Norton Concerned for the Future of Metro Leadership in a Time of Crisis (1/14/2010)

Norton Concerned for the Future of Metro Leadership in a Time of Crisis

January 14, 2010

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today issued the following statement on the retirement of Metro's General Manager, John Catoe:

"When the last General Manager of Metro was forced out, John Catoe inherited a Metro system in deep crisis. He showed considerable skill in keeping a floundering ship afloat while Congress waited for years, despite the urging of the region, to authorize funding essential for beginning to resuscitate Metro's aging infrastructure, and appropriated the first 10 percent only a few weeks ago. In stepping aside, Mr. Catoe has taken a principled step based on his view that new leadership would better focus the public on the challenges at hand. He may be right that the time has come for a crisis manager, but considering the perfect storm of a recession, decreasing ridership, increasing capital costs and the need for new revenue, Metro will be fortunate, indeed, to find a new General Manager not only equal to the task, but desirous of taking it on."

Click here for Norton Op-Ed on Metro-Federal connection, published in the Washington Post.