Norton Presses GSA to Fill Metro Board Vacancies (10/25/2010)
Norton Presses GSA to Fill Metro Board Vacancies
October 25, 2010
WASHINGTON, DC -- The Office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today released a letter Norton sent to General Services Administration (GSA) Administrator Martha Johnson urging GSA to quickly fill the remaining two vacancies on the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (Metro) Board of Directors. In her letter, Norton says, "Concern about the time that you have taken to appoint directors to the Metro Board is justified, particularly considering the safety issues that have plagued Metro over the past several years, including the June 2009 Red Line train collision, the worst tragedy in Metro's 34-year history."
In 2008, Congress passed the Rail Safety Improvement Act, authorizing GSA to appoint four directors to Metro's Board. However, GSA did not fill the first two Board seats until January of this year, leaving two seats still vacant.
"The Metro Board is central to the policies and operations of the national capital region's public transportation system," said Norton. "GSA must quickly work to identify and select candidates for the two remaining seats on Metro's Board by year's end."
The Congresswoman's full letter follows.
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Martha Johnson
Director
U.S. General Services Administration
1800 F Street, NW
Washington, DC 20405
Dear Administrator Johnson:
As you are aware, Congress passed the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (P.L. 110-432), after years of hard work by the Washington area delegation in Congress, which authorizes the General Services Administration (GSA) to appoint four new directors to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority Board of Directors. The Metro Board is at the center of the policies and operations of this vital public transportation system of the national capital region. The two snowstorms last winter forced the shutdown of Metro and, consequently, the federal government, demonstrating that Metro is indispensable to the operations and functioning of the federal government itself. However, it was not until January 2010 that you appointed the first two directors, Mortimer Downey and Marcel Acosta, to the Metro Board, and two GSA Board seats remain vacant.
Concern about the time that you have taken to appoint directors to the Metro Board is justified, particularly considering the safety issues that have plagued Metro over the past several years, including the June 2009 Red Line train collision, the worst tragedy in Metro's 34-year history. Congress has already appropriated the first $150 million of the $1.5 billion authorized for Metro in the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008, and the second installment has been approved in fiscal year 2011 by the House and Senate appropriations committees. Metro is about to appoint a new General Manager, and the Board is in the midst of overseeing Metro's response to the National Transportation Safety Board report on the 2009 Red Line train collision. I know you agree that during this most critical time in the history of Metro, a full Board complement is both necessary and overdue.
I ask that you quickly work to fill the two remaining Metro Board positions before the end of this calendar year.
Sincerely,
Eleanor Holmes Norton