Executive Director's Report

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR STEVE HEMINGER’S REPORT TO THE
COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 24, 2007

SUMMARY OF EVENTS:

Bay Area Partnership
Oakland, September 26

The bi-monthly meeting of the Partnership featured discussion of the Transportation 2035 Plan and the Proposition 1B trade corridor program.

AMPO Annual Conference
Little Rock, October 2

I attended the annual meeting of the Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations and made a presentation about my work on the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission. I also was elected to the AMPO Board of Directors, for a term commencing January 2008. I follow in the footsteps of former MTC chairs Sharon Brown and Steve Kinsey, who both served as officers of AMPO.

SAFETEA Commission
Washington DC, October 8-9

At the latest meeting of the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission, we reviewed the 1st draft of our report to Congress that is due by January 1, 2008. We expect to meet a few more times before the end of the year to complete our deliberations and finalize the report.

IBTTA Annual Meeting
Vienna, Austria, October 8-10

Chair Dodd and BATA Deputy Executive Director Andy Fremier attended the annual meeting of the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association.

Mary Peters Visit
San Francisco, October 15-16

U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters was in town for a visit in connection with the Bay Area’s receipt of one of five Urban Partnership Program (UPP) grants that I informed the commission about last month. MTC hosted a breakfast for Secretary Peters with several of our local transportation partners including Commissioners Kinsey and Worth. Secretary Peters also participated in a press event organized by the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency featuring the “smart parking” features of our UPP application.

Silicon Valley Leadership Group Forum
Sunnyvale, October 17

I participated in a panel discussion on the future of transportation finance and the role of public-private partnerships at this event sponsored by the leading business organization in Silicon Valley.

Muni Funding Panel
San Francisco, October 18

I attended the regular bi-weekly meeting of this advisory panel to which San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom appointed me. This session featured a presentation on the TransLink® program and how it can help generate additional fare revenue for the region’s largest transit system.

Briefing for Attorney General
Oakland, October 23

At the request of his office, Bruce Riordan and I conducted a briefing for Attorney General Jerry Brown on MTC’s innovative programs to link transportation and land use planning and our recent regional planning efforts in the area of global warming.

Map of the Month

The region’s Smart Growth Vision calls for the Bay Area to develop as a “network of neighborhoods,” where future growth is concentrated near transit and in the existing communities that surround the San Francisco Bay. This month’s map shows the network of Proposed Priority Development Areas (PDAs) throughout the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area. The areas around transit stations and along major developed corridors are two examples of where the region’s smart-growth vision would prefer to see new housing development. Led by ABAG, the regional agencies are currently meeting with our local partners to discuss the details of PDA agreements regarding development intensities and objectives, identify local jurisdictions willing to implement these agreements, and locate the parts of the region meriting incentives and other special assistance to achieve the desired level of development.

• FOCUS Priority Development Areas (PDF)

MTC Operational Statistics

The monthly report on the performance of MTC’s operating programs:

• MTC Operational Statistics (PDF)

Upcoming Events

October 26 — ABAG General Assembly/MTC Transportation Summit, Oakland

November 1-3 — Rail-Volution Conference, Miami Beach

November 7-8 — SAFETEA Commission, Washington DC

November 28 — Commission Workshop on Transportation 2035, Oakland