Inglewood: ‘Metro’ TOD City Hall Meetings Could be ‘Cut & Paste’
http://citywatchla.com/4box-right/4231-inglewood-metro-tod-city-hall-meetings-could-be-cut-paste
Written by Randall Fleming
21
Dec
2012
INSIDE INGLEWOOD - Are City of Inglewood executives allowing residents of Inglewood to believe that LA County Metro is responsible for recent Transit-Oriented Development meetings? One might easily infer exactly that from two December meetings held in Conference Room A at city hall in Inglewood.
The first meeting was held on Wednesday, December 5 and featured
Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts, who spoke to the group. Also attending
was former Inglewood Mayor Danny K. Tabor, District 4 council member
Ralph L. Franklin and at least one person wearing an orange vest with
reflective stripes bearing the Metro logo. Neither Tabor, nor Franklin,
nor the person with a Metro vest spoke. The meeting was hosted in part
by San Luis Obispo-based RRM Design Group and the key speaker appeared
to be the firm's Principal Landscape Architect, Tony Keith.
The second meeting was on Saturday, December 15. According to the
December 13 edition of the newsletter Inglewood Today, "councilmember
(sic) Ralph Franklin announced the City (sic) is sponsoring a meeting
Saturday, Dec. 15 to get community input about the future of downtown in
regard (sic) to the future transit station near LaBrea and Florence."
The implication was that Franklin would again be present. It was the
second of two such meetings. One difference between the two meetings was
that neither Butts, nor Franklin, nor Tabor was present at the second
one.
Employed at both meetings were PowerPoint presentations prominently
featuring the City of Inglewood seal and the Metro and rrmdesigngroup
logos. The PowerPoint clearly mimicked the design style of Metro
PowerPoint presentations.
The striking resemblance of Metro's signature design style was also found in a document titled "TAP-Report-Inglewood-Florence-La-Brea-Station-2011.pdf,"
a report which was published in part by the City of Inglewood. In the
24-page report, Linda Tatum is identified in photographs as well as
formally acknowledged. Also of note is the term "TAP" in the title,
which does not mean Metro's TAP (Transit Access Program) but "Technical
Assistance Panel." The report was never mentioned during the TOD
meetings.
At both meetings, the same three people spoke at length to the
attendees about the importance of community input regarding the Metro
station to be placed at La Brea and Florence. One was Keith. The other
two were City of Inglewood executives, Linda F. Tatum and Mawusi K.
Watson. Tatum is the Planning Manager for the City of Inglewood's
Planning and Building Department, and Watson is the Executive Assistant
to the City Manager of Inglewood. Keith, who introduced himself as the
"Principal Landscape Architect of RRM Design Group,” later introduced
the City of Inglewood executives as only "Linda" and "Mawusi.” None of
the speakers were identified publicly as City of Inglewood employees.
At both meetings, Tatum failed to follow two fundamental rules of
oratory: full disclosure (i.e., one's name and title, et al.) and
credibility. Upon being called from her seat at a table nearest the
entry door and at the rear of the audience, Tatum immediately launched
into her monologue: "This workshop is a meeting that is coordinated and
sponsored by the City of Inglewood in cooperation with the target team."
As she spoke, she swept her arms as if to indicate the people and
PowerPoint presentation screen behind her. She went on to speak at
length, mentioning Metro a number of times.
It was only after a lengthy private discussion held near the
meeting's end and out of earshot of the audience that this reporter
learned that "Linda" is the Planning Manager for the City of Inglewood,
and that according to her, Metro had "absolutely nothing to do with the
TOD meetings." Later calls to Tatum to inquire if the meetings'
findings—including the extensive ideas proffered by those who spent the
better part of two days to contribute—would be turned over to Metro were
not returned.
On Monday, December 17, when asked if Metro had anything to do with
the TOD meetings, Metro Media Relations spokesperson José Ubaldo
confirmed Tatum's statement. "Metro was not invited to the TOD meetings.
It's too early for Metro to do TOD developments. [The City of
Inglewood] could have just cut and pasted the logo from the Metro
website."
There appears to have been a third meeting, one that was unannounced and, surprisingly, unknown to Metro.
According to a city employee who requested anonymity but who was
present at the December 15 meeting, Franklin had been present at a
meeting with Metro representatives on Friday, December 14, in the very
same room that the Saturday meeting was held.
According to Ubaldo, "Franklin had been at an event hosted by
Metro's Community Relations (CR) department. It was not a meeting."
Ubaldo would not name the person in Metro's CR department who provided
the information.
Speaking to Metro CR Interim Deputy Executive Officer Susan Gilmore
revealed little. Upon being asked to confirm if Franklin had been
present at any such "event" with Metro personnel at Inglewood City Hall
on Friday, December 14, Gilmore refused to answer. Instead she asked,
"Who told you this?" When informed that it was Ubaldo, Gilmore promised
to call back. The return call never came.
The circular logic of Metro's Public Relations staff prompted a deep research that unearthed a Metro South Bay Cities Service Council Agenda document
that was clearly titled as a "Regular Meeting." The date and time were
also clearly stated at the top right: Friday, December 14, 2012 / 9:30 -
11:30 AM." The cover page also noted that the Chair of Metro's South
Bay Cities Service Council is Inglewood District 4 council member Ralph
L. Franklin. The meeting was held in Conference Room A of Inglewood City
Hall.
Calls to Metro regarding the document and Metro's alleged ignorance
of it, the respective proceedings and the persons who attended were not
returned.
At the end of the December 15 meeting, Keith announced that there
is to be one more TOD meeting in mid-January. It is the belief of this
reporter that such a meeting may not occur.
(Randall Fleming is a veteran journalist and magazine
publisher. He has worked at and for the New York Post, the Brooklyn
Spectator and the Los Feliz Ledger. He is currently editor-in-chief at
the Morningside Park Chronicle, a monthly newspaper based in Inglewood,
CA and on-line at www.MorningsideParkChronicle.com)
-cw