Steve Burns
WMAL.com
UPDATE: Metro Board Chairman Jack Evans’ office has issued the following statement: “Councilmember Evans appreciates Governor Hogan affirming his commitment to the Metro system and looks forward to working with him and his administration to give Metro General Manager Paul Wiedefeld the resources necessary to fix the system. Wiedefeld has outlined a clear plan to improve the safety and reliability of the system through his SafeTrack and Customer Accountability Report (CARe) initiatives. As the region works to address an anticipated $290 million shortfall in the upcoming Metro budget to fund these initiatives and mitigate declining ridership, Councilmember Evans will continue to advocate for greater contributions from the jurisdictions to avoid unwise fare increases or devastating service cuts for riders from Maryland, DC, and Virginia.”
WASHINGTON — (WMAL) Area leaders have worked to create harmonious cross-jurisdictional relationships to try to fix the beleaguered Metro system over the past few months, but a spokesperson for Maryland’s Governor is now suggesting it may be time for Metro Board Chairman Jack Evans to be removed. This comes after Evans claimed Governor Larry Hogan doesn’t care about Metro or the counties it serves.
Hogan spokeswoman Amelia Chasse said Evans’ comments were inaccurate and unhelpful.
“Mr. Evans’ comments are not only unfortunate and inappropriate, they’re flat-out wrong,” Chasse said in a statement to WMAL. “Governor Hogan and this administration care deeply about Metro, and provide nearly $450 million in funding each year.”
Chasse went on to question Evans’ fitness for the chairmanship.
“The system needs strong, balanced, and rational leadership, and if this Chairman can’t provide it, then it’s time to find someone who can,” she said.
The spat came about as Evans asks each jurisdiction to kick in more money in order to avoid fare increases and service cuts next year as proposed by General Manager Paul Wiedefeld. Evans claimed an extra $12 million on top of other proposed subsidy increases would be able to offset the new revenue and money saved.
Evans told WMAL Tuesday he believes Hogan is indifferent to Metro’s well-being, due to Hogan’s hard line stance against giving any additional funds than what they already pay.
“It leads me to conclude that the Governor’s office doesn’t really care about Metro,” Evans said, further speculating the Republican can’t be bothered to help the deep-blue counties of Montgomery and Prince George’s. “Those two counties didn’t support him…so I suspect that if I were sitting in the Governor’s office in Maryland, that would be part of my calculus.”
Hogan has said he wants to see Metro’s reliability and safety improve before giving the agency more money.
“What we need is for you to start cleaning up the mess,” Hogan told a regional gathering last month in Montgomery County. “We’ve got to see some real improvement before we commit to more money.”
Copyright 2016 by WMAL.com. All Rights Reserved. (photo: Larry Hogan, Jack Evans Facebook)
