WHERE ARE THE MONORAILS?

DICK FALKENBURY

In 1997, Dick Falkenbury authored an initiative to 'build, operate and maintain' a forty mile monorail system hat ould span the city of Seattle in a huge "X". With a handful of volunteers and no support, the initiative gathered 18,500 signatures while spending only $2,000--and it won the first election. He served as a volunteer as a member of the Board of Directors without missing a single meeting for six years. In these six years, there were two more successful elections for the monorail in Seattle, and a fourth election approved a tax on vehicles to pay for the project. Inexplicably, the staff padded the contract to the point where 14 miles of monorail, with interest, would cost $11 billion and the Seattle voters rejected the project. Had it come to fruition, it would have been the only transportation system drafted, planned and implemented by the citizens of a city.

Mr. Falkenbury, 53, lives in Seattle as he has for the majority of his life. At the beginning in 1997, he was a cab driver; he now drives a bus for a small tour company showing people the city that he loves.

BRIAN C. BROOKS

Brian C. Brooks became an employee of the Los Angeles Flood Control District on February 8th, 1966. Since that time, his work has included all parts of Los Angeles County, beginning work on the Seawater Intrusion Barrier projects, promoted into positions in Operation and Maintenance and Construction Divisions, and gaining a strong understanding of the existing flood control facilities.

He has successfully testified as an expert witness for the County in Eminent Domain proceedings, had the honor of being elected to the Board of Chapter One of the International Right of Way Association and was a Past President of that Board. Mr. Brooks also had the honor of having been elected by the General Employees of Los Angeles County to the Board of Investments and (separately) to the Board of Retirement of the Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association.

Mr. Brooks was later promoted into Mapping and Property Management and presently serves as a Valuation Engineer II, as well as the elected President of the California Association of Professional Employees. Acting in these positions has given Mr. Brooks a familiarity with political solutions and large-scale projects.