Tuesday afternoon, HRT President and CEO Philip Shucet again made himself available to local bloggers. As it turns out, only Henry Ryto of Avenging Archangel and I were able to make it.
After talking about tweeting for a while 😉 we spent about a half an hour discussing a number issues that have come up since our last meeting, including the latest on the Norfolk Light Rail project.
Once again, I was impressed with Shucet’s candor.
After our meeting, the story regarding who might be the new HRT board chair appeared on PilotOnline. In response to my emailed inquiry, Shucet offered his thoughts on this:
It’s my job, and HRT’s job, to do excellent work. My attitude in that regard isn’t going to be affected by who sits in the position of the Chair no matter who that might or what city she/he represents.
Right answer, Mr. Shucet.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
First, for those like Vivian who were caught flat by my first question, a “board change” refers to HRT’s Operator service board. Normally, three times a year (January, June, and September) Operators (bus drivers) bid on driving blocks based on seniority. My concern was that, given the number of major changes on this board, HRT was taking it too lightly.
I told Vivian I’d explain the one question. I asked Phillip about additional changes since I had heard about the reorganization through a source about three months ago. Then, Shucet didn’t mention anything else, so that may be it.
Given my association with HRT (TRAC Chairman), I figure critics may be waiting for me to throw softball questions. My first two were sliders. I could tell that HRT Staff sitting to the side were squiriming. 🙂