Phoenix needs better transportation oversight

To Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton: I write to oppose the hiring of a Program Management Consultant (PMC) to advise City staff prior to this matter being considered by the Citizens Transportation Commission. Have we learned nothing from the oversight problems facing Valley Metro? The CTC is supposed to give advice regarding the spending of Prop 104 revenue. How can the CTC effectively do this if the first major decision, hiring a PMC, does not even come to the CTC and is made without any input from the CTC? At our first CTC meeting the City staff briefed us on the PMC hiring but said we could not take any position on this issue because it was not on the agenda. (Then why was it briefed and why was it not on the agenda?)

One reason given for the need to hire a PMC was that the staff did not have sufficient time to do the necessary planning. This seems like nonsense to me. The issues surrounding the spending of Prop 104 revenue are not new issues. They are the same issues that staff has been dealing with for decades. Also, how can the City have insufficient staff to do the planning but yet sent 25 staff members to our CTC meeting? (If some of them were doing transportation planning, there may not be a need to hire additional consultants.)

At the very least this matter should be continued to a future Council meeting after the CTC has had time to review it.