When her turn came, she walked to the microphone with her receipts in a clear plastic folder.
“I am not here to relitigate my towing case,” she said.
“I’m here because you counted the removal of my van as proof that buses could not travel down a street where my van was not blocking a bus.”
She explained the location and the time.
She showed the committee that the tow had occurred from a parking area that was not part of the bus route.
A committee member asked whether she had a traffic engineer’s assessment.
“No,” Marisol said.
“I have the address where I parked, and your consultant has placed that address somewhere else.”
A murmur moved through the room.
Vick began typing into his laptop.
Mercer asked whether his team could verify the original location.
“We would need access to source records,” Vick said.
“Did you examine those records before giving us the map?”
Vick hesitated.
“We relied on the designated fields supplied to us.”
Thomas Delaney took the microphone next.
He described the route, the stop spacing, the places buses could safely turn, and the number of riders who would lose a reasonable walking connection.
“I drive this corridor every weekday,” he said.
“You can disagree with my observations, but you cannot substitute a towing bill for a traffic study.”
A council member asked whether he had ever reported blocked bus stops.
“Yes,” Thomas said.
“Three times this year, and I can tell you exactly where they were.”
He named the locations.
None appeared among the highest-risk dots on Vick’s map.
Ruth finished the public comments with her clipboard.
She did not give an impassioned speech.
She read the number of riders who had described losing medical appointments, wages, or access to essential errands.
Then she placed the clipboard on the table for the committee secretary.
“These people have names,” she said.
“They live at the places your proposal treats as dots.”
By the end of the meeting, the committee had voted to postpone the route suspension until an independent traffic assessment could separate documented obstructions from disputed police removals.
The vote was not unanimous.
Two members argued that the change might still be necessary after better evidence was gathered.
Marisol did not object to that possibility.
She objected to having the answer chosen first and the facts supplied later.
As the crowd dispersed, she saw Vick standing alone near the stage.
“Did you know the numbers were wrong?” she asked.
He looked exhausted.
“I knew they came from police records.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“I didn’t check every incident.”
“Then you should have told the committee that before they tried to take away our buses.”
Vick looked toward the empty seats and said nothing.
