WMATA chooses new general manager
The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority's board of directors chose John B. Catoe Jr., the deputy chief executive of the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority and a D.C. native, as its new general manager, according to The Washington Post.
Los Angeles' Metro Bus system has an average of 1.3 million riders per day, while the D.C. area's Metrobus system has 450,000 daily riders, according to The Post.
Two anonymous WMATA officials said the board was discussing contract terms with Catoe but added that the deal was not final, according to The Post.
"We do expect to have a new general manager on board during the month of January," said WMATA Board Chair Gladys Mack. "Our search process is nearing completion."
Catoe will replace former Interim Chief Dan Tangherlini, who resigned this month after agreeing to be city administrator under Mayor-Elect Adrian Fenty. Tangherlini is set to take the position in January.
Ground broken for Martin Luther King Jr. memorial
President Bush and former President Bill Clinton joined members of the civil rights movement and thousands of others at the groundbreaking for the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Monday, according to The Washington Post.
The memorial, which will be located along the Tidal Basin between the Jefferson and Lincoln memorials, would be the first on the National Mall to honor an African-American, as well as the first that does not honor a president or war hero, according to The Post.
Bush said the memorial would give King his "rightful place among the great Americans honored on our Mall," according to The Post.
Clinton, who signed the legislation authorizing the monument, agreed.
"It belongs here," he said. He added that the memorial would remind people that "the time is always ripe to do right," The Post said.
Officials estimate that the crescent-shaped memorial, which will include a sculpture of King at its center, will be completed by 2008, according to The Post.
