Do we finally have a TriMet board member who’s actually willing to fight for better transit service?
At their meeting on Wednesday, TriMet Board Member JT Flowers spoke like someone who’s willing to push not just for better bus service on 82nd Avenue, but someone who’s willing to push his colleagues on the board to join him. This is a welcome change.
There’s been a fair amount of chatter in advocacy circles over the years about the fact that the TriMet board doesn’t represent riders and the people. The fact that it’s appointed by the governor has not sat well with folks, and there’s the fact that there have been a lot of board members historically who don’t actually ride transit every day. However, the current crop of board members is beginning to show some promise.
When 30-year old JT flowers was appointed about a year ago, I was really intrigued. Given that his work on the Albina Vision Project — where his sense of purpose and progress on that bold idea to re-establish a neighborhood for Black Portlanders around the Moda Center and I-5 has led to significant progress on that project — I’ve been waiting for flowers to flex his muscles on the TriMet board. And I think the issue of bus lanes on the 82nd Avenue Transit Project might be just the place when he starts to do so.
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Wow! That’s one impressive guy. He knows how to put the pressure on and speak up for the community! No surprise given he’s Oregon’s first black Rhodes Scholar, Truman Scholar, chairs a CDC board, and other things. Woah! This guy better be getting ready for a run for office. I can’t wait to vote for him.
Thanks for this, Jonathan. It is heartening to see JT Flowers speak up like this on the 82nd Avenue transit downgrade. I wish we would have had him fighting for Bus Rapid Transit with a dedicated lane on Powell Boulevard.
For years TriMet has run its board, not the other way around. It looks like Flowers is trying to be what TriMet Board members are supposed to be: transit policymakers. Good for him! He’s going to need support.
TriMet’s board meetings tend to be nothing but highly orchestrated propaganda, designed to keep the board and the public sleeping. Maybe this is the issue that will lead to real oversight and public direction to the organization.
Headline of the week. Portland needs more leaders like JT Flowers, who see the big picture, who care about outcomes, and who we can trust. As JT says, it is a no-brainer for a transit authority to show up locked arm-in-arm with their ridership.
I’ve been waiting for this since I started riding TriMet in the 1970’s!
High hopes!
Thanks for highlighting this part of the meeting, Jonathan. I really appreciated not only the thrust of his message but the clarity with which he said it. Here’s to hoping that his call to have the agency “lock arms” with transit riders will inspire the rest of the board and TriMet leadership to expand its ambitions. I know staff and leadership have been in the trenches working hard on rebuilding the system post-pandemic, but it’s so important not to just do that mostly behind-the-scenes work but also to set high goals that inspire the region. Political courage is essential for Portland to continue to lead the way on equity and responding to the climate emergency.
He’s exactly the kind of voice and perspective needed at TriMet. I feel like the last time TriMet was forward thinking about anything was the construction of the Tilkikum Crossing. Since then it has been a decade of half measures, like the ‘barely BRT’ FX2 and service cuts. Good to see someone on the board who is willing to fight for big ideas.