious? Uhm, I don't like that a lot. They're telling us how to speak? Most of us are smart enough to know that. And what if our speech is deemed repetitious? Mike cut?

4. It's just... why so much?

The board meeting laydown

Featuring SELECT tweets from my tweeterboard

Whoa... Jon Hunt of the ATU just got the biggest applause at the board meeting than every other testified combined BEFORE HE SPOKE.

Ah, one of the perks of bringing a protesting crowd of 50 into a crowded room. :D

Why is it the one meeting Lehrbach, the only sane board member, misses is the one where he is really needed? <_<

Yep, his presence was missed in this meeting of half-hearted board members.

Ah, look at all the smiley faces on the TriMet board. Seriously, all of them look like they ate a roadkill skunk. -_-

Yeah, seeing all the unhappy un-bull-tolerating members wasn't pleasant for them as much as it is when we swallow the bull with a fake smile on our faces. ;)

Van Beveren has the most discriminative habit of telling SOME people to hurry up if he doesn't like them. X_x

They installed a timer Wednesday! How nice! That means if they don't like your speech, they'll interrupt you until you leave. I mean, seriously, only if it's negative, as I'll explain later.

Shirley Carter is the most sensible person asked ever to speak by the board at the board meeting.

I don't know much about the safety committee, or if it's as full of it as the TriMet board, but if Shirley Carter's a sign of the Safety board she represented, then I wish I had been there. Spoke very intelligently about the interaction of bus drivers in people, defending both sides. I was in awe.

John Charles is now urging the board to postpone the decision on some grants. Watch as the board ignores everything he says

And then

Wow! I was right!

Seriously! I'm that awesome. -_-

And as a follow up

Here come the public speakers! Heck, you know what would shock me? If TriMet took ONE Single thing they said to heart

Spoiler Alert: They Didn't. Wait, wait a second...

I may just get my wish. A public speaker is supporting the Milwaukie rail. The one thing that matters to the board. <_<

Dang it, I gotta rephrase that wish.

Wow... never thought I would say this, but I miss that grouchy George Passa-something board president. Beveren's an inconsiderate old crab!

Okay, before some huge blogging community scandal breaks out, I may have used too strong a term for Beveren. But seriously, his scowl, his discrimination and his general attitude to non-worshipping speakers drives me up the wall, the ceiling and the chandelier.

Heh, I have never felt more confident speaking to the TriMet board

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhSoYsn8FH4&feature=player_embedded

(borken link) I killed it. I'm that awesome.

I hate it when people don't like all the cuts to the building of MLR when so many people are being completely screwed over by bus cuts.

Yeah, a nice lady who was nice enough to quote me in her speech unfortunately used her speech to complain about the rather insignificant cuts to Milwaukie MAX. Let's see... Cutting 6 whole bus lines in the last year or walking an extra block to a bus stop on Bybee. THIS IS NOT HARD PEOPLE.

Hey, board member. When you're doing a sigh of complaint, try not to do it into the microphone. X_x

A bit of a morbid LOL moment

'I ran into another friend of mine, this is Sandi Day.'-David Sale. I still gotta pull my jaw up! This is a guy who can forgive! Respect!

Quite possibly the best moment ever in a board meeting outside of my awesome, colorful presence. (JK)

Whoa-lee shiiiiiiiiiz... This guy has guts!

Nice way to tell TriMet to screw the timer, David Sale! :D

:) I am glad to see a special needs person speaking directly to TriMet. We need more positive.

A technically disabled but obviously very intelligent woman with a "disability" (I prefer to think of them as obstacles you can use to your advantage) praising TriMet for their easy use for handicapped people. And it may not seem like this, but even though I criticize the crap outta the board, I am a huge ally of TriMet's riders and system. It's pretty good.

Wow, Rick, nice way to let a Light Rail worshiper go as long as he wanted.

As I was saying earlier, the timer. It was red for 2 minutes while a person I do not remember the name of praised the Milwaukie Light Rail.

Lew Church is talking about sensitive subjects. Even though Lynn isn't here, I'ma duck my head to avoid gunfire.

Yeah... something about Reedville Cafe... I was too busy wincing to notice the rest.

'It is interesting when you speak to a committee and they give you blake stares.' A testifier says to a board full of blank stares.

Yep. Another dark irony brought to you by the Board of Developers.

Heh, the meeting is done. And that's not EVEN the most nervewracking thing I'm gonna be doing all day.

Yeah... no. You wish you knew. Or not.

You'll Not Oft Be "Board" At This Meeting!

Ok, if anyone wants to stand up and shoot me now for that pun, I invite you to- AFTER I finish telling you about the board meeting- IN TWEET FORM. I posted tweet-notes on my twitter page (well, just posted random thoughts to store for later on my page) And I'll lengthen them out in detail for you.

Tweet #1

'99.9% of our bus drivers know and follow the rules'-Neil. But it's the .1% that is magnified

Neil McFarlane touched up a bit on the Kindle Driver. He went on and on in a sort of Merry-Go-Round sermon about how it was unacceptable and he was on administrative leave, but he did manage to throw in the above statement, which leaves me to wonder "Why on earth do all the news in the city focus on that .1%?"

Tweet 2

A board member called accounting and audit exciting. I wouldn't know, I was too busy reading American Idol news.

Well, in reality, I spelled reading wrong, cause It's a phone. And right about this time, the Finance and Audit Committee came up for a very long report... right about then I zoned out and read Google News and so bored I was I read up on American Idol. Did I mention I was bored?

Anyway, at the end, Hakeem Olanrewaju (and yes I cut and paste the name) was telling one of the reporting peoples (doesn't feel right to call them reporters) that they were wrong about Accounting and Audit being boring. I had to hold in the urge to laugh. Trust me, I do a lot of math when making my plans and it's rarely fun or exciting. Olanrewaju sure needs to get out.

@trimet sure is mysterious about how much less of a chance buses get because of Light rail Buildings

Simply, Lynn Lehrbach asked how much the real estate TriMet was buying for the MAX was and Neil refused to tell him in public. But that's OK! My trusty friends at OPAL sorta knew the answer and told everyone later as part of their speech. (A total of $52,000,000 so far in 2010, don't quote me on that)

Jesus, we could get 100,000 people against Milwaukie max and it'd still be 7 ayes

Yep, that's classic TriMet. A guy comes up and makes a passionate, heartfelt, and hard-hitting speech about not buying said property on the MAX, and they voted 7 ayes quick as lightining. Half the room groaned, but did they care? No! Sure not, they just brushed it off like nothing happened and no bus service was going to be destroyed because of a building they were gonna destroy anyway for a few hundred feet of track.

As my English Friend Max Corby once said "I'm allergic to Bullsh**. Achoo."

In fact, that's what the whole agenda is! Rail, rail, rail, and replacement engines for our 1700s!

Pretty Self-Explanatory. Nothing but rail improvements on the agenda list except replacement engines for the buses. Which I was surprised to see pass.

God, Trimet, you make it SOOOOO hard to be an ally.

Also Self explanatory.

Go David Sale, even if I don't follow the religious influences

This guy is an amazing speaker. I mean, I don't like to say anything good came out of the tragic Old Town deaths, but if there was, his ability to speak is. He's definitely one of the best Safety Speakers out there. He spoke with long-time Safety Advocate Darla Sturdy and they both were amazing. They took up well over 20 minutes but no one seemed to care. If you want the video, I'd recommend checking Al M's Blog in a day or two from the post time for his full speech, because it is hard to describe in its entirety. I will say that I agree with most of it, even if I don't pray out loud during my speech. Was a nice touch though.

Just gave my speech. Rick spent half of it taking with someone. Thanks a lot.

Yeah, nice, huh? I was Thanking the board for their enactment of the Making A Difference Campaign and talking on educating youth about the bus system, and Rick spent nearly the whole time talking with the secretary. I nearly stopped and waited for him. It was annoying, and to add to it, I don't think I did an overwhelmingly good job at my speech. I also didn't like being told to stay under 3 minutes. I KNOW THAT. I plan ahead for being the only one who has to follow that.

Rick is trying so hard to shut Michael Levine up. SO HARD.

Yep. Mike Levine was giving account on several disabled people's being kicked off of LIFT for things they couldn't help. It went on a bit past 3 minutes, because the other board members were talking with him, and Rick was trying over and over to stop the conversation because, apparently, it was over 3 minutes. Now, as much I respect David Sale and Darla Sturdy, and could hear them talk for an hour, if they get 25 minutes to talk, then have a bit of leniency on the rest of us, all right?

Christ, Rick irritates me.

But the most epic part I didn't get a chance to tweet about.

If I had it'd say

OMG Lew Church and Lynn Lehrbach nearly get into shouting match!

But I may be blowing it out of proportion. I missed half of Lew's Speech during a phone call but when I got back in, I saw Lew walking away, like he had finished. Lynn, who is one of the nicest guys I know, called him back. Lew refused. Lynn simply started shouting out something about how dare he boycott Rick's Cafe, Reedville Cafe. Now, I accidentally read up on this, Ironically while researching Lynn Lehrbach, and I think it was because of their bad food, not because Rick was on the board and therefore Lew hated him and wanted to ruin his life. Lew tried to defend himself, and Lynn kept shouting back. For a bit. Rick himself actually broke in and calmed Lynn down. When the guy you're defending tells you to stop doing so, then that's a bit sobering, and, hey, I'd have stopped too.

All in all, a typical TriMet Board Meeting. One that would make my English Friend have an allergy attack.