OCTA "Guilty Beyond a Reasonable Doubt"

Preceding the La Habra Vital Community Task Force Candidate Forum, held on Sept 19th at the La Habra Community Center, Orange County Supervisor Bill Campbell and myself engaged in a debate on the extension of Measure M, the half cent transportation sales tax that will be on the Nov ballot.

Following the Supervisor's promo pitch, I told the audience that we constantly hear from our elected officials in that there is no money coming back to O.C. from Sacramento. I then asked if anyone ever heard of the Traffic Congestion Relief Program TCRP. Nope! In 2000 the Legislature set aside "approximately $6.8 billion in new funding" for the TCRP program for traffic congestion relief. I called the County and Sacramento was told that we didn't get "squat." Why? It's political."

Despite the fact that one of 12 residents live in Orange County we received funding for two out of 141 approved projects, the 22 Freeway in Garden Grove and a small sum for the City of Placentia. Transportation is one of the biggest challenges we face. In addition to fighting wasteful projects, our County representatives in Sacramento should also be fighting to get our "fair share" of any available funding.

I asked Supervisor Campbell to answer two questions that he failed to respond to. "Can you guarantee that OCTA's Master Plan does not contain the 87 Mile Urban Rail Network?" [Source. Centerline Project Policy Discussion and Direction July 2003 Board Meeting.] "Can you prove to us that it has been completely removed?"

I than quoted from a letter dated Feb 23, 2006 from the OC Taxpayers Association to OCTA Chairman Art Brown regarding the renewal which reads: "The Revenge of the Living Dead." Project S (high capacity transit extensions to Metrolink). Is there a better way to frighten half of the voters away from renewed Measure M than to revivify the Centerline project under another name? Project S appears to be an invitation to adjacent cities (e.g.. Santa Ana, Irvine and Newport Beach) to band together to do so." They go on to say that a Countywide Centerline would cost OC taxpayers $7,000 per rider subsidy per year "to move less than 1/2 of 1% of the commuters."ÿ And that is from a strong Measure M supporter. Even they admit the billion dollar waste to move less than 1/2 of 1% of our commuters. And that is exactly their plan as confirmed by Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle when he and I discussed this issue at the OC Taxpayers meeting of May 25th, which was held AFTER the Plan was finalized. At that meeting I told Mayor Pringle that while I live in the largest city [by population] in south County we do not have direct representative from our city council on the OCTA Board. Our representatives are council members from San Clemente and Richard Dixon from Lake Forest. I mentioned Councilman Dixon's recent letter to lobbyists on OCTA's contract policies and procedures, promising confidential discussions with lobbyists and campaign contributors that I believe warrants his dismissal from the OCTA Board. Supervisor Campbell declined to respond to this comment.

I showed the audience and Supervisor Campbell the OC Business Council Power Point presentation of the Measure M Assessment 1990-2005 OCTA Board of Directors April 24th, 2006 where the Transit--Findings page contains the statement "A new approach for the abandoned Centerline program is underway."

Let me share a few Metrolink statistics from OCTA regarding AM peak-peak Boarding at Metrolink Stations in June 2006. The population of Santa Ana is around 350,000. At their station 141 passengers boarded the trains. Let's now look at Anaheim with 328,000 residents. Only 180 boarded at their station.  With many homes having both parents working these statistics are both revealing and troubling.

As Supervisor Campbell mentioned some of the projects funded in La Habra by Measure M I responded with OCTA data that shows City by City Measure M allocations. Since inception La Habra's "turnback" (formula) was $6,892,514. The City of Placentia received $6,418,562. (These are based on population and number of road miles.) Now let's look at the competitive Grant funding of these same cities. La Habra has done quite well in getting $29,027,486 while Placentia only received $2,971,438.

Let's compare two similar size cities Santa Ana and Anaheim. Hey, there's a pot of Measure M gold. If you don't stick you hands in we will. That's more or less what Anaheim Mayor Pringle told me on May 25th and appears to be the case. Anaheim's turnback was $45,298,763 vs. Santa Ana at $40,922,327. However the inequity is exposed when you see the Grant funding differential. While Santa Ana has received $64,395,673 since inception the City of Anaheim has been granted $124,195,237.

I listed several possible solutions to our transportation problem starting with a designated toll road for trucks as proposed by Assemblyman Chuck Devore. Having a toll road for trucks would be a "win-win" for everyone. A large percentage of these trucks from the port area travel through LA and Orange County to the Inland Empire and other states. We get relief by removing many of them off our freeways and they can get their goods delivered sooner. They surely would be willing to pay such a toll. I also pointed out several international toll programs that are very effective such as Toronto's $2.6 billion dollar toll system where 300,000 cars a day travel on their 67 mile roadway.

The real problem is that we need a Transportation Agency not a Transit Agency. How can OCTA avoid a conflict of interest when their "mission" is to run busses and get us out of our cars

Even OCTA admits that the extension may be rejected in their literature which reads: "The proposed Measure M may have to be refined and presented to the voters more than once."

Vote NO on Measure M. Don't permit OCTA to devote 20 percent of the renewed
Measure M on light rail related expenditures.

 Larry Gilbert, Co-author Opposition Rebuttal