Executive Director's Report

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR STEVE HEMINGER’S REPORT TO THE
COMMISSION MEETING OF NOVEMBER 17, 2010

SUMMARY OF EVENTS:

BATA Bond Closing
New York, October 27

Brian Mayhew, Sue Woo, and our banking team completed another successful financial transaction by closing the sale of $475 million in taxable Build America Bonds (BAB) at a fixed interest rate (net of the federal subsidy) of 4.49% and $410 million in tax-exempt bonds at a fixed rate of 4.95%. The blended rate of the two transactions is $885 million at 4.69%, and the blended rate for BATA debt sales during 2010 is $2.4 billion at 4.58%. BATA now has roughly $8 billion in outstanding debt, with just over 80% being taxable or tax-exempt fixed rate debt. Of interest in our latest BAB deal, some $70 million of the debt offering was purchased by international investors in Europe and Asia.

eBART Groundbreaking
Pittsburg, October 29

I joined Commissioners Glover, Sartipi and Worth (and former Commissioners DeSaulnier and Iwasaki) at the groundbreaking for the eBART project that will extend rail service from the current BART Pittsburg/Bay Point terminus to Hillcrest Avenue in Antioch. MTC is the largest single funder for the project, covering over 50% of the $462 million project cost. Service is scheduled to commence in 2015. More info

Mid-term Election Results
November 2

Rebecca Long has prepared an excellent summary (PDF) of the November 2nd election results as they relate to transportation. Of particular note – working from local to national news – was the passage of 5 vehicle registration fee funding measures in the Bay Area, the re-election of Jerry Brown as Governor of California, and the change in party control from Democratic to Republican for the U.S. House of Representatives.

International Council of Shopping Centers Conference
San Francisco, November 9

I spoke before this major real estate conference about the progress we are making towards completion of the new east span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.

Deficit Commission Proposals Released
Washington, November 10

The co-chairs of the bi-partisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform released a lengthy list of potential spending cuts and tax hikes intended to reduce the federal budget deficit to less than 3% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2015 and thereafter. The deficit is 8% of GDP in the FY 2011 budget year. Three transportation-related proposals merit special attention: (1) Raising the federal gas tax by 15 cents beginning in 2013 and dedicating the increased revenue exclusively to the Highway Trust Fund (HTF); (2) Indexing all fixed-dollar user fees to inflation, including the gas tax; and (3) Moving HTF spending to the “mandatory” side of the federal budgeting process, thus exempting it from annual “discretionary” review by the appropriations committees. The final report of this commission is due to President Obama in December.

Focus on the Future Conference
Palm Springs, November 14-16

I was part of a panel presentation about Senate Bill 375 implementation at this annual conference of the self-help counties coalition.

MTC Video

The Agency’s Legislation and Public Affairs staff has produced a short, informational video on MTC, which we will debut for you at the end of this afternoon’s Commission meeting. Using a lively mix of clips spotlighting the Bay Area and its multifaceted transportation network, the five minute video describes the many things MTC does to help keep the Bay Area moving. We plan to show the “MTC: Moving the Bay Area Forward” video at public meetings and other outreach events, and we will post it on the MTC website and on MTC’s YouTube page.

Map of the Month

The map of the month shows the number of daily individual trips to major employment centers around the Bay Area, as well as the distances commuters are traveling to reach those destinations. The overall pattern shows that employees in the Bay Area tend to live fairly close to their places of employment. Some areas in the northeastern portion of the region, however, have a large number of commuters traveling a significant distance by car in order to reach their places of employment.

• Daily Trips and Distance Traveled to Major Employment Centers (PDF)

MTC Operational Statistics

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

• MTC Operational Statistics (PDF)

Upcoming Events

December 3 — Transit Sustainability Project Steering Committee, Oakland