While several elected officials were being sworn in July 1, one of the most notable and most powerful leadership roles changed hands with very little fanfare, no grand ceremony but the change was historic just the same.
Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas the first African American Male to ever Chair the powerful County Board of Supervisors is now the chairman of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Ridley Thomas in an interview in Metro’s internal magazine stated, “I have a triple bottom line, put people to work, green the environment and get people where they need to go efficiently”.
The MTA is working on projects all over Los Angeles County, the expanding Gold Line in Pasadena, The Culver City Line which will ultimately bring passengers all the way to the beach is in full swing. But, no rail line is as critical as the Crenshaw Line to the African American Community. The Crenshaw Line economically represents over 3billion dollars being spent right here in the heart of the African American Community. Supervisor Ridley-Thomas understands this and has worked diligently to insure that African Americans and all members of the South Los Angeles Community participate in this economic investment.
“We have passed legislation to insure that local citizens are the first ones given the opportunity to work and contract on the line. This is not lip service this is law” stated the supervisor. Ridley-Thomas who resides in the heart of community is no stranger to the challenges that construction on the line have presented to the community and he has worked diligently with Walsh-Shea (the contractor on the project) to insure that residents, businesses and visitors to the Crenshaw Community remain involved and informed about what’s going on and what is happening along the Crenshaw Line.
Ridley-Thomas is quick to credit his political predecessors like the Late Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley and the Late Congressman Julian Dixon with having the vison, the tenacity and the determination over 30 years ago to see Los Angeles as a major public transportation city back during a time when no one else believed it could be done. These two men on both a local and federal level were the driving force behind securing funding to create the transportation system we are seeing today stated Ridley-Thomas.
Metros budget is now $5.5 Billion almost doubling what it was just five years ago. Ridley-Thomas says “it means investment will change the landscape of Los Angeles County.
