As Chairman of OCTA in 2008, my goal is to keep Orange County moving.

The economic and social well-being of our 3 million residents depends on mobility—whether it’s getting to our jobs, going to class, making our appointments, delivering our goods or taking the family to the beach.

The challenge of mobility is great because of Orange County’s successes. Add to our permanent population an additional 500,000 inbound daily commuters and 40,000 who stay nightly in our hotels, and we can see that only mobility can keep us such a vibrant economic center.

We must grasp for our fair share of federal and state dollars, by collaborating with all OC stakeholders for a fair distribution of the federal TEA (Transportation Efficiency Act), but we cannot look primarily to Sacramento or Washington to finance our future. We must and can control our own transportation destiny. Through the extension of Measure M, OC voters have endorsed local control, local responsibility and have entrusted to us their local tax dollars.

Transit. OCTA operates the 11th largest bus system in America. While other agencies have seen falling ridership, ours has grown by 21% over the last 10 years.  Our pledge is a safe ride, on time schedules and friendly service. We will institute our “Bravo” bus rapid transit and expand and improve schedules for the entire system. We will aggressively reach out to the teen market to those kids and their parents to create a transit-friendly culture among OC’s vast middle class. Teenagers all over the world take transit, and they can do so here, saving their parents countless hours of taxiing, cutting fuel consumption and reducing pollution while giving our youth the skills and confidence to function in today’s OC.

We will expand Metrolink service, and work with LA and San Diego counties to better co-ordinate that service up and down the LA-San Diego corridor. We will realistically explore our options with the 9 mile Pacific Electric right-of-way, stretching from Santa Ana to Cypress and on into LA County. We cannot indefinitely sit on these 110 acres, but make them available for either transportation or recreational purposes, working with and respecting the desires of those seven OC cities that straddle the right-of-way.

Far-reaching transit projects include high-speed rail proposals to the Bay Area, to Las Vegas and a shorter link from OC to Ontario Airport. Some may be visionary, others may be impractical. Certainly none of them will be built in 2008, but we must explore each with both realism and vision.

Highways. OCTA is committed to helping our sister agency, the Foothill/Eastern Toll Road Authority, in its completion of the Foothill South extension. The route has been chosen after years of study. The funding is in place through future tolls and developer fees. All we ask from state and federal authorities is that they get out of the way and let this last link be built. To echo our Governor’s words, “we say build it!”

The last link of OC’s internal freeway system is the extension of the Orange (57) Freeway from the Santa Ana interchange down along the Santa Ana River to a junction with the San Diego (405) Freeway. When completed, this would provide real north-south traffic relief, and could be done using existing right-of-way without eminent domain, and be compatible with existing and proposed recreational uses. The technical challenges are surmountable, but are the political challenges surmountable? I look forward to an up-or-down vote this year as to whether the OCTA Board seeks to move forward.

Our successful design/build approach on the Garden Grove (22) Freeway has proven its worth in time and money. Upon completion, we should engage a performance audit to examine the lessons of this pioneering project and use this information legislatively to seek more design/build approaches on future projects.

In 2008, we will cooperate even closer with our neighboring transit agencies. With the Riverside County Transportation Commission, we will improve the Riverside (91) Freeway, by extending the Express Lanes.  We will also pursue the connector with the Foothill-Eastern 241 toll road.  The visionary tunnel under the Santa Ana Mountains promises a more direct route to the inland empire, if the technical, financial and political challenges can be met. We will work even closer with Metro—the L. A. Metropolitan Transportation Authority to better co-ordinate freeway and rail connections between our two counties.

We will work to improve internal operations through better transparency among ourselves and with the public. By the spring 2008, OCTA Board Meetings should be available online in real time to the public through our website. I will work personally with OCTA staff to continue improvements in communication and presentations to the Board. The public’s and Directors’ time are extremely valuable, and meeting efficiency will be my priority. The Ad-Hoc Procurement Committee made recommendations on improving our process, and I would ask then-Chair Rosen to reconvene the committee to evaluate implementations and suggest other improvements.

The public has entrusted the OCTA Board of Directors with their tax dollars and the powers to keep Orange County moving. We will live up to that trust. 2008 will be Great!

The search for a new Orange County Sheriff continues. It’s now been three weeks since Mike Carona’s resignation, and six local aspirants have applied for the position:
Assistant Sheriff (now acting as sheriff) Jack Anderson, Former OC Sheriff’s Dept. Lieutenant Bill Hunt, Assistant Anaheim Chief of Police Craig Hunter, Former Assemblyman Ken Maddox (who was 8 years as a Tustin P.D. officer), LA County Sheriff’s Dept. Commander Ralph Martin and Santa Ana Police Chief Paul Walters.

Not content with the local pool, the Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 to hire a headhunter firm to search nationally for more applicants. The Sacramento firm of Bob Murray & Associates is being considered for a $35,000 fee.

I was on of the two “no” votes (along with Moorlach) against hiring an outside search firm. I don’t believe the cost in dollars and delays would justify the benefit. The position has already been widely advertised through the national media and our Human Resources staff can post the opening online and in professional publications. Because the new Sheriff must be a registered OC voter and would have to be on the ballot in June, 2010, out-of-area applicants might be very few compared to the local talent already available..

The current 6-year limit on State Assembly members is the most restrictive in the nation and makes it very difficult for our legislators to gain knowledge or plan long term. Senators are limited to 8 years, forcing all legislators into a musical-chairs-of-office-seeking, bouncing back and forth between state, county and local offices.

Proposition 93 is not a perfect solution, but I believe it is a step in the right direction. It combines the 6 and 8 year limits into a total of 12. Critics say it grandfathers in current legislators by giving them an additional 12 years beyond the current limits and is a self-serving move by Speaker Fabian Nunez to extend his power.

Beyond specific personalities however, current term limits have made the legislature even more short-sighted and have given more power to bureaucracies who stay entrenched indefinitely.

“I would rather have a clean government than one where First Amendment rights are respected.” Senator John McCain said this on the Don Imus radio show, April 28, 2006, in defending his McCain Feingold Law’s restrictions on political speech. McCain has never taken these words back, nor repudiated this law, parts of which have already been declared unconstitutional by federal courts.

Senator McCain apparently does not understand that without the First Amendment there can be no clean government, only abuses of power. Any aspirant to our nation’s highest office must respect our nation’s most basic freedoms.

OC Commission Openings: Fourth District residents are needed to serve on the Orange County Human Relations Commission and the OC Tourism Council. For details or to apply, call Kara at 714-834-3440.

Last Issue’s OC General Knowledge Question: What is the only OC city with a foreign-born majority? What is the percentage?

Answer: Santa Ana  /  54% of Santa Anans are foreign-born.