While working on the petition drive for California Proposition #116, at Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal, sometime in September of 1989, I felt a strong need for a local citizen's advocacy organization, to speak out on their public transit services. This was when I first met Pat Moser, our president emeritus in the historic waiting room.

Pat and I agreed on a number of issues. Los Angeles had approved a sales tax increase in 1980, primarily to finance the construction and operation of a rail transit system, and where were we at that time? The Blue Line was nearing completion and the Red Line was locked in a shroud of controversy as an expensive subway option was chosen for the first segment downtown. I began to wonder, if and when, these two systems will turn their first wheel and collect their first fares.

Pat said he had a small handful of supporters organized, though not formally, known as Los Angeles Transit League. Pat said that name was just being used temporarily until we could formally organize. During This time, we actually saw the Blue Line begin Operation , though questionable under the perception that it was not the rail technology specically called for in Proposition A in 1980. Nevertheless, rail had return to Los Angeles for the first time in over a quarter century. But we had to get involved more intensely. Crooked politicians were out to corrupt the system for their own personal benefit and ego: good case in point at that time , former Van Nuys California Senator Alan Robinson, who is in jail now. Another example was in Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich, stirring controversy with a proposed monorail, saying it could be built and operating in less than two years. Well, that time has come and gone. Maybe no rail will be built in the San Fernando Valley after all, as long as the NIMBY vs. NIMBY war continues, no thanks to current financial problems as well.

We finally got some formal organization going, in 1992, got a charter put together, and Pat wanted to create an acronym that would be easy to remember. I felt that we really needed to go beyond the city of Los Angeles, in fact reach outside the county as well, as there are so many different transit organizations that will be feeding into each others' services, Hence, I thought of using "Southern California" to describe the area, and give us a wider area to cover. California Proposition #116 called for commuter rail to serve both Los Angeles and San Diego, although under different governmental bodies, but assured that Oceanside would be an end point, south and north, respectively. I said we need to take all things into consideration, not just rail, but buses, rideshare services, diamond lanes, and even ferry boats and bike paths. Use of the term "bus", "rail", or any other specific mode would limit our abilities within our name alone, and make us look like some special interest political lobby. So I decided to add something more general. We almost went with an acronym that would have confused us with another transit company in Ventura County and given us a nasty identity having a negative implication, therefore, that acronym was dropped. But by adding the full abbreviations for South (So.) and California (Ca.) and using "Transit Advocates" (TA) to keep it general, I came up with the acronym SO.CA.TA, which was unanimously approved at our charter board meeting, which included Pat and I, and Kris Sharp, Charles Hobbs, and Bob Richmond (to editor, please check minutes of that meeting and verify, correct me if I am wrong, I want those present at that particular meeting to be mentioned in this article). Thus, Southern California Transit Advocates, known as SO.CA.TA was born at that time.

Now, what have we accomplished? Despite some adversities in public financing, quite a bit, but we still have a long way to go. Just because, for example, a ground breaking ceremony is held to start construction of a rail line, that does not mean he mission is accompolished and we can put our feet up on the table and fantasize abou actual startup. There will always be detractors, and small groups or individuals, who will be persuing the protection of their own special self-interests.

But with this being the Fifth Aniversary of SOCATA's fight for better transportation in the Southern California area, let us count our accompolisments too. The larger ones mainly being the use of natuaral gases to power buses and reduce polution as well as maintenance costs, and the new rail services that have started. Commuter rail was non-exsistent at the time Pat and I were petitioning support for Proposition #116, and less than 3 years it became reality, as I can recall that Charles Hobbs, and I rode the first ever Metrolink train to run on October 26, 1992, as we boarded at Moorpark, about quarter of five that morning for the first ride to Los Angeles on train #201. There have been some service expansions since then, but far less than what it should be really be.

I strongly regret that I cannot make this event due to my job commitments and that I am trying to find new housing where I live here in Florida. I have on my file, copies of the Transit Advocate, and since my job as a truck driver gives me the chance to visit several different localities throughout the nation. I can find out more of the pitfalls of why our highway system alone won't work, and share ideas that other towns have taken to solve transportation problems. Some recent good examples are Chicago, Cleveland, Baltimore, Dallas, and Boston. Some bad examples are Phoenix, Houston, and Atlanta.

Regardless, our task will never be completed. If it was not, there would be no need for us to waste our time, finances, and resources on this project. I am glad to see that we are getting recognition from the press and other media sources, as communication is such an important factor in the functions of everyday life.