Report to the Commission: May 25, 2016

CMA Meeting

Cordelia, April 29

I met with the directors of the region’s congestion management agencies to discuss potential changes to OBAG 2 as well as the polling results for the regional gas tax.

Big 5 Meeting

Sacramento, May 9

This regular meeting of the executive directors of the four largest MPOs in California has been expanded to add the director of the San Joaquin Council of Governments – Andy Chesley.  Henceforth, we will be known as the “Big 5”.  At this session, we met with CARB Deputy Executive Officer Kurt Karperos to discuss the schedule for updating the greenhouse gas reduction targets that pertain to the Sustainable Community Strategies adopted throughout the state.  Later in the meeting, we were joined by Transportation Secretary Brian Kelly for a discussion about the state transportation funding picture.

Bike to Work Day

May 12

I joined San Francisco Supervisor (and BAAQMD Board Chair) Eric Mar and others in a ride from our Richmond District neighborhood to City Hall.  It was my first Bike to Work Day and I enjoyed it immensely, although I was pretty sore the next day.

TBPOC Meeting

Sacramento, May 12

At the quarterly meeting of the Toll Bridge Program Oversight Committee (TBPOC), the committee approved an expenditure of $15 million to re-grout all 400+ anchor rods at the base of the suspension tower of the new east span.  This operation will accomplish two important objectives: (1) forcing any remaining water out of the rod casings, and (2) providing a redundant means of securing the rods to the foundation of the tower.  The work is expected to take several months.  As an extra measure of reassurance, the committee also received a peer reviewed engineering analysis which concluded that the rods are not essential to the intended seismic design performance of the tower, but do add a modest, desirable level of redundancy in the event of an extremely large earthquake.

Smart City Roundtable

San Francisco, May 18

I joined Mayor Ed Lee, Commissioner Wiener, and other local transportation officials for a roundtable discussion with U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx about his “Smart City” initiative, which will involve awarding $40 million to one American city to demonstrate various intelligent transportation technologies.  San Francisco is one of seven finalists, along with Austin TX, Columbus OH, Denver CO, Kansas City MO, Pittsburgh PA, and Portland OR.  The winner is expected to be announced this summer.

MTC/ABAG Move

Oakland and San Francisco, May 19-23

Over the past weekend, the MTC and ABAG workforces relocated from 101 Eighth Street in Oakland to 375 Beale Street in San Francisco.  As you well know, MTC commissioners beat the staff to the punch by holding their May committee meetings in the new Bay Area Metro Center.

The Air District is scheduled to move over the Memorial Day weekend.  We also received word earlier this month that Governor Brown has included funding in his May budget revision for FY 2016-17 that will enable the Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC) to join its three sister regional agencies at Beale Street in 2017.  We look forward to all being together under one roof (and a very large atrium) as soon as possible.

Upcoming Events

June 1                          Bay Area Partnership, San Francisco

June 17                        BARC Board Meeting, San Francisco

June 17                        Commonwealth Club Panel, San Francisco

June 22-23                  TRB Executive Committee, Irvine