The current transportation funding outlook is generally bleak. One small ray of hope is if Propositions 68 and 70 fail in November that monies from casino compact funds will be used to issue bonds to start addressing the "borrowing" of transportation funds that occurred during the past few years. On the downside finding funds to cover the latest overruns for constructing the Bay Bridge promises to be difficult. Meanwhile TEA-21 reauthorization is stalled and likely
will remain so until after the Presidential election. Lastly a new GAO report " FTA Needs to Better Define and Assess Impact of Certain Policies on New Starts Program" (GAO-04-748) describes the difficulties our region will encounter obtaining the full federal funds for construction of the Eastside Gold Line extension. I guess this is what the old proverb meant "May you live in interesting times"...

I was quoted in the Aug. 2 Los Angeles Business Journal article "MTA Rolling Out Plan to Overhaul City Bus Routes", pointing out that hopefully Metro Connections may finally spark a regional discussion about smart growth issues.

prudent action of the month: Antelope Valley Transit Authority has budged approximately $60,000 for preventive maintenance of the 16 Detroit Diesel Series 40 engines in its fleet. This equipment has a reputation in the industry for being prone to leaks and overheating with problems occurring cyclically about every 60,000-75,000 miles.

The 2nd annual L.A. Neighborhood Initiative Community Forum held Aug. 20 at USC was a very informative event. The plenary session had a sensational presentation by Steve Davies, Vice President of Project for Public Spaces [http://www.pps.org/], a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating and sustaining public places that build communities through technical assistance, education, and research. The workshop I attended on fundraising had useful advice for groups like ours that are novices at raising funds. And I was glad when I addressed a blunt question to keynote speaker Tom Gilmore regarding one of the more obnoxious downtown developers that Gilmore's response was candid and direct.

The MTA Office of Inspector General receive and file report presented at the Aug. 19 Executive Management and Audit Committee meeting summarized two OIG reports that touch on key problems at MTA:

• there are systemic problems relating to policies and procedures at the agency
• deficiencies exist in the training of bus operators

What is even worse is the reports give no indication what actions, if any, are being taken by MTA to address these issues. Oh, well...

Words fail me in when attempting to grapple with the magnitude of delusion exhibited by the San Gabriel Valley power elites regarding their belief that federal funding of the Gold Line Foothill extension is just a matter of political maneuvering. With near hysteria the Pasadena Star-News in a Aug. 26 editorial titled "Valley Will Best MTA Giant" shows an almost childlike belief that heavyweight local Congressman David Dreier and Gary Miller can overturn established federal transportation funding procedures and put those funds directly into the hands of the yet-to-be-established Metro Foothills Gold Line Construction Authority. I wonder how long it will be before Dreier or Miller finally own up that that hundreds of millions for the elites' pet project simply isn't in the cards. Imagine the howling that revelation will provoke!

fact of the month: the LOSSAN corridor is defined in federal law (TEA-21) as only consisting of the rail corridor between Del Mar and San Diego, which hinders efforts to obtain federal funds for projects outside this narrow segment. An effort (so far unsuccessful) is being made to have a correct definition included in the TEA-21 reauthorization bill.

Remember the scandal at SunLine Transit in the Coachella Valley last year? One problem was its habit of moving federal funds between the agency and its "affiliates", which is a big no-no. To resolve this accounting voodoo affiliate SunLine Services Group transferred assets valued at $1,142,000 to SunLine Transit to resolve SSG's outstanding debt to the transit agency. Good to see things finally being done on the up-and-up.

Reading the interview with Mike Gordon, former Mayor of El Segundo and a current candidate for the state Assembly, in the August Metro Investment Report makes me question whether the "consensus" plan by Councilwoman Miscikowski can rescue the beleaguered Hahn LAX modernization proposal. Are we close to having this process start over from scratch?