The Transportation Summit was a promising event. Hopefully the organizers realize the need to engage in further outreach (many have noted attendance was mostly confined to the usual suspects), especially with regard to the composition of the delegations to be sent to Sacramento and Washington, D.C. in 2003.  Hopefully next year the event will have less speech making and more workshop opportunities. I'd also get rid of the "resolutions", which were in most cases long-winded policy laundry lists that will quickly be forgotten. Engaged dialogue among stakeholders should be given more emphasis along with educational opportunities. But for a first try it was a pretty good event.

I was heartened at the description of our group L.A. Times reporter Kurt Streeter included in his November 12 article 'Transit Nerds Making Themselves Heard': "More modestly successful, and more mainstream, is the Southern California Transit Advocates, considered the oldest of the Los  Angeles advocacy groups, around since the late 1980s."

We have had our first solid victory in the effort to ensure transit users are included on the various MTA Service Sector Governance Councils: The Culver City city council at its Nov. 11 meeting selected as one of its 4 nominees SO.CA.TA member Ken Ruben in the category of community advocate. Overall the Westside, South Bay and Gateway areas have made laudable outreach efforts. In fact members in the the Gateway Cities region still have an opportunity to be considered for the sector council in that area by contacting Deborah Chan Kin of the Gateway Cities Council of Governments at (562) 663-6850.  The situation regarding the San Fernando Valley sector is murky. And sadly the San Gabriel Valley establishment persists in pushing for only elected officials to be placed on the Sector Council there. As window dressing they propose having a non-voting public member to serve in a advisory capacity. Notice it isn't even clear whether this "advisor" would be a transit user. We will resist this and any other efforts to undermine including transit users on the Sector Councils.

Michael Bohlke is one of the most knowledgeable persons about transportation issues in the region but you've likely never heard of him. That is because he is the transportation deputy for Los Angeles County Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite-Burke and while on occasion you will see him quoted in the press his main mission is scouting the territory for his boss and keeping her informed of developments.  I recently ran across Bohlke at the Expo light rail meeting in Culver City and he smoothly spun regarding my previous column questioning whether Brathwaite-Burke's championing of the Red Line extension along Wilshire was a ploy to undermine the Expo project. Essentially Bohlke declared my comments were interesting but missed the mark and that the Supervisor's support of the Red Line is longstanding. I conceded the latter point but then rejoined if she wholeheartedly supports the project on its own merits why hasn't she held a meeting in Miracle Mile to share these views with her constituents who are the greatest obstacle to the extension? Bohlke didn't really give an answer to my question. Sorry, Mr. Bohlke, but I still suspect your boss of cynical calculation not real advocacy. If and when she does some heavy lifting than I'll believe her support is genuine. And frankly I hope the Supervisor surprises me and displays the kind of courage one would need to face-off with the NIMBYS. But I'm not holding my breath...

question of the month: why is the Los Angeles Rail Car project (aka the P-2000 cars running on the Green Line) so over budget, years late and with the vehicles still only conditionally accepted? None of these questions are addressed in the staff report (agenda item #10, Dec. 12 MTA Board meeting) seeking a budget increase of $14 million.

I spent the afternoon of Saturday November 16 at an outreach fair held during the fall conference of the Junior State of America (L.A. area chapters) at the Sheraton Gateway near LAX. They actually contacted me and asked for us to participate. JSA is an organization of high school students devoted to leadership development and non-partisan exploration of political issues. Previously our outreach has been in events linked to transportation or environmental themes, this was the first we participated in that was overtly political. During the 3 hours of the fair some very intelligent young people engaged me in conversations and took our literature.

When you read a lot of transit agency board minutes like I do you get used to plowing through reams of boring boilerplate material in the pursuit of that occasional bit of golden information. So you can imagine I felt like I had hit the mother lode when reading  the Antelope Valley Transit Authority Board minutes for Oct. 28.  In discussing problems with AVTA commuter service Chairman Ron Carter sharply questioned the progress in addressing miles between road failures. Also Director Rick Dispenza in a discussion of inventory control pointedly asked were items unaccounted for merely not adequately kept track of or actually being stolen. Staff responses to these inquiries did not seem to instill confidence to the extent that Dispenza openly worried whether another service meltdown as experienced with previous contractor Laidlaw was happening. A sign of how concerned the board became at what they were hearing is that Chairman Carter felt a need to seek assurance about the security measures taken to limit access to the fareboxes. Pointedly staff were directed to assess the operational situation and develop an action plan to correct it. Makes you wish you could have been present to see the verbal fireworks, huh?

Well, we knew it had to happen - at their recent City Hall protest the BRU denounced Mayor Hahn; City News Service describes BRU Spokesman Martin Hernandez as suggesting Hahn was working at odds to the consent decree "bolstering policies that foster and sustain ... structural racism". I knew when Hahn showed up during the mayoral election at a BRU press conference to endorse their stance on consent decree compliance that he would eventually come to rue doing so. Also following past patterns I was sure Eric Mann would eventually denounce Hahn for "betrayal".  Like clockwork a mere 18 months later all my hunches appear to be coming true.

Kymberleigh Richards and I met with Los Angeles Times reporter Kurt Streeter Nov. 21 at Times Mirror Square. It was partly a get acquainted session and also a chance for Streeter to pick our brains about issues he might want to keep an eye on during the next 12 months. I brought a list of  8-10 topics that might be worth looking into. It is encouraging that Streeter, along with colleague Caitlin Liu, have been doing more real digging while on the transportation beat than some of their predecessors. Since the Times sets the news agenda for the region, that is a healthy turn of events.

Dec. 5 the Regional Council of the Southern California Association of Governments choose the West Los Angeles to March AFB via Union Station and Ontario Airport corridor as the Initial Operating Segment for Maglev. While going forward in their efforts to secure  more federal funds for planning the IOS the agency appeased disappointed advocates of competing corridors by promising to continue studying those as potential future extension segments. Plus SCAG reaffirmed its support for the California-Nevada High Speed Rail Commission proposal for a Maglev system linking Las Vegas and Anaheim. I am sure the army of consultants feeding at the SCAGLEV troth heaved a sigh of relief at the continuation of this unfolding fiasco.

Good news: Riverside County's Measure A (a 30 year extension of the half-percent sales tax for transportation) passed with 69.1% in the November election. Next local county due to try and pass a renewal: San Bernardino.

Bad news: a San Bernardino Associated Government (SANBAG) staff report has made me aware that due to EPA changing the standards by which ozone pollution is measured more parts of the country may soon be declared "non-attainment" areas than currently are. This would make these areas eligible for federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality program funds. Which essentially means less CMAQ monies for Southern California, which are used for all sorts of pollution reduction strategies. I guess this is another example of unintended consequences...

Speaking of SANBAG, its board is persisting in its desire to study withdrawal from SCAG and set up a separate Inland Empire Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO). The very professional SANBAG staff have in reports outlined why current federal law makes withdrawal and creation of a separate MPO virtually impossible. In the Dec. 4 San Bernardino Sun article 'County's  planners in transit over regional transportation' it is revealed "[SANBAG staff have] also expressed reservations about pulling out of SCAG, saying it could leave the Inland Empire powerless to affect decisions made in Los Angeles and Orange counties; decisions that would likely affect Inland Empire air quality and transportation routes connecting Inland Empire commuters to their jobs."

phrase of the month: Metropolitan Planning Organizations - Federal highway and transit statutes require, as a condition for spending federal highway or transit funds in urbanized areas, the designation of MPOs which have responsibility for planning, programming and coordination of federal highway and transit investments. (source - Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations http://www.ampo.org).

By passing agenda item #42 at its Dec. 12 meeting the MTA Board essentially has decided to defer confronting the systemic problems at Access Services by throwing some money at the problem ($5 million for the current fiscal year) with a cap on the ASI  budget for the 2004 fiscal year.  But the plan the Board is adopting includes a same day service component, which isn't mandated by ADA. This is a potential budget buster and it is unclear what limits will be placed on the same day component (the plan cryptically declares "amount of resources for subsidy program [to provide additional same day trips] will vary, depending on trip demand and funding"). Disability advocates are placing their hopes in the creation of a ASI foundation to help pay for the same day services. I think they will find this more difficult than they imagine, since millions will be needed to subsidy same day service trips. No one seems to want to confront this crisis, being content instead to merely noodle at the margins and put off the tough decisions.

Sierra Club co-founder John Muir famously mused "everything is hitched to everything else." Something that may not immediately strike one as influencing transportation but in fact does is the structure of governmental funding. How moneys flow in California between the state and local governments and who controls what funds influence all sorts of governmental decisions (such as land use) that impact transportation. I have repeatedly read laments of the situation post Prop-13. And been curious what factors prevent something being done about it. Rick Cole, current city manager of Azusa and a long-time champion of smart growth/urban revitalization, put his finger on one aspect when interviewed in the Nov. Metro Investment Report: "Part of the problem lies in the way cities characterize the problem. For ten years, the League of Cities has railed about the ERAF shift (where local property tax revenue was shifted from cities and counties to school districts  so Sacramento could balance the State budget). There is no question cities got a raw deal-Governor Davis is on record that the money was "stolen." ... But voters don't care about revenue for cities, they care about funding for services: police, fire, libraries, parks, streets etc. Talking about ERAF is talking about the wrong issue. The real issue is stable funding of vital services to every California family, whether they live in a small city, a big city, a rich city, a poor city-or in unincorporated county areas. .... Reform is stalled because a compelling case has not been made to the voters that it isn't some abstract entity like "the city" or "the county" that is suffering under the current mess-it's the services that voters care about that are suffering." That sounds 100% dead-on.

trivia question of the month: does anyone remember why MTA heretofore has not been a member agency of ASI? Answer in next month's column.

I'll conclude by revealing I've learned where former ASI Executive Director Richard DeRock landed: he is now General Manager of Link Transit, the public transportation agency for Chelan and Douglas counties in Washington state (largest city: Wenatchee). Quite a come down, huh?  By the way, Link's annual budget is $6 million (ASI has a $60+ million budget).