Executive Director's Report

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR STEVE HEMINGER’S REPORT TO THE
COMMISSION MEETING OF MARCH 24, 2010

SUMMARY OF EVENTS:

Gateway Park Workshop
Oakland, February 25

Together with our partners at Caltrans and the East Bay Regional Park District, BATA co-hosted a public workshop to explore opportunities to create a park at the base of the new Bay Bridge East Span within a roughly 200-acre planning area slated for commercial and industrial development as well as parkland. Gateway Park also will be the East Bay access point for the bicycle/pedestrian path on the new bridge. (See story.)

SB 375 Workshop
San Diego, February 26

Henry Gardner of ABAG and I joined our colleagues from the San Diego Association of Governments, Southern California Associations of Governments, Sacramento Area Council of Governments, and San Joaquin Council of Governments in the second in a series of information-sharing sessions on the implementation challenges associated with SB 375 (Steinberg). The next meeting is scheduled for Los Angeles in April.

ARRA Obligation Deadlines
Washington DC, March 2 & 5

Both the Federal Highway and Transit Administrations met their statutory deadlines – separated by three days – of obligating 100% of the funds provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) to those two agencies. MTC played a small but prominent role by obligating $70 million in ARRA transit funds to a variety of rehabilitation projects around the region in the few scant weeks following FTA’s decision to withdraw support from the Oakland Airport Connector.

CFEE Conference
Napa, March 4-5

Andy Fremier and I attended this conference on public/private partnerships sponsored by the California Foundation on the Environment and the Economy. I made a presentation on our Bay Area Express Lanes project.

Legislature Passes Gas Tax Swap
Sacramento, March 8

The Legislature has approved a complicated proposal to repeal the sales tax on gasoline, increase the excise tax on the same fuel, fund debt service on general obligation transportation bonds from the State Highway Account (SHA), and retain the sales tax on diesel to fund public transit. The proposal essentially eliminates the Proposition 42 program as we have known it by repealing the revenue source upon which that ballot measure relied, although its expenditures for the STIP and local streets are “held harmless” by shifting them to a larger SHA. Funding levels in the State Transit Assistance (STA) program actually would wind up higher than the historic norm if this new arrangement survives continuing pressure on the General Fund budget in future years. After initially threatening a veto, Governor Schwarzenegger signed the bill into law on March 22nd. (See story.)

Antioch Bridge Retrofit Bids Opened
Sacramento, March 10

Caltrans opened construction bids for the seismic retrofit of the Antioch Bridge, with a low bid of $35 million compared to an engineer’s estimate of $93 million. The next lowest bid was $41 million and the highest was $65 million from among the nine total bids received.

APTA Legislative Conference
Washington DC, March 15-17

Chair Scott Haggerty led a delegation of commissioners and senior staff on MTC’s 31st annual trek to Washington DC to lobby Congress during the legislative conference of the American Public Transportation Association. While in Washington, Chair Haggerty testified before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on behalf of the National Association of Counties. A copy of MTC’s report to the Bay Area Congressional Delegation can be found here.

Bipartisan Policy Center Conference
Bellagio, Italy, March 15-19

I was invited to participate in this workshop on the future role of performance measures in the federal surface transportation program sponsored by the Bipartisan Policy Center.

Randy Iwasaki Returns
Walnut Creek, March 17

Caltrans Director Randy Iwasaki will soon be leaving that position to take up the post of Executive Director of the Contra Costa Transportation Authority. As you may recall, Randy served as Caltrans District 04 Director and as a member of this Commission several years ago. We look forward to his return to the Bay Area, although we will miss his leadership in Sacramento.

ARRA Status Report

This status report is our final summary of projects funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The region has now “obligated” 100% of these federal economic stimulus funds as required by law (although recent “de-obligations” due to project cost savings have slightly depressed that total), while 72% of the money has been put to work creating jobs in awarded contracts.

• Bay Area ARRA Project Status | March 15, 2010 (PDF)
  
  

Quote of the Month

“The most effective policy for reducing CO2 emissions and oil imports from transportation is to increase the costs of driving with strong fuel taxes.”

This quotation is from the best study I have read on the subject of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector. It was published last month by the Kennedy School for Government at Harvard University. You can find the full report online here.

Map of the Month

The map of the month shows the historical boundaries of the Bay Area counties at the time of statehood in 1850. As you can see, there were originally only seven counties in the region, with Alameda County being created in 1853 and San Mateo County in 1856.

• Historical California Boundaries (PDF)

MTC Operational Statistics

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

• MTC Operational Statistics (PDF)

Upcoming Events

April 22 — ABAG General Assembly, Oakland