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July 5, 2001 |
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From
Theater to MTA Public Affairs ... Versión
en español A
Sacramento native, Bybee left California’s Central Valley in the 1970s
armed with an education in English and Theater Arts from Cal State
University Fresno and headed for New York City’s Greenwich Village where
she went to work for an advertising agency.
Later, Bybee and six friends formed a documentary film company, but
soon the Golden State beckoned her to return. Bybee’s
next stop was Hollywood where she managed and produced live theater at the
Westwood Playhouse (now the Geffen Playhouse) and other local theaters. Then
came what Bybee calls “a big change in career direction.”
In 1983 she was hired by HNTB, a major national and international
architectural and engineering firm, to work in the company’s transit
division. Then it was on to
Dillingham Construction’s commercial division where she served as the
Regional Director of Business Development and later to Parsons-Dillingham,
where she worked in community relations on the team providing construction “The
transition from theater to major construction really was an easy one,”
says Bybee. “They’re both
about production, and I’m comfortable with the demands both fields
present.” No
surprise, her next move to the MTA to take a job as a public affairs
supervisor during the construction of the Metro Red Line Hollywood
extension was a natural. To
be sure, trying to address the concerns of residents and business owners
during this major construction project was not an easy task, but Bybee
says she always believed in the subway’s ultimate value to the
community. “I
knew these were difficult times for the community, but I felt that the end
product was going to be something that that very community would profit
from,” said Bybee. “I
felt they would come to enjoy the rewards of a first class transportation
system.” Bybee
says that in dealing with people and their frustrations on a day- to-day
basis, she learned to engage in the art of listening and respect. “There
were times when I was able to provide assistance and other times when we
weren’t in a position to do the things the community would have
liked,” said Bybee. “But
my experience was that if you treated the community with respect you
gained credibility for the project.” Since
the completion of the subway project, Bybee has become MTA’s point
person in ensuring that the agency serves its disabled patrons, and she
also has risen to the position of public affairs manager where she heads a
staff of 12 full time employees and interns.
The scope of the department’s work is growing, too, as the MTA
plans for the construction of In
addition, her department is in the forefront of efforts to promote public
safety through education once a project becomes operational, and it
reached 60,000 people along the 22-mile Metro Blue Line last year alone. Bybee
says her work is all about challenges and opportunities. “I
look at my department as an issues bureau, and my goal is to find the
quickest resolution to the issues that arise on almost a daily basis,”
says Bybee. “After working
many years on the subway project, our public affairs team has developed a
real connection to the community, and we’re working hard to give the
people of Los Angeles a voice in their transportation system.” From
her early days in theater and film to the present at the MTA, Bybee has
seen life from more than just a side or two.
And while Bybee and her team can’t anticipate every bend in the
road, she says they’re prepared to go the distance. MTA-096 |
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