While it may have looked like a done deal months ago, near the end of the meeting, board members and general counsel discussed the possibility of holding additional hearings to review an alternative budget proposal put forth by OPAL Environmental Justice, an advocacy group for transit riders which held a rally outside the meeting site across from TriMet's corporate office, in the former Advantis Credit Union building.
Ultimately, however, the board decided to approve
its own earlier proposal – with one amendment, proposed by Consuelo Saragoza, that $1 million of the budget's $20 million contingency fund be set aside to investigate ways to mitigate the effects cuts would have on low-income and impoverished riders, including a policy and economic analysis around the effects of service cuts and fare increases.TriMet adopts $2.50 flat fare, kills free rail zone after heated four-hour meeting | The Lund Report
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