MTA, L.A. Area Chamber of Commerce and the Auto Club Call for United Effort to Secure Funding at Second Mobility 21 Transportation Summit

PR Newswire
November 17, 2003




MTA, L.A. Area Chamber of Commerce and the Auto Club Call for United Effort to Secure Funding at Second Mobility 21 Transportation Summit; NIMBYs, Cutting Red Tape and Creative Financing Among Breakout Session Topics



Traffic congestion and transportation funding will be the focus of the day on Nov. 17 when MTA and the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with the Automobile Club of Southern California, host the second annual Mobility 21 transportation summit at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.
Mobility 21: LA County Moving Together is aimed at bringing together leaders from the public and private sectors, including elected officials, transportation providers, business and labor leaders, as well as academic and community representatives, to develop solutions to the region's traffic woes.

"The need to work together to tackle our very challenging traffic problems has never been greater," said Zev Yaroslavsky, Los Angeles County Supervisor and MTA Board Chairman. "The latest study by the Texas Transportation Institute showed that Los Angeles has the worst traffic congestion of any area in the nation -- for the sixteenth year in a row.

"Traffic congestion affects our economy, our environment and ultimately our quality of life," Yaroslavsky added. "We need adequate funding from the federal government and Sacramento, and we need to explore local funding sources if we are to build the public transit and highway system needed to address these problems."

In addition to the MTA, LA. Area Chamber of Commerce and the Auto Club, participating agencies and organizations will include the Federal Highway Administration, Caltrans, Bay Area Rapid Transit District, Southern California Association of Nonprofit Housing, Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency, Unified Western Grocers, USC Annenberg School of Journalism, Loyola Marymount and others.

"We face some big challenges ahead that will impact the future of our transportation system," said MTA CEO Roger Snoble. "There will be stiff competition for funding of projects and the coalition will need to show that we are united in achieving a shared vision for Los Angeles County."

The opening session will include addresses by several speakers including Jim Parker, vice chairman and CEO, Southwest Airlines, Los Angeles Area Chamber President and CEO Rusty Hammer and MTA CEO Roger Snoble. A legislative panel of Los Angeles County congressional, senate and assembly representatives and local city councilmembers will address the session during lunch. The closing session will include an address by U.S. Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-Oregon).

"Transportation and the ability to get to work and move goods is at the heart of our economy," said Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Rusty Hammer. "That is why the business community is leading the Mobility 21 effort along with other partners. We realize the importance of continuing the work we started last year to bring the transportation dollars from Washington and Sacramento that the Los Angeles area is due."

According to Auto Club President and CEO Thomas V. McKernan, "The new administration in Sacramento has an opportunity to end legislative gridlock and begin unclogging our traffic congestion throughout the state. Transportation needs insightful leadership to bring about the long-term planning and funding that will help address our traffic congestion crisis."

A wide range of topics will be part of the breakout sessions including NIMBYs (Not In My Backyard) and building support for projects, creative local funding ideas, cutting red tape for faster projects, balancing growth and development, building transit through partnerships, getting to and from the airport and goods movement.

Moderators for the breakout sessions will include Julie Bornstein, director of the Keston Infrastructure Institute at the University of Southern California Lusk Center for Real Estate; Arthur Bauer, principal of Arthur Bauer & Associates, a Sacramento-based consulting firm; Martha Welborne, managing director, Grand Avenue Committee; Geoffrey Yarema, partner, Nossaman, Guthner, Knox & Elliot; Dr. Fernando Guerrra, director of the Center for the Study of Los Angeles, Loyola Marymount University; Tom Gilmore, president, Gilmore Associates; Donald Brackenbush, Goodell Brackenbush, Beatrice Proo, Pico Rivera mayor and MTA board member and Jon Beaupre, award winning journalist and Cal State Los Angeles professor.

Mobility 21 executive co-chairs include Congressman David Dreier, Los Angeles Mayor and MTA Board Member James Hahn, Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce President and Board Chairman George Kieffer, Congresswoman Juanita Millender-McDonald, Senator Kevin Murray, Chair, California State Senate Transportation Committee, Lancaster Mayor and MTA Board Member Frank Roberts, Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard and Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and MTA Board Chair Zev Yaroslavsky.

Sponsors for Mobility 21 include: Antelope Valley Transit Authority, Arcadia Transit, Claremont Transit Services, Commerce Municipal Bus Lines, Los Angeles Department of Transportation, Culver City Bus, Foothill Transit, Gardena Municipal Bus Lines, Long Beach Transit, Montebello Bus Lines, Norwalk Transit System, Redondo Beach Wave, Santa Clarita Transit, Santa Monica Big Blue Bus, Torrance Transit System, Port of Los Angeles, URS Corporation, The Gas Company, a Sempra Energy Utility, Carter & Burgess, Inc., Golden State Gateway Coalition, Laidlaw Educational Services, Mercury Air Group, Port of Long Beach, Southwest Airlines and the Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority.