SAN JOSE (KCBS RADIO) – As the country reels from this week's shooting in Texas, San Jose is reflecting on its own tragedy. Thursday marks the one-year anniversary of the deadly VTA rail yard shooting.
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Now a year later, many questions still remain about the transit agency's path toward healing.
On May 26 last year, a disgruntled VTA employee walked into the Guadalupe Railyard in San Jose and gunned down nine of his co-workers.
In the aftermath, it became clear that the shooter, Samuel Cassidy, had shown troubling warning signs beforehand, leading many to ask why there wasn't any intervention sooner.
"I am here today to tell each of you that it's past time this board investigates the department of Way, Power and Signals," said longtime VTA employee Kirk Bertolet last summer while addressing the agency's board of directors.
"What was wrong? What created the stresses and hostilities that pushed Cassidy to kill my friends?" Bertolet asked.
The sense of anger was widespread. In the months that followed the shooting, more and more VTA employees began to speak out about the transit agency's workplace culture.
A number of allegations of bullying and harassment were made against managers, accused of creating a toxic work environment.
As a result, significant changes have been made in the last year following the shooting.
According to VTA Spokesperson Stacey Hendler Ross, the agency responded to employees' concerns and introduced full-time mental health staff, as well as trauma recovery support as workers returned to their jobs.
"With the increased need that we see because of the tragedy, we're trying to rise to the occasion as much as possible, to meet the needs of our employees," she said.
However, according to the head of VTA's largest union, John Courtney, the thornier issues around workplace culture have yet to be adequately addressed.
"The problem is so systemic, and so deeply rooted, that when we fix one problem we realize there are 10 more, right behind it," he said.
One issue, in particular, was the plan to hire a consultant to help with workplace culture has stalled out, over a dispute about just who should be hired.
But Courtney does see some promise in how the attitude towards mental health among VTA workers seems to be shifting.
"Such an incredibly horrible thing," he said. "We are now more open to talk about mental health."
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