APA Transportation Planning
Division
January 8, 2001
Washington Hilton Hotel, International West
37+ in attendance (sign-in sheet attached)
Chair Whit Blanton called the meeting to order at 6:35pm, welcomed those in attendance and asked them to introduce themselves. He pointed out that the next round of officer elections would be in the spring of 2002.
1. Treasurer Joe Marking presented his financial report, summarized the items for 2000 and the budget for 2001. After questions and brief discussion, it was moved, seconded and approved unanimously to accept the report.
2. Newsletter editor Amy Van Doren reported that she had redesigned the Division newsletter format and that the next issue was to be sent out soon. Amy encouraged members to submit articles and announcements for future issues. These can be forwarded to amy_van_doren@nps.gov. Whit pointed out that the Division is obligated to have at least four communications to its membership each year and expressed hope that, along with the web site development, there would be an increased level of communications.
3. Student Award: This year’s winner will be published in the newsletter. Bob Czerniak has agreed to continue as organizer of the award process and will develop a flier for it. He seeks about 5 volunteers to review papers. We generally get 6-10 submissions each year. The awards are 2 x $1000 stipends plus free registration at TRB or APA National.
4. Sessions at National. Whit has organized a session on Brewing the Right TEA for Your Community. Sheldon Edner of FHWA; John Mason, mayor of Fairfax and chair of DC MPO; Charlie Goodman of FTA; and John Swanson of the Tucson MPO will be panelists. Questions to be posed to them were solicited. The questions and answers will be published in the newsletter. The second session on Corridors versus Places has been organized by Rick Willson. Cases studies of Santa Monica Boulevard in LA and West Palm Beach in Florida will be given from urban design and transportation planning perspectives. There will be many other sessions and tours of transportation interest. The 2001 Awards program has as its topic the integration of transportation and land use.
5. Research Proposal: Whit asked for volunteers to serve on a small research committee or panel to look at a sample of recent long-range transportation plans by small-to-medium sized MPOs to survey what issues are being articulated and the trade-offs that are being examined. After discussion of how to select the sample, it was agreed to forward the proposal to APA and to others, such as ITE, for funding.
6. Web site/Listserve: The web site should be in place on a new server in February. It is planned to list job openings, have information on our membership, solicit questions, etc. Feedback from the membership will be solicited. There are now about 40 members on the listserve discussion group, hosted at Cal Polytechnic-Pomona. We need to encourage communications. Similar activity is more evolved in other APA divisions.
7. Planners Advisory Council: Whit reported that he now has a list of expert volunteers willing to field questions that come to the Division. Other uses would be working on conference sessions being organized by other divisions, on policy papers or white papers. He plans to publicize the availability of these services.
8. Copies of the TPD’s Annual Report were distributed.
9. Draft revisions to our By-Laws, developed by Linda Howe, were passed out for member review. Whit asked for comments. Action will be taken at our meeting during National in New Orleans.
10. In response to a call for ideas on what members would like to have done, the following was offered:
a. Peggy Drake suggested the need for a liaison to the TRB Pedestrian Committee and for a course on freight.
b. Larry Fabian mentioned the need for planning information on Automated People Movers and distributed some that he had prepared for comments.
c. Jeff Soule of APA Legislative Affairs in DC, described a national survey by APA and a program to help promote Federal policies per APA priorities. A biweekly newsletter is accessible by signing up for it on the web site.
d. Dan Benson suggested an honorary award for Jim Scott, who helped establish the Division.
e. Ted Matley suggested a strategy to keep up the level of transportation content at National conferences. Whit added that it makes sense to push for a track of transportation. It was agreed to approach the local chapter organizing the next national (Chicago) to offer our Division assistance.
f. Whit suggested that it is time to reactivate the TEA-21 Task Force to start working on the next reauthorization bill in 2003.
The meeting was adjourned at about 7:45, and members continued conversations at the reception.
Respectfully submitted,
Larry Fabian
Secretary
Virginia Ainslie for Howard Maier Tim Jackson Chris Sinclair
Mario Aispuro Mary Kihl Jeff Soule
Lucy Ayer David Kuehn John Thomas
Lisa Beever Jana Lynott Tom Thomson
Dan Benson Joe Marking Amy Van Doren
Whit Blanton Ted Matley Sherry Ways
Tom Buffkin Jim McAllister Jennifer Willman
Alan Danaher Bob McCrary Rae Zimmerman
Peggy Drake Bruce McDowell
Sheldon Edner Tom Noguchi
Larry Fabian Jaak Pedak
John Fuller Robert Ritter
Dharm Goroswamy Richard Rolland
Michelle Hoffman Erik Ruehr
Mark Howard Don Samdahl
Rob Schiffer