Executive Director Steve Heminger's Report to the Commission Meeting of April 25, 2012
CTC Reception
Berkeley, March 28
I joined several MTC commissioners and staff at a reception for the members of the California Transportation Commission (CTC) who were in town for their monthly meeting. Commissioners Green and Rein Worth made welcoming remarks at the event.
Federal Recertification Complete
Sacramento, March 29
The Federal Highway and Transit Administrations have certified that MTC’s planning process complies with all applicable federal laws. Thus, we have their seal of approval for another four years of planning the transportation future for the San Francisco Bay Area.
AMPO Board Meeting
Washington, April 3
I presided over a regular meeting of the board of directors of the Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations (AMPO) in the nation’s capital. As part of our meeting, we heard presentations from various professional staff members on Capitol Hill about the prospects for enactment of a reauthorization bill this year.
AC Transit Fuel Cell Dedication
Emeryville, April 10
I joined a number of other local officials and dignitaries at a dedication ceremony for AC Transit’s fuel cell facility in Emeryville, which will be used both by AC Transit buses and members of the general public with fuel cell private vehicles. [More info]
High Speed Rail MOU Approved
San Francisco, April 12
Chair Tissier and I attended a major milestone meeting for the California High Speed Rail Authority where the board approved its revised business plan for constructing the initial stages of the railroad as well as two memoranda of understanding (MOU) with the Bay Area and Los Angeles regions for parallel investment in the “bookends” that will complement the large initial investment in the Central Valley. [More info]
BART Silicon Valley Groundbreaking
San Jose, April 12
I joined a cast of hundreds at a luncheon and groundbreaking ceremony to mark the commencement of construction for the first phase of the BART extension that will ultimately connect the new Warm Springs station in Alameda County (also under construction) to downtown San Jose and a final station stop in the City of Santa Clara near San Jose International Airport. The full 16-mile Silicon Valley extension is estimated to cost $6.3 billion – about the same price as the new east span of the Bay Bridge. Commissioner Haggerty spoke at the groundbreaking ceremony, as did two former MTC commissioners: Assemblyman Jim Beall and Santa Clara County Supervisor Ken Yeager. [More info]
Title VI Compliance Review
Washington, April 12
We have received the results of the Title VI Compliance Review conducted by the Federal Transit Administration. The final report finds that MTC’s planning process and programs comply with Title VI in most respects, but it also identified deficiencies in two areas: (1) language access for persons with limited English proficiency, and (2) the fare change analyses we conducted in implementing the Clipper smart card program. We will be working on a plan to correct these deficiencies over the next several weeks.
Antioch Bridge Reaches Seismic Safety
Antioch, April 17
Vice Chair Rein Worth was on hand at a press event to mark the completion of earthquake retrofit work on the Antioch Bridge. The work was completed $15 million below budget and a few months early, a welcome change from other bridges in the Toll Bridge Seismic Retrofit Program. [More info]
SAFETEA Reauthorization Lurches Forward
Washington, April 18
Only a few weeks after passing a bill extending the SAFETEA law until June 30th, the House of Representatives last week passed a 10th extension of current law until the end of the federal fiscal year on September 30, 2012. It is expected that Senate leaders may act to designate this latest extension bill (HR 4348) as the companion to the two-year reauthorization legislation that the Senate passed in March (S 1813). If they do so, that would lead to a joint House-Senate conference committee being convened that could produce a final bill to reauthorize SAFETEA after three years of false starts.
However, there are still several flies in the ointment. First, the House bill is really just a “shell” of an authorizing bill. It only contains substantive provisions in the area of environmental streamlining. All other issues such as program categories, state distribution formulas, and how to pay for the highway and transit programs are missing from the House bill because these matters couldn’t be resolved within the House Republican caucus. Thus, the Senate negotiators will be bringing a complete bill to the conference table; the House conferees will have a pretty blank piece of paper.
Second, the House bill also includes an extraneous provision that would approve the controversial Keystone oil pipeline, which has drawn a veto threat from the Obama Administration. Finally, by the time it passed last month, S 1813 was not a full two-year bill but only an 18-month authorization. Even if the House-Senate negotiators produce a conference report and it is enacted into law by September 30th, it would only buy us a year’s worth of time before the new authorization would expire and we would have to start the process all over again. This long-running reauthorization saga reminds me of what they say about the weather in Scotland: if you don’t like it now, just wait a wee while, and it will change again.
ABAG General Assembly
Oakland, April 19
Several MTC commissioners and ABAG board members, as well as ABAG Planning Director Ken Kirkey and me, made presentations about Plan Bay Area at the Spring General Assembly.
MTC 2011 Annual Report
At your places you will find a copy of MTC’s 2011 annual report entitled “On the Job”. The report is a salute to Bay Area transportation workers, featuring photographic portraits of the men and women who are working hard to provide today’s transportation services and build tomorrow’s improvements.
Map of the Month
The map depicts the top five most densely populated urban areas in the United States as tabulated in the 2010 Census, and it contains two findings that contradict conventional wisdom. First, despite California’s reputation as the home of car culture and urban sprawl, the four densest urban areas in the nation are located in the Golden State – with the New York metro region rounding out the top five. Second – and somewhat sadly – the reason sleepy Delano, California makes the top five is that this small land area contains two large California State Prisons housing 10,000 inmates.
MTC Operational Statistics
The monthly report on the performance of MTC’s operating programs: