Tuesday, December 8, 2015
Open Board of Directors Meeting
San Bernardino Community College District
114 S. Del Rosa Drive
San Bernardino, CA 92408
Minutes
Presiding: Phil Waller called the meeting to order and presided over the meeting.
Present: Deborah Barmack, Peter Barmack, Rigo Bejarano, Carole Beswick, Ken Coate, Scott Davis, Louis Goodwin, Scott Hofferber, Matthew Isaac, Lowell King, John Mirau, John Prentice, Kristine Scott, Wendy Strack, and Phil Waller.
Guests: Todd Warden.
Announcements: 1) Members were encouraged to attend the reception on December 9, 2013, honoring the California Transportation Commission and co-sponsored by Inland Action. 2) The Inland Action holiday open house will be held on December 10.
M/S/P: Minutes from December 1, 2015.
Deborah Barmack introduced Hasan Ikhrata, Executive Director of the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG). Hasan Ikhrata preceded his presentation with comments on the success of having a new Federal transportation bill signed by the President. He indicated that the bill contained authority for $10.5 billion in transportation spending over the next five years. For the first time ever the Federal Transportation Bill contained funding for goods movement, which has been a high priority for this region. The bill is good for the nation and good for this region in particular.
SCAG is a federally authorized metropolitan planning agency which covers six counties, 191 cities, and approximately 18.5 million people, which is about half of the population of California and the sixteenth largest economy in the world. SCAG is developing the Regional Transportation Plan and Sustainable Communities Strategy which outlines the long-term vision and investment network for the region. The plan looks twenty years into the future and establishes financially constrained transportation plans to meet federal air quality requirements for this region and maintains eligibility for federal funding.
The 2012-2040 forecast estimates that the SCAG region will grow by 3.79m people with 1.57m households and 2.43m jobs. The plan examines issues such as the economy, climate change and the environment, aging infrastructure, congestion, poverty and quality of life. It projects that the changing demographics will result in increased demand for housing choices in cities with lots of amenities; a surplus of large-lot homes, and an increased demand for health care and social services. It also anticipates rapid adoption of new communication technologies, less interest in car and home ownership, and favors a low-travel urban lifestyle with emphasis on walking, cycling, ridesharing, and transit. It is anticipated that residents will travel fewer miles, make fewer trips, and rapidly adopt a “shared” economy.
SCAG estimates that one in five people will be a senior citizen. With the increased population, however, there will be less of the population contributing taxes. Equally relevant is the millennial population and their changing values related to technology and earning capability. The millennials are now the largest population in the nation, with the average student graduating with $35,000 in college debt. Unfortunately, since the recession, 90 percent of the jobs created have been part-time.
It is expected that over $75b will be needed to invest in goods movement projects in the region, including new truck toll lanes from the ports extending to Barstow, increased rail freight capacity, new intermodal facilities, and emission reduction strategies. Unfortunately, the existing core revenue sources are insufficient to meet the system needs. New transportation funding strategies must be implemented. Improved technology will result in transportation improvements such as neighborhood electric vehicles, eBikes, car/bike sharing, semi-automated cruise control, and fully autonomous vehicles. As a result, we should expect additional system capacity, robust job and population growth, and achieve a balance between economic and environmental sustainability.
The draft plan has been released and will be open for public comment until February 1, 2016. Final adoption is scheduled for April 7, 2016. A Q & A period followed.
Meeting adjourned at 8:31 a.m.