The Sept 24th Seattle Times headline "Sound Transit board ousting CEO" is something a competent transit board would have done nearly three years ago. A December 10th 2018 post responded to a Times request for, "Headlines readers would like to see in 2019" with, "Sound Transit Board Fires CEO Peter Rogoff". It concluded:
The bottom line is the Sound Transit Board should fire Rogoff. He not only fails to recognize the DSTT limitations on light rail capacity, he refuses to implement the transit capacity available with added bus service. He also refused to add the parking needed for access to either transit mode. That riders added by the light rail extensions will reduce or potentially end access for current riders.
The lack of capacity conclusion was based on a 2004 PSRC report, funded by the Board, that the DSTT limited Central Link capacity to 8880 riders per hour in each direction. Yet Rogoff's 2019 long-term budget claimed 162 million in 2041, approximately 500,000 weekday riders
The failure to add bus transit conclusion was reflected in Rogoff's 2021 budget continuing the Board's decade long refusal to increase bus transit capacity until at least 2041. Neither Rogoff nor the Board recognized the need to provide added parking for riders with access to light rail or buses for the commutes into and out of Seattle.
Instead the Board approved Rogoff's 2019 budget expanding the funding voters approved in 2016 for ST3 taxes from 2017-2041 for a $54B transit system expansion to $96B with $17B in debt when ST3 funding ended. They demonstrated Rogoff approval by extending his contract for another three years with a hefty raise.
The Seattle Times article described his ouster with a photo caption:
Sound Transit CEO Peter Rogoff will be replaced in 2022 following more than six years of accomplishments with the agency
Calling his tenure "six years of accomplishments" raises questions as to why the Board terminated him. The article cites a "consultant report issued in August found management problems, including flaws in how the agency studied its soaring real estate costs and staff not knowing when to expose bad news"
Yet the Sound Transit Board's Sept 23rd agenda authorized him to implement several items and made no mention of his "future status". All of his recommendations to the Board had been unanimously approved. The Times article reported the decision was "just nine days before the region celebrates new light rails stations at Northgate, Roosevelt, and U District, expected to attract 45,000 or more daily passengers".
Board Chair Keel praised Rogoff with, "all but one of Sound Transit's seven major construction projects are on time and below budget". Board member Claudia Balducci praised Rogoff for his "efforts to manage multiple projects across the region". Member Roger Millar, the state transportation secretary, claimed "Mr Rogoff is going to be going out on a high note". Yet all three chose not to renew his contract.
The Times claims "the CEO still must grapple with the $6.5 billion Ballard to West Seattle." Yet abides Sound Transit "Spending from 2017-46 is estimated at $131 billion for present and future programs". Apparently the Board's expansion of the $54 billion transit system voters approved in 2016 to $131 billion for present and future programs didn't include the Ballard-to-West Seattle project.
The statement also reflects the Board and Seattle Times failure to recognize the voters approved the taxes not the projects, and from 2017-2041, not 2046. The Board and Times also both ignore the ST3 plan voters approved was to provide taxes from 2017 to 2041 to fund a $54 billion transit system expansion.
The bottom line is a competent Sound Transit Board would not have renewed Rogoff's contract three years ago. His 2019 budget's long-range claims for ridership were delusional, didn't add access to transit, and failed to recognize BRT benefits. The Board renewed it then because they'd spent the years since Prop 1 approval doing exactly the same. They'd already made a major blunder by extending Central Link from UW rather than a second tunnel that would have served those going to South Lake Union.
Since his renewal the Board has done nothing to add parking or bus transit. Instead approved spending $6B competing the Northgate Link, extending light rail to Lynnwood and beyond, across I-90 to Overlake and beyond, and to Federal Way and beyond
The Northgate Link debut will be the first to demonstrate the results of Rogoff's "six years of accomplishments". That the $1.9B extensions doesn't reduce I-5 congestion into Seattle. That the number of those who chose to use light rail for their commutes into and out of Seattle is far short of the 45,000 daily projected. That the "cost per boarding" is far higher and "fare box recovery" far lower than the $11.67 and 15.1% predicted in Sound Transit's 2021 Financial Plan and Projected Budget". A precursor for results from current extension plans.
A more competent Board would have recognized the likelihood of those results three years ago. They need to be replaced.
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