Having attended each and every meeting with city staff concerning building a memorial to honor those that lost their lives and were injured in that horrific Sept. 12 crash, my wife and I were surprised to see that Metrolink had backed away from subsidizing, even partly, the beautiful memorial that the city had designed with our help and direction.

Our first meeting with city staff, so many months ago, was with Laura Bejhan and her assistant, Brian.

They explained to us that we, the citizens, were to design this memorial, and the staff would use our ideas to formulate the design and architecture to make this a lasting and honorable setting for those of us affected by the crash and those visiting or passing through our great city.

City Manager Mike Sedell sat in at a few meetings and suggested that Metrolink had shown an interest in assisting with this memorial but never implied that they would bear all the costs. We all felt that would be fitting since all evidence showed Metrolink bore the responsibility of this crash.

Now we read on your front page that Metrolink denies a request to help fund the memorial.

In a letter to Sedell, it states "in light of Metrolink's evaluation of a remembrance appropriate for the regional nature of its operations, I am unable to commit to a financial contribution to any city's memorial."

I was shocked and then thought, "Okay, Metrolink will build a memorial in our region that will honor all who died or were injured since when?" 2005 Glendale? Since they stated they are a five-county region, where will they draw the line on a time frame? Where will it be? Is it already being planned?

Lastly, the papers today had stories that Metrolink was raising their fares about 3.5 percent for the normal cost of doing business.

Is the increase to pay for pending and future lawsuits?

I have an idea. Raise your fares 3.75 percent and pay for our entire memorial.

You would come out as a caring respectful company that grieves with us all over this tragic accident. Might look good in court, too. Wayne and Mary Evans Simi Valley