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November
18, 2002 |
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CONTACT:
Robyn Ritter Simon Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce (213) 580-7532 www.lachamber.org |
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MTA, Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce Target Traffic Congestion at Region’s First Transportation Summit
In a first for Los
Angeles County, MTA and the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce are
spearheading a summit on transportation aimed at forging consensus among
leaders in the public and private sectors on workable solutions to the
region’s crushing traffic congestion. The
Nov. 18, 2002 gathering of elected officials, transportation providers,
business, labor, academic and community leaders at downtown L.A.’s
Wilshire Grand Hotel is titled Mobility 21: LA County Moving Together. “We
know all too well the source of most of our transportation problems, but,
historically, reaching agreement on how best to solve these issues has not
been so easy,” said Hal Bernson, Los Angeles City Councilman and MTA
Board Chairman. “Our aim is to break through the barriers that have
plagued us in the past and also to create a coalition that will speak with
a strong unified voice when it goes to Sacramento and Washington, D.C. in
search of much-needed transportation funding.” In addition to MTA and
the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, participating agencies and
companies will include the Federal Transit Administration, United Parcel
Service, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, California Trucking
Association, Surface Transit Project, Caltrans, Air Transport Association,
Automobile Club of Southern California, United Western Grocers Association
and others. “We have arrived at
the point where a shared vision about our future is imperative if we are
to deal effectively with the projected population growth and demands on
our infrastructure,” said MTA CEO Roger Snoble. “The population of Los
Angeles County, alone, will grow by another 2.7 million people by 2025
which means the actions we take today are critical to sustaining a good
quality of life into the future.” The
opening and closing sessions and the luncheon will include addresses by
several speakers including Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard, California
State Assembly Speaker Emeritus Robert Hertzberg, MTA Board Chair Hal
Bernson, and Thomas McKernan, president and chief executive officer of the
Automobile Club of Southern California. "The
formation of a transportation-specific coalition will bring enormous value
to the Los Angeles region which has suffered from a lack of consensus
among our congressional delegation, resulting in Los Angeles not receiving
its fair share of transportation dollars,” said Rusty Hammer, president
and chief executive officer of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce.
“Business recognizes the importance of such a coalition and is investing
in Mobility 21 to see to it that a working group is formed to move us
toward solving our transportation issues." Breakout sessions will
cover a broad range of topics including goods movement, the role of
streets and highways in mobility, freight movement, public transit,
getting to and from the airport, funding transportation services and
infrastructure, integrating land use and transportation, and securing
transportation resources through coalition building. Moderators for the
breakout sessions will include Rusty Selix, executive director for the
California Association of Councils of Governments; David Abel,
editor-in-chief for Metro Investment Report; Phil Recht, a former Clinton
Administration official in the U.S. Department of Transportation; Larry
Jackson, president and general manager for Long Beach Transit; Steven
Erie, director of urban studies an planning for the University of
California at San Diego; and Doug Failing, District 7 Director for the
California Department of Transportation. Participating breakout
session panelists will include Dan Beal, manager of public policy and
programs for the Automobile Club of Southern California; Katherine Perez,
executive director of the Southern California Transportation & Land
Use Coalition; Jim Seeley, Washington, D.C., chief legislative
representative for Mayor James Hahn’s Office of Intergovernmental
Affairs; Mitchell Rouse, president of Taxi Systems, Inc.; Ed Merlis,
senior vice president of government affairs for the Air Transport
Association of America; and John Kirchner, professor at California State
University, Los Angeles. Mobility-21 executive co-chairs include Hal Bernson, L.A. City Councilmember, Chair of the MTA Board of Directors and Metrolink, and President, Southern California Association of Governments Regional Council; Congressman David Dreier; James Hahn, Los Angeles Mayor and MTA Board Member; Congresswoman Juanita Millender-McDonald; Senator Kevin Murray, Chair, California State Senate Transportation Committee; Assemblywoman Jenny Oropeza, Chair, California State Assembly Budget Committee; Frank Roberta, Mayor, City of Lancaster and MTA Board Member; Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard; and Zev Yaroslavsky, Chair, Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and First Vice-Chair, MTA Board of Directors. Sponsors
for the summit include: Automobile Club of Southern California, City Of
Los Angeles, Antelope Valley Transit Authority, City Of Arcadia Transit,
City Of Commerce Municipal Bus Lines, City Of 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, Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority, URS
Corporation, Metrolink, Fluor Corporation, Port Of Long Beach, Southwest
Airlines, United Western Grocers, Inc., University Of Southern California,
and MACTEC Engineering And Consulting, Inc. (formerly LAW/Crandall). The
following is the schedule for the summit:
MTA-102 |
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