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Michael Buehlhorn of Metro East Park & Recreation Appointed to Metro Board of Commissioners
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Mike Buehlhorn (photo via St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
St. Clair County Board Chairman Mark A. Kern has appointed Michael Buehlhorn to Metro’s Board of Commissioners. Mr. Buehlhorn, a resident of Swansea, Illinois, replaces Commissioner Dr. James T. Rosborg, whose term expired.
Since 2004, Mr. Buehlhorn has served as the Executive Director of the Metro East Park and Recreation District. His current duties include the management and distribution of funds to develop parks, greenways and trails in Madison and St. Clair Counties in Illinois. Mr. Buehlhorn also serves as a member of the Technical Advisory Group for the City Arch River Foundation. Prior to his current responsibilities, he served as Mayor of Swansea, Illinois from 1985-2003.
Outside of work, Mr. Buehlhorn avidly supports organizations in his community. He currently serves as President of the Epilepsy Foundation of Greater Southern Illinois in Belleville and the President of the Epilepsy Foundation of Southern Illinois in Mount Vernon. Mr. Buehlhorn has been involved in transit decisions in a variety of capacities over the years including serving as a Board member of the St. Clair County Transit District from 1981-2001. He served on the East-West Gateway Coordinating Council from 1990-1997 and served on the site selection committee for St. Clair County MetroLink from 1992-1994.
Metro’s 10-member Board provides overall leadership and policy direction for the Agency, and is comprised of five members from Illinois and five from Missouri. In Missouri, the Governor selects members of the Board. In Illinois, County Board Chairmen for both St. Clair and Madison Counties appoint their representatives. Members of the Board serve their five-year terms without compensation and must be a resident voter of their state, as well as reside with the bi-state metropolitan region. Mr. Buehlhorn will serve on the Board until January 2016.
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Mr. Buehlhorn,
I live in Illinois and work at Washington University. After years of occasional Metrolink patronage (professional sports, concerts, airport, and once or twice a month to work), I started riding Metrolink every work day on May 22.
That’s twice a day for 12 weeks.
In general, my 38 min ride has been comfortable. There have been a few occasions, however, when I become aware of possible danger or witnessed an angry exchange or saw evidence of illegal activity. I have reported illegal activity and dangerous circumstances through the advertised security number 3 or 4 times since May 22. Last Friday, as I watched 3 young men enter the second car of my train home, I became suspicious of their activity and the fact that they kept looking at me. I was not in a position which I could talk to the driver since I was in the second car. I did not feel safe calling anyone since the people who seemed threatening to me were also watching me. I posted on facebook (and included metrolink as my location so it should show up on your fb page) that I would like to text my situation to security. I even tried texting to the number and it did not work. One of my fb friends saw my post and called the security line for me and was told that I could (1) talk to the driver (but only people in the first car can do that), (2) get off at the next station and use the public call box to summons help; or (3) call 314/982-1400 X6873. But that no line existed that I could text.
Given that none of those options would have worked well for me, but that I COULD have safely texted my situation, I am asking Metrolink and the various security forces who work to make Metrolink safe to please consider adding a line which will receive TEXT MESSAGES from passengers. A single cell phone line at the desk of the dispatcher would work.
Thank you for considering. I would be happy to discuss my situation with you further.
K Shilling
We have forwarded your comment to Commissioner Buehlhorn and we’ve also forwarded your comment to Metro Public Safety as well. As you may or may not know, there are various ways to report suspicious activity. On MetroLink, you may alert the MetroLink operator using the call button located at the front of each train car. You may also use the Passenger Assist Telephone on each platform and call Metro Public Safety (314-289-6873) directly when it is safe to do so. We have explored the possibility of a text feature and have discussed this with local police, but that’s very difficult to implement technologically and respond to in real-time. The greatest barrier is being able to provide the resources necessary (i.e. staff) to receive and respond to customer contacts in real-time. We agree that creating a direct link between Metro customers and Public Safety is critical.