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Executive Director's Report

Report to the Commission: October 26, 2016

Cap and Trade Housing Grants

Sacramento, September 30

In the latest round of Cap and Trade housing grants, the Strategic Growth Council has awarded $97 million in funds to 7 Bay Area projects, which represents 34% of the statewide total for FY 2015-16.  The Los Angeles region represented by the Southern California Association of Governments received 26% of total funds in this round.  So while the Dodgers have advanced farther than the Giants in the National League playoffs, we are still holding our own in the Cap and Trade sweepstakes.

Top Ten Congestion List

San Jose, October 3

Chair Cortese and Commissioners Haggerty, Liccardo and Worth released the 2015 list of the “Top Ten” most congested Bay Area freeway segments at a press conference in San Jose.  While the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge corridor continued to dominate the top 2 spots, the headline news for 2015 was that 7 of the 10 most congested routes were leading into and out of the red-hit economy of the Silicon Valley.  More information about this congestion report

Mega-Region Working Group

Sacramento, October 6

Commissioners Baker and Spering accompanied MTC senior staff to this regular meeting with our counterparts from the Sacramento and San Joaquin Councils of Governments to discuss issues of mutual concern.  We spent a lot of time at this meeting focused on the intercity passenger railroads serving the three regions.

RailVolution Conference

San Francisco, October 10-13

Vice Chair Mackenzie made welcoming remarks and I participated in the opening plenary session of this annual national conference of public agencies and private sector advocates laboring in the fields of transit-oriented development.  Our own BARC Director Allison Brooks played a key role in organizing the event, so hats off to her and her colleagues for an excellent and well-attended event.

Climate Forward Bay Area

San Francisco, October 13-14

I participated in a panel discussion about innovations in automation and lower emissions for automobiles at this conference sponsored by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District.  Commissioner Haggerty moderated another panel discussion on transportation and housing issues, and Vice Chair Mackenzie also was in attendance at the event.

Bay Area Partnership

San Francisco, October 18

The regular meeting of the Bay Area Partnership featured conversation about the preferred scenario for Plan Bay Area 2040 as well as an update on the dreaded CalEnviroScreen analytical tool being used to define disadvantaged communities for the purposes of allocating state Cap and Trade funds.

Caltrans Awards

Sacramento, October 19

MTC and BATA were recently honored by Caltrans with three Excellence in Transportation Awards.  The first award – presented at the CTC’s October meeting – recognized BATA for its role in the Pier E3 Implosion, which is part of the ongoing process to demolish the old east span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.  The award in the Rural Highway Project category was presented to MTC – along with its partners Caltrans District 4, the Solano Transportation Authority and the Napa County Transportation and Planning Agency – for the Jameson Canyon Road Widening Project.  Lastly, Caltrans recognized the Bay Area’s Spare the Air Youth Program with an award in the Public Awareness Campaign category.  This is the third award the Spare the Air Youth Program has received this year.

Climate Plan Conference

Sacramento, October 24

Ken Kirkey and I made presentations at this conference sponsored by a coalition of environmental organizations about the ongoing implementation of SB375.  The author of the bill – incoming Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg – made a special award presentation to my Sacramento counterpart Mike McKeever, who is retiring at the end of the year.

Bay Bridge Bike Path Complete

San Francisco, October 23

The last segment connecting the new east span bike path to Yerba Buena Island (YBI) opened for business over the weekend.  It was preceded by the new city-owned vehicle on- and off-ramps at YBI opening to traffic on Friday last week, after a ceremony featuring Commissioner Wiener as chair of the San Francisco County Transportation Authority.  Bicyclists and pedestrians should be forewarned that the landing for the path on YBI is in the middle of an active construction site as both Caltrans and the City and County of San Francisco undertake work over the next several years to upgrade the road network in the area.

New Housing Reports

San Francisco and Washington DC

Two interesting new reports relevant to the Bay Area’s ongoing affordable housing crisis were released in the past month.  The first emanated from an unusual place for such a local issue: The White House.  The report from the Obama Administration recommended several strategies to get more housing built in high-cost urban areas.  The second report was issued last week by the Bay Area Council Economic Institute, which quantified both the positive and (unintended) negative effects of various policies on the construction and preservation of affordable housing.  Links to the two reports can be found below.

Map of the Month

Megaregion Early Morning Commute

This map is focused on the “early-bird” commute for workers living in the Northern California Megaregion. This region is home to approximately 12 million residents and 5 million commuters, of which approximately 582,000 travel during the early morning commute (defined as 6:00 am or earlier).  Residents who live in the eastern portions of Contra Costa County and within the Counties of San Joaquin and Stanislaus have the largest share of total commuters traveling to work before 6 a.m.  According to a recent study by the Bay Area Council’s Economic Institute, the number of total interregional commuters (not just “early-birds”) has increased by 83,950 between 1990 and 2013, reaching a total of 191,500 in 2013.  The growth of Northern San Joaquin Valley commuters to the Bay Area has been particularly dramatic, more than doubling from 31,670 in 1990 to 64,930 in 2013.

The following map animation details the morning commute during the early morning, the AM Peak period (from 6 till 9 a.m.) and late morning (9 till 10 a.m.)