Patrick Kelly, Secretary-Treasurer and Principal Officer, Teamsters Local 952, summed up the situation facing local transit systems - there is money to buy equipment but no money to operate equipment. The comment was made in reference to the recent stimulus package which provided more money for buying equipment than operating the equipment. Kelly was one of the panelists at the day long Southern California Transit Forum sponsored by OCTA, Teamsters Local 952, the office of Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, Chapman University and other groups. He started the themes that would be repeated by other speakers:
- Flexible funding is needed in the federal transportation and jobs bills so a transit system can be allowed to move money from only being able to buy equipment to being able to operate the equipment they just bought.
- Cutting the transit system to meet the budget reduces ridership, which means lower revenue from fares and federal funds, which means more cuts, and the cycle repeats in a downward spiral.
At a separate event, Beth Krom, Irvine City Council member and former Mayor, pointed out that "cutting the operations money is one way they kill transit." She explained that once operations money is cut, it's easier to justify cutting out new public transportation investment because "they can say, 'Look, nobody's riding the transit we have now.' "
Josh Shaw, Executive Director, California Transit Association, explained how the state funding sources, which were set up under Gov. Ronald Reagan, were calibrated to increase with rising sales tax and gasoline prices, and thus give more money for transit. In January 2010, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed eliminating support for public transportation entirely as a way to balance the state's budget. Shaw also reminded the audience that transit riders are an easy target because Sacramento doesn't hear from them.
Richard Katz, Board Member, Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority and Board Member of the California High Speed Rail Authority, said, "Transit is something everyone is for but nobody wants to die for," referring to how people talk about getting people out of cars and into transit, and reducing greenhouse gases, but people don't want to go to the mat for the transit funding that would make it happen.
The event was hosted by Timothy A. Canova, Associate Dean and Professor of Law, Chapman University. Other groups which helped sponsor the event included Metro, California Transit Association, RCTC, Titan, Disneyland, Mobility 21, The Center for Global Trade and Development at Chapman University, Orange County Division of the League of California Cities, AAA of Southern California, MV, American Logistics, Veolia Transportation, Clean Energy, and Trillium.
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