Decisions are being made for us or about us, but not with us or by us. And this is not justice. Well said by Halima Abdullahi. A translation of the rest of her testimony given in Maay Maay is below: Good morning, my name is Halima Abdullahi. I have already been here to testify to the TriMet board once before. I was going to ask again today for you to put yourselves in the shoes of the people here testifying. And walk in those shoes through all the seasons and storms and see what we have to go through because of the way TriMet is working right now. But I’m not going to ask that, because wearing someone else’s shoes wont give that person power over the things that matter in their life. The TriMet Board doesn’t understand us. I’m not sure they are trying to understand us. I hope they are. But even if they are trying, I don’t think the TriMet Board can ever understand us. This is not because you are bad people, but because you don’t represent us - because you are not us. And the fairest way of making decisions about transit means that people like me are actually part of making those decisions, not just struggling to be understood by people like you. Youth like me rely on transit for everything. Large, transit-dependant families like mine also rely on transit for everything. We make up a large number of TriMet’s riders. And yet, none of you are youth. None of you are a member of a transit-dependant family. Where is the youth voice when decisions are made? Where is the voice of transit-dependant families? Decisions are being made for us or about us, but not with us or by us. And this is not justice. It seems TriMet doesn’t know that its first priority is the people who ride TriMet. Yet, the people who make up the majority of rides on TriMet, are not making decisions about TriMet. And that is why this board has to change. Until people like me are able to serve on this board and make decisions about things that most impact my life, TriMet will never serve people like me. No real improvement of TriMet is possible without a board that represents and is accountable to people like me. The TriMet Board needs to change. And I’m ready to fight for that change. Thanks you for your time.
Posted on: Wed, 28 May 2014 20:34:05 +0000
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