MY LETTER TO SHELLY LOMAX REGARDING 'MY AGENDA'

Dear Ms Lomax;

I feel the need to respond to your recent article regarding  "people's agenda's" and the recording/posting of dispatch calls.
Maybe I need to trace how this came to be for you.

Before tracing the history I want you to know there was a time when Trimet managers were not afraid of the 'truth and criticism' .
That all changed when Mr Mcfarlane and you became top executives at Trimet.
All of a sudden this 'zero tolerance' of everything that you executives don't approve of which also included my off the job activities.


I am sure you have no idea what a 'transit geek' is because you are basically a careerist, seeking money and power, which are the goals of all careerists.
Transit geeks are people that have a passion for transit related material.
Basically its not much different that someone obsessed with sports and sports culture.
Of course sports and sport culture is an acceptable obsession in these United States of America so nobody takes notice of that.
An obsession with Transit is something that nobody thinks 'possible' which leads to remarks like yours, "AGENDA" as just listening to dispatch calls cannot possibly happen without an agenda!
Well I got news for you Ms Lomax, some of us want to know how things are going out here in the world of our transit, just for the sake of it.

Now let's trace how things came to be the way they are today.
Before the advent of technology I used to write short stories about the things that happened to me as a transit employee.
Most of these stories revolved around negative experiences, the reason for that was because there was no other avenue available for me as an employee to express myself.
Some of us don't take well to being just a number, I include myself in that group.
Things would happen to me and I would have no voice in the outcome of these events.
The response was always the same "take to your union". And of course if the union didn't take up your cause (which they don't)  that was supposed to be the end of it.
It's not easy for someone to accept that solution to all things that occurred to me as an employee of the district.

Hence the beginning of a somewhat negative tone, because there was no other way to express my frustrations.

Now the transit blogger in me was always seeking information about transit operations and the reality behind it.
Then technology started making its presence in our lives.
I became fascinated with the lives of my riders and my experiences behind the wheel, that lead to a year of 'behind the wheel' videos and interviews with real Trimet riders and other drivers.
They too were frustrated that they couldn't get heard by the monolithic company known as Trimet.
So the video camera started becoming a place where complaints could be made, maybe ignored officially but the complaints are there for others to see.

Then there were some high profile crashes involving 'stupid' transit employees texting and driving then crashing.
So that ended the period of behind the wheel videos. I wasn't particularly happy with the way the management handled that but the manager at that time was progressive enough to understand why I was bothered and actually came to apologize. Something that would never happen with you managers today.

After that little hobby of mine ended I started looking for other sources of information.
At that time I had access to Trimet's 'acid' reports which just fascinated me. I shared the really good ones with people that were also interested in the topic.
It was a fairly popular item, getting to read about the real incidents and accidents by transit employees.
Hence my fascination getting information about the 'real goings on' at the transit district.

Well after awhile the management didn't want that information put out so they denied my access to it.

That was not going to stop my hunt for information being a 'transit geek'.
One thing you don't seem to grasp, I am not the only 'transit geek' in Portland.
There are other transit geeks that are also good at finding material, actually much better than me at finding material.

One of these geeks brought out the possibility of getting Trimet scanners.
Once I got into the scanner it became hard to put down.
All the action of the world of transit right there in real time, much better than the acid reports.
Not only that but we developed technology that brought the Trimet scanner to the world, something that other places in the world have contacted us about.

And as time went on it became possible to record action just after it occurred.

Now basically what we have developed is an independent news source that concentrates on transit.

There was never an agenda, all of it happened as a result of other forces. 

When 'you' made it clear that I could not pursue my off the job hobbies and be an employee is when I left the district.
Of course now I have plenty of time everyday to myself to pursue my hobby.

And that is exactly what I am doing.

Sorry if that offends you but I fail to understand why 'reporting' on Trimet is such an offense to you?
Well I actually I know the answer to that.
Trimet communications is useless to the public to show the real side of Trimet, and our little band of 'losers' is capable of showing the side of transit that the world would never see otherwise.
Personally I think its quite an accomplishment.

Now the fact that our company has violated its contract with its past employees is disturbing, and I will continue fighting for what I see as our 'rights' which have been stripped away by you and Mr Mcfarlane.

And just like you use your trimet communications to promote your agenda I use my blog to promote mine (and others who get no voice)

THERE IS NO AGENDA-ITS JUST REPORTING!

AL MARGULIES