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You are here: Home / Phoenix Light Rail Events / Final ride for Metro CEO Rick Simonetta

Final ride for Metro CEO Rick Simonetta

December 18, 2009 by Nick Bastian 4 Comments

Metro light rail outgoing CEO Rick Simonetta was honored this past week with a “farewell” ride and reception at the Phoenix Art Museum.  The shindig was made possible by a lot of “transportation geeks” pulling out all the stops to thank Rick for his hard work on our light rail system. Simonetta was honored by his peers and city leadership for his six years of service and expertise, opening up the Valley’s first light rail system on time and on budget. Without a doubt, the early success of this system has changed the tone for light rail ( and transportation in general) in Arizona.

Local and national groups  HDR consultants, COMTO transportation officials, WTS along with Friends of Transit and the Arizona Transit Association teamed up to host the last ride and farewell reception. 

On Wednesday, a train left the Sycamore/Main station in Mesa a little after 4:10 p.m. with Simonetta and Mesa city leadership and staff on board.  The train then traveled  west to pick up leaders in both Tempe and Phoenix. The group all disembarked at the Central/McDowell station and proceeded to the reception site at the Phoenix Art Museum. I bet you have never seen so many suits on the light rail!

Lots of suits on the light rail

Our itinerary was as follows:

* Train departs at 4:10 p.m. from the Sycamore/Main station.

* Picks up Tempe leadership at 4:23 p.m. from the Veterans Way/College station.

* Picks up Phoenix leadership at 4:50 p.m. from the Washington/Central station.

* Group disembarks at the Central/McDowell station at 4:55 p.m.

* VIP reception from 5 – 6 p.m. -  Full reception from 6 – 8 p.m.

 Who was there? Mayors, Vice Mayors and Council members of METRO member cities along with people from COMTO were onboard to participate and speak at the reception.

Dorsha Hale with HDR was instrumental in putting together this really cool “farewell video” for Simonetta and allowed me and my “video guru” friend, Tyler Hurst to help put it together.

Thanks so much to Rick and to METRO light rail for giving me some fun stuff to write about! 🙂

Filed Under: Phoenix Light Rail Events Tagged With: Mesa Light Rail, Metro Light Rail, Phoenix Light Rail, Rail Life, Rick Simonetta, Tempe Light Rail

About Nick Bastian

Nick Bastian is a 31 year veteran of the real estate industry and can be reached at 602-803-6425. You'll also find him sharing real estate info on his web site and hanging out onTwitter.
Family man, lover of life, maker of friends. A bit of a geek, long time Tempe real estate guy just havin' some fun. What's your story?

Comments

  1. David_SB says

    December 18, 2009 at 3:48 pm

    Great video. I never got a chance to meet Rick, but I'm appreciative of his accomplishments. When he arrived, he had the unpleasant task of telling the community that service had to begin in 2008 rather than 2006, but once he announced his revised schedule, the project stuck to it, and we were riding the trains at the end of '08. There's no doubt the Phoenix Metropolitan Area has been immeasurably improved with the restoration of rail transit, and its success owes a great deal to his efforts.

    Reply
  2. Rail Life says

    December 18, 2009 at 5:28 pm

    David, you (again) are right on about Rick telling people about the change. In fact, he talked about that Wednesday night and it was really interesting to hear him speak about it. Opening “on time and on budget” was a big deal to him and his staff.
    Thanks again for stopping by…

    Reply
  3. David Bickford says

    December 18, 2009 at 8:48 pm

    Great video. I never got a chance to meet Rick, but I'm appreciative of his accomplishments. When he arrived, he had the unpleasant task of telling the community that service had to begin in 2008 rather than 2006, but once he announced his revised schedule, the project stuck to it, and we were riding the trains at the end of '08. There's no doubt the Phoenix Metropolitan Area has been immeasurably improved with the restoration of rail transit, and its success owes a great deal to his efforts.

    Reply
  4. Rail Life says

    December 18, 2009 at 10:28 pm

    David, you (again) are right on about Rick telling people about the change. In fact, he talked about that Wednesday night and it was really interesting to hear him speak about it. Opening “on time and on budget” was a big deal to him and his staff.
    Thanks again for stopping by…

    Reply

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