OC Grand Jury criticizes OCTA, Santa Ana for distorted transportation priorities
Submitted by Steven on 15 June, 2010 - 5:00am
I'm catching up on all the transportation stories over the past month, and came across two Orange County Grand Jury reports that criticize OCTA for failing to protect transit commuters while spending a disproportionate amount of money on freeways and Metrolink. Within the same period, they criticized Santa Ana's City Council for a lack of government transparency in awarding a $4.85-million contract to the least-qualified firm for their pet Santa Ana streetcar project.
The OC Register, L.A. Times, and other blog outlets have articles that summarize the findings:
- Grand jury says OCTA fails low-income bus riders: After a 20 percent reduction in bus service, the grand jury wants OCTA to re-examine its spending decisions. (Orange County Register)
- O.C. Grand Jury criticizes Santa Ana council over transportation contract: A report says the bulk of a $4.85-million consulting agreement for a streetcar project went to a firm that experts had rated the least qualified of all the bidders. (Los Angeles Times)
- Grand Jury Exposes Santa Ana City Countil...Now What! (TheLiberalOC.com)
- Well-connected firm got 'flawed' contract: Grand Jury finds that Santa Ana officials used a 'compromised' process to award a contract worth nearly $5 million. (Orange County Register)
Some choice tidbits from the Orange County Grand Jury report on OCTA's shortcomings:
Yet while OCTA’s managers and staff scramble to find enough money to provide a decent level of service for their riders, federal and local dollars are being awarded to transit-related projects whose needs appear less urgent than those of the local bus system. A handout that raises questions about competing priorities is the award of $2.25 billion in federal stimulus funds for the California High Speed Rail project, a transportation notion that many agree is at least a decade or more away from carrying its first passenger. None of the $2.25 billion can be used for bus operations.
Additionally, $143 million of local Measure M funds is budgeted to build a huge Anaheim trans- portation center that the host city isn’t funding. It is not widely known that Measure M funds, derived from a half-cent sales tax that Orange County voters have twice approved, cannot be used for bus opera- tions. Although the formula for distributing Measure M funds allocated 25% to “transit,” the bulk of that “transit” revenue has gone to the Metrolink rail system and projects related to Metrolink.
However, the Grand Jury found no evidence that OCTA has tried to amend the allocation formula to allow more funding to go to its bus system.
...
Through surveys of passengers, OCTA has a good idea of who its riders are. The average Orange County bus rider comes from a household whose average annual income is $31,800. Seventy percent of the riders have no car. Most regular riders use the bus to get to work or school. Without the bus, OCTA officials point out, many workers cannot get to their jobs and students will be unable to continue the education and training that today’s complex society requires.
Will Kempton, OCTA’s chief executive of- ficer, told the Feb. 5, 2010, Southern California Transit Forum at Chapman University that in 2009 there were 57 million separate boardings of Orange County buses.
One member of the transit agency’s board characterized the economic impact this way: “The businesses and industries in Orange County that depend on low-income workers would grind to a halt.”
Read more on the report on OCTA at http://www.ocgrandjury.org/pdfs/octa-mission/octa-mission-report.pdf.
They reserved the most harsh criticism for Santa Ana's City Council for its streetcar project. As you recall, the streetcar project is a half-billion-dollar OCTA project that's supposed to link downtown Santa Ana and...an ambiguous area of Garden Grove:
In launching one of the largest transportation projects in Santa Ana history, the Santa Ana City Council approved a $4.85-million consultant agree- ment to begin planning and technical analysis. This venture may ultimately require $300 million in additional public funding.
Cordoba Corp., the consultant firm selected by the City Council was rated as the least qualified by the City’s own panel of experts.
Based on public statements, published reports, government fair practice guidelines and the Santa Ana City Code of Ethics and Conduct, the Orange County Grand Jury has found that the award of this vital agreement was fraught with political and administrative inconsistencies. Further, the selection process lacked transparency and gave little assurance that the bidder rated most qualified was awarded the contract.
Elected officials set aside their own procedures, overruled the findings of an expert panel and ignored Santa Ana City staff recommendations regarding the best qualified applicant. All of this was mismanaged behind closed doors, shielded from public review and input.
Read the whole Grand Jury report on Santa Ana at http://www.ocgrandjury.org/pdfs/street-car/Street-Car-Reprt.pdf.
Comments
Yes, because OCTA has
Yes, because OCTA has anything to do with the money that goes to CAHSR.
I am pretty sure the OC Grand
I am pretty sure the OC Grand Jury doesn't know how our government works. You can't arbitrarily change a state proposition that was passed by voters (like changing the funding structure of Measure M). A new ballot measure would have to be written and passed.
The grand jury seems to have a habit of deciding that they don't like certain public works projects (like the Great Park, CAHSR, or the Santa Ana streetcar) and then repeatedly writing critical reports that focus on minor and often mundane details.
That's true
I'm not sure what role the Orange County Grand Jury has in our politics (except a "grand jury" sounds like serious stuff). However, I'm not sure we should say that since a state proposition was voted on that we should stick our guns to it. After all, wasn't Measure M sold on the fact that OCTA would build light rail? That got passed. But then local governments watered this down into limited-stop buses, which then got watered down to merely synchronizing traffic lights and adding a few more trains from nowhere (Fullerton) to nowhere (Laguna Niguel).
I still find it difficult to swallow that $1 billion of Go Local funds are going to just two cities' pet streetcar projects when that easily could be used to improve transit mobility for the whole county.
By the way, I'm not saying
By the way, I'm not saying the SA streetcar is a great idea, but I'm pretty sure the main reasons it ends where it does is a) they want to connect it to some future sports complex at the Willowick golf course, and b) they want to add a short freeway segment from the 22 alongside the rail tracks to allow easier access to downtown. The main thing the light rail would connect is the train station with downtown (which is not really walking distance).
Grand Jury & OCTD
Before the Grand Jury tightened the screws on them the OCTD wasn't very active in doing bus service. Sure that was a long time ago! These criticisms are important and can create change. Support this tactic as it brings reports and attention to the public which usually are ignored by the media. Continue to tell the Grand Jury about any misgivings you have regarding OCTA methods of operation and possible misdoings between it and OC government personalities. Also make a pest of yourself with letters & calls to newspapers and broadcasting outlets in the local area.
Best Wishes,
Tony
New Measure M?
"You can't arbitrarily change a state proposition that was passed by voters (like changing the funding structure of Measure M). A new ballot measure would have to be written and passed."
Is this possible? If so, I'd like to see the current Measure M replaced with one that allocates a larger percentage to transit. Is it too late for that? Is the money already spent?