Ed Clifford of MTA staff has responded to our initial letter outlining concerns regarding MTA's draft transit service policy. Mr. Clifford's response has been posted on our website (http://socata.lerctr.org/service.html) and will be discussed at our July 12 meeting.

Access Services has a new Executive Director: Alan Cantrell, formerly Deputy Director-Transit for the City of Santa Rosa Dept. of Transit and Parking. He faces the daunting task of guiding the agency thru significant changes in the way it provides services under severe scrutiny. I was actually surprised ASI had quite a few applicants for what in my view is a thankless (but well remunerated) job.

One person whose opinion I pay close attention to is Professor Steve Erie, of UC San Diego. The June Metro Investment Report includes an excerpt of Erie's white paper on infrastructure development in our region. I have to agree with his conclusions that daunting challenges face this region, especially regarding airport capacity. Our friends at the Southern California Association of Governments seem to have similar concerns and are rolling out a proposal for infrastructure investment as an economic stimulus strategy: Operation Jump Start. SCAG hopes to draw private funding (tolls) for truckway and regional rail expansion plus (shudder!) its high speed maglev system proposal. At least SCAG is admitting we have problems although I look askance at some of their solutions (How do we force trucks off free road-lanes and onto toll lanes?)

I am glad to learn Caltrans has assembled a committee composed of transit operators, transportation commissions and various Caltrans districts throughout the region to discuss the feasibility of a regional fare collection system for public transit.

I was quoted in the July 6 San Gabriel Valley Tribune article "Foothill Transit Official Moving on" about the imminent departure of Foothill Transit Executive Director Julie Austin. She was always personable and weathered well a challenging period (as Foothill expanded, built bus yards, implemented a hub and spoke route system, introduced CNG equipment, etc.). It is heartening that someone well versed in the ins-and-outs of Foothill will succeed Julie: Doran Barnes, returning after a stint as head of the Tulsa transit system.

Also I was quoted in the June 30 Los Angeles Business Journal article "End of the Line for New Rail Projects". And certainly we are entering a period where the pace of expansion will slacken, although I foresee some short extension possibilities (especially of the Green Line).

This month I'll conclude by noting another departure: I've learned Jim McLaughlin recently left the MTA. Over the years McLaughlin headed up tricky projects like transit restructuring and transit zones. For the past year or so he has been overseeing MTA's effort to bring budget discipline to Access Services and he adroitly navigated this hazardous task with assurance. My best wishes to Mr. McLaughlin, whatever his future endeavors.