Had an informal meeting with Johnell Bell today

Johnell Bell-equity director at Trimet

Johnell would not allow any sort of recording as this little meeting was strictly off the record so I can only report what I can remember as I didn't even have a pencil with me.

First of all he is an extremely personable man. Very likable, very articulate and extremely intelligent. He explained to me that this is not his first paid job, which is something I have reported on my blog which was incorrect. He has worked for Merkly, Wheeler, and one other wheel who I can't remember right now. In other words he is very connected to the insiders in Portland.

 He is very proud of his committee, the Transit Equity Committee which apparently is the first of its type in the country. I asked him how the board was appointed and he said the General Manager which of course brought a smirk to my face. BUT he explained that this is no puppet comittee and that even OPAL is on it. With an OPAL representative I felt better about that committee because I know OPAL representatives have no direct connection to TRIMET.

 He was also very proud of the minority business contracting program and I have acknowledged that this is a good thing myself. Obviously there are some positive economic impacts to a billion and a half dollars being pumped into the local economy even if a huge chunk of that ends up with the usual benefactors.

Johnell told me that minority people do use Light Rail more than the 'choice riders' I was unable to get a clear picture of the methodology used to determine this statistic.
He agreed with me that Trimet needs to have a low income pass and says he is working toward that. He kept hooking housing with transit in this conversation. And of course he comes down to the 'who's gonna pay for this'. (of course I would be cutting bureaucracy to pay for these things)

That's about all I can remember about the meeting and I give him huge props for having the guts to meet with me. He thinks people need to get out of the 'tower' and get with the 'real people' (I'm paraphrasing)

After meeting with him face to face I take back my 'uncle Tom charge'. I think he does care about the minority populations. Without adequate notes I can't remember specifics since his language is the language of technocrats.