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Read Executive Director Andrew T. Chesley's most recent Board
updates.

Update for
September 5, 2008
Federal Highway Trust Fund In Trouble:
The predicted wall has been hit in the Highway Trust Fund. On
Monday Secretary Peters will announce that the Trust Fund will
be short about $3 billion in revenue. She will authorize the
Dept. to cut back on reimbursements to State DOTs. from the
normal 80 - 90 % to 60 - 70 %. The effect on California will be
in the hundreds of millions of dollars. SJCOG staff is quickly
looking to see what projects will be effected and once again the
pressure will be on Measure K to pick up the shortfall. The
real hit of this decision will be on Caltrans. The Department's
maintenance program is federally funded and will take the
biggest hit of all. Of course it will be California's drivers
who will experience the increased number of unfilled bumps in
the road. I was at an event with Caltrans Director Will Kempton
and you would have thought he had taken a physical blow.
Presidential Campaigns and their treatment of
Transportation:
Neither campaign appears to have given transportation a very
high policy profile. The Obama campaign has a
statement
on transportation policies and programs that is very broad in
its perspective. The McCain campaign does not appear to have
any policy statement. The Republican Party platform (http://www.gopplatform2008.com/2008Platform.pdf,
pg. 18-19) has an even more broad statement on infrastructure.
On the eve of the reauthorization of the federal transportation
act it is disappointing to see such little talk of
transportation infrastructure in the two campaigns.
I-580 Groundbreaking in Alameda County:
Today, a host of transportation dignitaries attended the ground
breaking for the High Occupancy Vehicle Lane widening of I-580
in the Tri-Valley. The project will prove a traffic management
challenge but every effort is being made to complete the median
widening in just over a year's time. This is one of the first
bond projects to break ground. The project may very well morph
into a HOT lane project in the next year and open as a carpool
lane/toll lane for single occupant drivers. Supervisor Haggerty
hosted the event. I informed him this morning I would be at
the event. He seemed surprised, but I told him "I-580 is San
Joaquin County's driveway". He used that in his introduction of
the project. Probably 45,000 San Joaquin residents use I-580
each day in their commute.
San Joaquin HOT Lane Study:
We have been informed that we have been awarded $100,000 to
study under what conditions and how we would implement the
development of HOT lanes in San Joaquin County in the near
future. This will involve a range of policy questions for the
COG Board. By the way, Caltrans has also begun a statewide
analysis of HOT lane development throughout the state.
SJCOG Discussion of Measure K Revenue Shortfalls:
In late Sept. the Board of Equalization will issue a new update
on revenue forecasts for sales tax revenues. The report will
show that we can expect less transportation sales tax revenue
than we had estimated in San Joaquin County. The recent
downturn over the past two years has hurt our chances of making
the $735 million projected revenue for the life of the program.
In fact our most recent estimate was $695 million. We are
sharing with our Technical Advisory Committee and particularly
our transit providers the challenging numbers.
SJCOG Board Habitat Committee will meet at noon
on Sept. 15.
SJCOG Project Delivery Committee
has not yet set a date and time to meet.
The Big Four:
In terms of metropolitan planning organizations this refers to
the four largest regional agencies in the state, MTC (Bay Area),
SACOG (Sacramento region), San DAG (San Diego region) and SCAG
(Southern California (LA, Orange, San Bernardino, Riverside,
Imperial and Ventura Counties)). These are the regional
transportation agencies with the largest budget and staff. At a
recent meeting at the Air Resources Board I was invited to
represent the San Joaquin Valley. It was unusual for this to
happen. And in fact I really could not claim to represent every
agency in the Valley or the Valley as a whole. As a Valley we
have the second largest land area of any region in the state, we
have the third largest population, and the third largest
congressional delegation. However, as individual agencies in
the Valley our modeling tools and data resources are well behind
the four larger regional agencies. We have a greater challenge
in recruiting personnel, and we generally don't have the same in
house specialization. On the other hand we have exhibited an
almost miraculous ability to cooperate among one another and
master a labyrinthian regulatory process when it comes to air
quality. The Valley COG Directors are examining the question of
if and how we could transform this into the Big Five so that
smaller metropolitan areas could participate in the development
of statewide policy matters.
October 1 through 3, Valley Fall Policy Forum:
I would encourage board members to see if they can find time in
their schedule. The Blueprint, Transportation Financing, and
Working together as a Valley will be big topics. The forum will
be held in Visalia and the active working days will be Thursday
and through lunch on Friday.

Update for
August 27, 2008
House Passes Transportation Finance Bill:
The House passed 387-37, a bill to transfer just over
$8 billion from the General Fund to the Highway Trust Fund to
keep the program solvent next year. (Congressman McNerney is a
co-sponsor of the bill.) The bill now goes to the Senate where
it is unlikely to be taken up before the end of the summer.
President Bush has threatened to veto the bill. For more on the
impending and long expected Highway Trust Fund crisis you can
read the following. The situation has often been described as
the Trust Fund going bankrupt. This is not an accurate
depiction. What will happen is that as receipts of gas tax
revenue fails to keep up with the commitments for highway
construction and repair the program will just slow down. The
decline in gas tax receipts is only exacerbating what has been a
long projected problem in federal transportation finances.
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-na-highway21-2008jul21,0,1945553.story
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121686199194679555.html?mod=special_page_campaign2008_leftbox
By way of a commentary, the amount of money in the bill, $8
billion is comparatively small. It points to the declining role
of the federal government in shaping transportation policy and
investments in today's environment.
SB 375: This is Senator Steinberg's bill to
outline a process for transportation and land use decisions to
take into account greenhouse gas emissions on a regional basis.
The bill has come under much suspicion because of a concern it
threatens local government land use control. The author however
has worked with CSAC, the League and the California Councils of
Governments to make the language over local government land use
control as unambiguous as possible. Other issues such as
protecting transportation projects in development and allowing
programmatic review of greenhouse gas emissions under specified
conditions have been strengthened. The League and CSAC have
taken support positions on the bill after much wrestling with
the issue. CalCOG has taken a support position. The Regional
Policy Council will review this on Friday and consider joining
the groups, taking a neutral position or sticking with the
position adopted at the start of the legislative year as
opposed. Greenhouse Gas Emissions: The Air Resources Board
(ARB) has released its draft scoping plan for implementing AB 32
http://www.arb.ca.gov/cc/scopingplan/document/draftscopingplan.pdf .
I was invited to a meeting of the ARB staff and staff from the
transportation planning agencies in Sacramento, the Bay Area,
Los Angeles, and San Diego. A few items popped to the
forefront. Our tools are not adapted for the kind of analysis
ARB will be looking for. They will need to be upgraded. ARB
will need to measure vehicle miles of travel (VMT) better as
opposed to just estimating them. ARB is generally taking an
incentive based approach and this was applauded. ARB is getting
a lot of pressure to set a VMT reduction target of greater than
2%. Bay Area and Sacramento thought they might meet it under
good circumstances. San Diego thought it was a very outside
possibility. Los Angeles and I said no way for our regions.
AB 3034:
This bill's saga continues. By now you all know the Governor
has agreed to sign the bill. This is not the end though. The
Assembly needs to release the bill. The Assembly responded to
the Governor's threat of vetoing any bill by voting not to send
him any bill. They must make an exception....... Also the
legislature needs to pass a bill suspending or shortening the
minimal 20 review time for any change in ballot language. It is
good news that the bill has been passed and the Governor willing
to sign. Assemblymembers Aghazarian, Galgiani, and Senator
Cogdill all played key roles in giving the Altamont a chance to
continue to compete for High Speed Rail funding.
Silicon Valley Leadership Group Clean and Green
Conference:
http://svlg.net/events/projections2009/ is the site for what
looks to be a very interesting conference sponsored by the
Silicon Valley Leadership Group at Santa Clara University. This
is a top notch organization with some very good programs. I
encourage you to take a look.
Grade Separation Program:
Congratulations to the City of Stockton and the Port of Stockton
for landing three and one project respectively on the California
Transportation Commission's discretionary Grade Separation
Program funding list. The requirements of the program are that
the project be underway in the next two years so the City and
the Port have much work to do, but the first hurdle has been
passed.
Hats off to Caltrans Local Assistance:
The San Joaquin Regional Transit District has been working for a
number of years on the a Mall Transfer project that required
negotiating with the mall owners. It was not easy. When an
agreement was reached, there was very little time for the
Caltrans Local Assistance approval. The Caltrans folk came
through expediting the effort and keeping us on a timeline to
get final approval from the CTC.
Some Staff Modifications:
Just to let you know that effective October 1, Anthony Zepeda
will be working on our Commute Connection program. Anthony has
great people skills and will do a great job for us in promoting
shared ride alternatives. Kim Anderson will move from the
Habitat Program to the Transportation Planning Program where she
will be working on the Blueprint. Kim worked on this program
during her internship. Kim is also on the last semester for her
Masters in Public Administration at Stanislaus State. Anne
Marie Poggio Castillou is being promoted from Planning
Technician to Regional Planner in our Habitat Program. Annie
has been great at learning a complex program and working
smoothly with local staff and the development community. We
will be leaving the Habitat Planning Technician position vacant
for awhile. With revenues down in the program we can not keep
three positions funded.

Update for July 24, 2008
State Budget and Possible Transportation Borrowing:
Our website article on the home page should lead you to any
additional
information you would like on the subject. Another source
for information is
http://www.cacities.org/index.jsp?displaytype=11&zone=locc§ion=&sub_
sec=&tert=&story=27342
The effort does seem to be paying off as the Sacramento Bee
reported today on dueling press releases in the Legislature
from both parties saying that borrowing from local
government and transportation is
not the solution.
Central Valley Congressional Districts Among Last In "Well
Being":
See the following article from the Fresno Bee picturing the
San Joaquin Valley congressional districts as among the
worst places for "well being".
http://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/735060.html . An
additional article describes the report itself.
http://www.fresnobee.com/556/story/733744.html .
For more on the American Human Development Project go to
their website at
http://www.measureofamerica.org/ . The 11th
Congressional District that takes in a large part of the
East Bay to Morgan Hill and is about 60% San Joaquin County
is 81st in the nation.
AB 3034 Not Dead Yet:
AB 3034 would allow the High Speed Rail Authority, once it
makes certain
findings to fund rail improvements in the Altamont Pass.
Without the bill, the High Speed Rail Authority is precluded
from expending any funds in the Altamont Pass corridor. The
bill is hardly perfect, but is our only bet for getting the
Altamont
Pass in the upcoming High Speed Rail bond (Proposition 1).
The bill needs a
2/3rds vote to pass and that means Ms. Galgiani needs
Republican votes, and
they are not there yet. The Partnership for the San Joaquin
Valley is leading a
contingent to Sacramento the week of August 4 to advocate
for AB 3034.
Measure K Revenue:
After reviewing the 2007-08 revenue amounts for Measure K,
our Deputy
Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer has revised
upwards estimates of revenue for the remainder of the
Measure K program. Last year's revenue was
-3.2% from the previous year. This was better than his
estimate of a 5.6% drop
in revenue. He will continue to monitor this closely. We
are hardly out of the woods yet.
Airport Land Use Plan Open Houses:
Monday July 28 at the Tracy City Hall (6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.)
there will be a
presentation of the Airport Land Use Plan. The next night,
July 29 (5:00 p.m.
to 6:30 p.m.) will be the presentation at the Lodi Public
Library Community Room.
These two meetings are moving forward, but the Stockton
public meeting will
have to await more progress on the Stockton Airport Master
Plan.
Interns at SJCOG:
Conner Gritsch and Andrew Dasso are two new interns.
Conner is a graduate
of St. Mary's who will be attending University of the Pacific in the fall
as an engineering major. Andrew is a third year student at
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
and a graduate of Linden High School. Both have been great
at pitching in to
help us get through Blueprint, website, Measure K and other
activities.

Update for July 15,
2008
Transit Ridership Increases:
Sam Kaur (SJCOG staff) collected the following data from
information available through June 20th.
Increase in Ridership in last three months:
Altamont Commuter Express ridership increased
13.86%
San Joaquin Regional Transit District ridership
increased 18.56%
Amtrak San Joaquin ridership increased 21.9%
People signing up for carpool through Commute
Connection increased
43.8%
State Legislation SB 375:
One of the most talked about pieces of legislation
effecting government agencies
is SB 375 by Steinberg. The bill is meant to create a
process linking local,
regional and state funding decisions on transportation and
specified land use planning activities. The bill has been
opposed unless amended by the League of California Cities,
support if amended by CSAC and flat out opposed by the San
Joaquin Valley Regional Policy Council and the California
Councils of Governments Association (CalCOG). The League's
issue has been concern over local government land use
decision making authority. While the bill specifically
states that there this no change in the authority of local
jurisdictions to control land use
in their jurisdictions, the bill does seek to influence land
use decision making to an extent that the League finds
at this time unacceptable.
http://www.westerncity.com/index.jsp?displaytype=11&zone=locc§ion=&sub_sec=&tert=
&story=27329
is the website address for the most recent statement from
the League on negotiations on the bill. The League has been
supportive of portions of the bill such as the provision
providing CEQA relief. To learn more about the bill: http://ct2k2.capitoltrack.com/BillInfo.asp?ss=536lcc-search1.xsl&org=all&measure=sb%20375&zone=locc§ion=util&app=billsearch
The bill has implications for regional agencies like San
Joaquin COG regarding state transportation
funding, Blueprint decision making, regional housing needs
assessments, air quality determinations and projections for
employment and population. Those implications are far from
clear at this time however. Regional agencies are all
over the map on this bill. The Metropolitan Transportation
Commission supports
the bill. The Sacramento Area Council of Governments has supported the
bill
with amendments. Agencies like the Orange County
Transportation Authority
have opposed unless amended, and the San Joaquin Valley
Regional Policy Council representing the eight COGs in
the Valley has opposed the bill.
HOV/HOT Session in Sacramento:
Director of Transportation Will Kempton called
transportation leaders throughout the state to discuss High
Occupancy Vehicle Lanes and High Occupancy Toll Lanes. It
was an interesting session and focused mostly on HOT lane
development in the state of California with the clear
message that the administration wants to encourage more.
Presentations were given by San
Diego, Orange and Riverside Counties which have operating
High Occupancy Toll lanes on I-15 and SR 91. HOT lanes
under development are Alameda 680 beginning operation in
2010, Alameda 580 which could be in operation by 2010, Santa
Clara 85/101 connection maybe as early as 2010 and San Diego
I-15 extension which may be on the same timeline. Riverside
County is also working
on an extension of the HOT lane on I-15. Along with the
Alameda projects, of interest to us should be the
Metropolitan Transportation Commission's (MTC) interest in
expediting a network of HOT lanes throughout the Bay Area by
the
year 2015. This would be almost 800 lane miles of HOT lane
facilities on
Highways 101, I-80, I-680, Route 4, I-580, I 880, I-780, and
Highways 85 and 87. Among the most interesting discussions
has been the controversy over the Los Angeles Metropolitan
Transportation Authority's decision to utilize federal
congestion reduction demonstration dollars that New York
City lapsed on to convert HOV lanes on I-10, I-110, and
I-210 to HOT lanes. For San Joaquin
County we are only now in a very real discussion about
having our first High Occupancy Vehicle lanes on I-5 through
Stockton, but if HOT lanes become
more than just a fad (and I think we will see a rapid growth
in them in California) then our HOV Lane study coming to the
Board will have the possibility of developing HOT in our
region.
Airport Land Use Plan Update:
Nothing is every easy and Mike Swearingen and Laura Brunn
are having to make adjustments in our schedule and product
to adjust for the Stockton Airport's delay in getting their
master plan underway. Our schedules (the ALUP Update and
the Master Plan) were supposed to mesh so that we were
working with just one set of noise related data at the
Stockton airport. However, with Steve Hicks leaving as
Airport director and a new director not likely to come on
board until September at the earliest, well we are likely
going to have to delay the Stockton segment, but move
forward with the Tracy and Lodi segments of the plan.
AB 3034:
This is the High Speed Rail bill by Assemblymember Galgiani.
After heroic perseverance by Cathleen to save this bill from
deadly amendments in the
Senate, Cathleen has hit a wall with Senate Republicans
concerned that there
is not enough oversight of the High Speed Rail Authority and that it
should be gutted. Also Assembly Republicans are concerned
with the total amount of bonding on the November ballot and
have voted to have the high speed rail bond put off till
2010. Without 3034, we will likely oppose a 2008 High Speed
Rail
bond. 3034 makes the Altamont Pass eligible for funding in
the high speed rail program. The High Speed Rail
Authority's plan for building high speed rail on the adopted
alignment from S.F. to L.A. along the San Andreas fault
alignment would miss serving San Diego, the Inland Empire,
the norther San Joaquin Valley, and
the Sacramento region. It would do miss these areas in
favor of potentially
serving such hot spots as Gilroy and Los Banos.
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