Executive Director's Report

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR STEVE HEMINGER’S REPORT TO THE
COMMISSION MEETING OF MAY 28, 2008

SUMMARY OF EVENTS:

North Bay Leadership Council Forum
Petaluma, April 25

I participated in a panel discussion on future transportation trends with the congestion management agency directors from Marin and Sonoma counties at this North Bay business group event.

US DOT Urban Partner Grants
Washington, April 25

Following the demise of state legislation authorizing congestion pricing for New York City, U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters announced that federal Urban Partnership Program funds previously awarded to that city would be redirected to similar road and parking pricing initiatives in the cities of Los Angeles and Chicago.

Bay Area Partnership
Oakland, May 1

The regular bi-monthly meeting of the Bay Area Partnership focused on continuing development of the Transportation 2035 Plan.

State Legislative Visits
Sacramento, May 7

Commissioners Dodd, Giacopini, Lempert, and Yeager joined MTC staff for our annual lobbying trip to Sacramento. While in town, I joined John Barna of the California Transportation Commission and Randy Iwasaki of Caltrans in briefing members of the Bay Area State Assembly delegation on progress in the toll bridge seismic retrofit program.

Annual Congestion Report
Oakland, May 9

Vice Chair Haggerty and Commissioner Sartipi conducted their annual press conference announcing release of the 2007 Bay Area traffic congestion data, including the infamous “Top 10 List” of the most congested locations in the region. There were no major changes to the Top 10, but the big news was that total regional traffic delays last year reached their highest levels since the peak of the economic boom in 2000.

Governor Releases May Budget Revision
Sacramento, May 14

Governor Schwarzenegger’s “May Revise” of his FY 2008-09 budget proposal contained a big dose of bad news for public transit by recommending the diversion of some $1.4 billion in fuel sales tax revenue from transportation purposes to the state’s beleaguered General Fund. This proposed diversion would rob the State Transit Assistance (STA) program of nearly $800 million statewide next year, at the same time that record-high fuel prices are bringing large numbers of new customers to public transit. In the Bay Area, the hit to STA funds would total about $275 million, with San Francisco Muni losing $65 million, BART losing $50 million, Santa Clara VTA losing $32 million, and AC Transit losing $19 million. MTC will be joining a coalition of public and private stakeholders to fight this short-sighted budget raid.

Detroit Chamber of Commerce
May 16

I joined one of my colleagues on the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission in briefing the Detroit Chamber of Commerce on the findings and recommendations of our report, Transportation for Tomorrow. While in town, we also met with the editorial board of the Detroit News.

Transportation 2035 Workshops

Thanks to all the commissioners and staff who participated in the nine county-based workshops on the Transportation 2035 Plan held throughout the region during the month of May.

Map of the Month

The map of the month depicts goods movement related land uses that are at risk of conversion to a non-goods movement supporting land use. The data is based upon the Goods Movement Land Use Study, which examines planned land use changes in several key corridors that support goods movement in the nine-county San Francisco Bay region. This map indicates, that within the Goods Movement Study corridors, about 116,000 acres of goods movement related land uses are a risk of conversion to a non-goods movement related land use.

• Goods Movement Land Use (PDF)

 

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

• MTC Operational Statistics (PDF)

Upcoming Events

May 29-31— IBTTA Board of Directors, Philadelphia

June 4 — CTC Workshop, Sacramento

June 6 — Bipartisan Policy Center Workshop, Washington DC