MPO committee holds meeting - and few show up
The Metropolitan Planning Organization’s brand new Fiscal Priorities Committee — one of two newly created to help facilitate and speed up the county’s efforts to identify and fund “must-have-now” transportation projects —had a scheduled meeting on Monday at 2 p.m. at the Commission Chambers.
Only two MPO committee members showed up – chairwoman Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava and Vice Chair Oliver Gilbert. That’s it. The other five members were no-shows, even though the county attorneys at the meeting waited an extra 30 minutes – in case of bad traffic.
Ultimately, the meeting had to be canceled due to a lack of quorum.
Granted, it’s a weekend following a hurricane threat. But we all went back to work on Monday and checked to see if we had scheduled meeting.
An obviously embarrassed Ms. Levine Cava apologized to those in the audience and those who had come to make presentations in front of the committee.
Among the items on the agenda for the two-hour meeting:
A presentation on Bus Rapid Transit by Benjamin de la Peña of the Knight Foundation.
The committee was required to take action on a Transportation Improvement Program/Long Range Transportation Plan. Zilch was done.
They were to deal with amendments to the Bus Rapid Transit requested by MPO Chairman Jean Monestime. Nada
And they were hear reports from the first and Last Mile Options and a discussion on Potential Funding Sources.
None of it happened.
Instead, those who had bothered to trek downtown to attend the meeting where sent back into Miami-Dade’s bad traffic without accomplishing much.
Who do we complain about that?
In an editorial earlier this year that took the MPO – the under-the-radar agency which approves every major county transportation projects and sets the course of the future - to task, the Miami Herald noted how often quorum is not met at MPO board or committee meetings forcing them to be cancelled, in essence delaying the process of fixing out transportation problems something we can no longer afford.
At the time, MPO chairman, Mr. Monestime, complained to the board, insisting poor attendance was not an issue.
Since his visit, three committee or MPO board meetings have been canceled due top lack of quorum.
In recent weeks the MPO, which is still rudderless as it begins the process of picking an Executive Director, had made significant progress in getting onboard the train to get Miami-Dade out of gridlock.
In fact, among the good moves had been the creation by Mr. Monestime of the Fiscal Priorities Committee and a second committee, the Transportation Planning Technical Advisory Committee, headed by Commissioner Dennis Moss.
Monday’s poor showing at such an important meeting is another set back. Too bad.
Commissioner’s Moss’ committee is set to meet on Wednesday. Let’s see how many committee members actually show up to this one.
Ultimately, the meeting had to be canceled due to a lack of quorum.
Granted, it’s a weekend following a hurricane threat. But we all went back to work on Monday and checked to see if we had scheduled meeting.
An obviously embarrassed Ms. Levine Cava apologized to those in the audience and those who had come to make presentations in front of the committee.
Among the items on the agenda for the two-hour meeting:
A presentation on Bus Rapid Transit by Benjamin de la Peña of the Knight Foundation.
The committee was required to take action on a Transportation Improvement Program/Long Range Transportation Plan. Zilch was done.
They were to deal with amendments to the Bus Rapid Transit requested by MPO Chairman Jean Monestime. Nada
And they were hear reports from the first and Last Mile Options and a discussion on Potential Funding Sources.
None of it happened.
Instead, those who had bothered to trek downtown to attend the meeting where sent back into Miami-Dade’s bad traffic without accomplishing much.
Who do we complain about that?
In an editorial earlier this year that took the MPO – the under-the-radar agency which approves every major county transportation projects and sets the course of the future - to task, the Miami Herald noted how often quorum is not met at MPO board or committee meetings forcing them to be canceled, in essence delaying the process of fixing out transportation problems something we can no longer afford.
At the time, MPO chairman, Mr. Monestime, complained to the board, insisting poor attendance was not an issue.
Since his visit, three committee or MPO board meetings have been canceled due top lack of quorum.
In recent weeks the MPO, which is still rudderless as it begins the process of picking an Executive Director, had made significant progress in getting onboard the train to get Miami-Dade out of gridlock.
In fact, among the good moves had been the creation by Mr. Monestime of the Fiscal Priorities Committee and a second committee, the Transportation Planning Technical Advisory Committee, headed by Commissioner Dennis Moss.
Monday’s poor showing at such an important meeting is another set back. Too bad.
Commissioner’s Moss’ committee is set to meet on Wednesday.
Let’s see how many committee members actually show up to this one?
This story was originally published August 31, 2015 at 6:54 PM with the headline "MPO committee holds meeting - and few show up."