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Executive Director's Report

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR STEVE HEMINGER’S REPORT TO THE
COMMISSION MEETING OF NOVEMBER 16, 2011

SUMMARY OF EVENTS:

Governor Releases Pension Reform Plan
Sacramento, October 27

Governor Brown released a 12-plank platform to reform state and local pensions administered by the California Public Employee Retirement System (CalPERS). You will observe that several of his proposals already are reflected in MTC’s amended agreement with our employees that was adopted in June.

CTC Approves Bay Area Express Lanes
Sacramento, October 27

Vice Chair Worth and Andy Fremier led the effort to secure a 6-1 vote by the California Transportation Commission (CTC) approving MTC’s application to implement an additional 290 miles of high occupancy toll lanes in the northern and eastern portions of the region on Interstates 80, 680, and 880. Our attention will now turn to the task of shepherding these projects through the gauntlet of environmental, financial, and design challenges that await us. But we are now cleared for takeoff.

AMPO Annual Meeting, Dallas
October 25-28

I was unable to attend the CTC meeting because of a schedule conflict with the annual meeting of the Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations (AMPO). The trip to Dallas was worth my while, however, as I was elected President of the organization’s Board of Directors effective January 2012. In that role, I will follow in the footsteps of three past AMPO presidents from MTC: former chairs Sharon Brown and Steve Kinsey and my predecessor, Larry Dahms.

SANDAG Adopts First SCS
San Diego, October 28

The governing board of the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) has adopted the state’s first Sustainable Communities Strategy (SCS) as required by Senate Bill 375 (Steinberg). Unfortunately, it is widely expected that this first plan adoption also will be on the receiving end of the first SCS lawsuit filed under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). So, stay tuned for further developments.

New High Speed Rail Business Plan
Sacramento, November 1

The California High Speed Rail Authority has issued a draft of its latest business plan that is drawing rare praise from high speed rail boosters and critics alike for its candor and comprehensiveness in outlining the many obstacles the state faces in attempting to build the first high speed rail line in the nation. The total price tag for the full project has doubled to nearly $100 million, and the plan describes a “blended” approach for staging the project that appears to be consistent with calls from regional leaders in both the Bay Area and southern California.

Business Times Infrastructure Conference
San Francisco, November 4

I joined a panel of Bay Area public agency executives in discussing some of the major infrastructure projects underway in our region. My remarks focused on the toll bridge seismic retrofit program.

Senate Committee Advances Highway Bill
Washington DC, November 9

By a unanimous bi-partisan vote, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee chaired by Senator Barbara Boxer marked up a two-year federal highway authorization that features significant policy innovations while keeping overall funding levels roughly unchanged. We will be providing a detailed analysis of the bill to the Legislation Committee next month.

Bay Bridge 75th Birthday Party
Treasure Island, November 10

Although the celebration was a few days early, this birthday party for the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge was a big hit nonetheless. Commissioner Sartipi served as master of ceremonies, and Vice Chair Worth made remarks on behalf of MTC and BATA. The highlight of the festivities was the introduction of a young woman named Rebecca Ghaly, who was actually born on the bridge during an epic traffic jam just a few weeks prior to the 50th anniversary of the structure. Ms. Ghaly was given the honor of cutting the 75th birthday cake.

Bee Investigation of Structural Tests
Sacramento, November 12

Over the weekend, the Sacramento Bee published the results of its investigation disclosing that a Caltrans employee fabricated test results on highway structures he had inspected during construction in 2006-2008, including some projects in the Bay Area. This technician also inspected elements of the tower foundation for the new Bay Bridge East Span. The Bee story further alleges that the employee, who was fired last week, did testing on the Bay Bridge West Approach replacement project in San Francisco.

In light of these allegations, the Toll Bridge Program Oversight Committee (TBPOC) which I chair has requested that an independent panel of structural experts review the relevant design documents, inspection data, and any other materials they deem appropriate, and report their findings to the TBPOC when the review is complete. It is likely that this review will take a few months. In the meantime, construction work on the new east span will continue apace. As you know, the west approach project was completed in 2009.


Map of the Month

These maps show a comparison of communities with home values between $250,000 and $750,000 that are accessible by auto and transit in a 45 minute evening commute from (to pick a random address) 390 Main Street, San Francisco. The travel time data is modeled from a 2005 transit network. The home values are as of 2000 and are expressed in year 2000 dollars. The home value estimates were created by ABAG by combining ParcelQuest real estate transaction data and real estate tax assessment data. This information can be generated for any Bay Area address using an interactive mapping tool available under “Maps” at onebayarea.org/maps.htm.


MTC Operational Statistics

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


Upcoming Events

November 28-29 — UVA Miller Center Conference, Washington DC
December 8 — Senate Transportation and Housing Committee, San Francisco
December 15 — MTC/ABAG Holiday Party, Berkeley
December 21 — BAHA Meeting, Oakland

Executive Director's Previous Reports