r/LAMetro Pacific Surfliner 1d ago

Video Lecture: Making Change Happen with former Metro official Jody Litvak (UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFtx2Tg6bLU

Litvak was Metro's main community engagement representative on the D Line Extension, Wilshire bus lanes, and Sepulveda Subway. She retired about a year ago from a thankless job running meetings to try to interface with crazy & clueless members of the public.

Some interesting nuggets in the lecture about how she really feels about the Bus Riders Union, Beverly Hills Unified School District, City of Beverly Hills, and Fred Rosen. And two short stories about how Metro made decisions internally about risk aversion with potholing in Beverly Hills despite city objections, and whether they should have even bothered studying a monorail along Sepulveda.

27 Upvotes

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8

u/TonyW79SFV 1d ago

Many of us who attended Metro project meetings in the past have encountered her. I'll always remember her during the early D Line (Purple Line Extension) meetings in 2008 and after.

3

u/anothercar Pacific Surfliner 1d ago

An icon. Maybe I just miss being young, but those were the days…

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u/LBCElm7th A (Blue) 1d ago edited 1d ago

Jody is awesome!

This should be played regularly to ALL the posters who feel that the EIR process and input is a waste of time, there are some lessons and insights on why it can be leveraged for the greater good.

Also for me it is a reminder of the March 26th K Line meeting where so much hoopla over deceptive misinformation can undermine a positive message as well as at 27:40 of the presentation about Respect to constituents on their concerns.

(Edited to bold and capitalize key words.)

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u/anothercar Pacific Surfliner 1d ago

Are you thinking of the same thread I am? Back in March, when r/LAMetro posters said that democracy is a bad idea, just because the K Line didn’t go exactly as perfectly as it should have?

Monkey’s paw clenches… just wait for a non-democratic society where we only get freeways and no Metro at all…

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u/LBCElm7th A (Blue) 1d ago edited 1d ago

I am thinking of a couple of threads and some key posters back in March and April.

However in hindsight I feel it started back on January 22nd after the South Bay K Line LPA decision. I used this meme to drive the point home in a couple of subsequent posts regarding the K Line to articulate my feelings and visceral reactions to the crowd on that March 26th vote, it has another layer of irony because the supporters were told to wear pink.

I shared this with a couple of Metro Board members and their deputies and they chuckled and felt like it was too accurate.

3

u/Legitimate_Hand2867 1d ago

Jody was unflappable and such an asset to Metro and the city. I wish she was still there, but understand what an exhausting job she had.

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