University Assembly Transportation Advisory Committee

Transportation Advisory Committee
Minutes from Monday, January 30, 2006
12:15 PM � 1:30 PM, B-16 Day Hall

Attendance

Present: Jim Gibbs, Sara Gomez-Ibanez, Jonathan Feldman, Marisa LaFalce, Yael Levitte, Tim McConnochie, Arnim Meyburg, Paul Streeter, Judy Eckard, David Lieb, and Helen Steh

Absent: Ari Epstein, Leon Lawrence

Business

The meeting was called to order by Jonathan Feldman who accepted the position of committee chair. He said that he is looking forward to making a positive impact.

J. Feldman said that at the UA meeting last week the purpose of TAC was debated. We keep looking for focus for the committee and that is why we invited UA members to attend this meeting.

J. Feldman introduced Leon Lawrence, an Employee Assembly representative at the UA. Ari Epstein introduced himself as the Assistant Director of the Office of Assemblies.

It has been said that the direction for TAC should come from the UA. T. McConnochie noted that both this committee and UA should be responsible as well as being self-starting.

Y. Levitte said that the discussion last month was that the UA could bring ideas; otherwise TAC should circulate for agenda items. To save time we should set an agenda ahead of time.

J. Feldman said that this is a special year in that the UA was charged with holding six open forums from the Red Bud Woods agreement. L. Lawrence said that we have had two forums and they have been poorly attended. He feels that there is not much value in continuing the forums. He said the chair of UA needs to decide where to go from here.

As far as the TAC agenda L. Lawrence said that he agrees it is a two-way street and that some things should come from UA, but TAC should move ahead on their own. TAC�s charge in the UA chapter should be revisited.

A. Meyburg said that he has been on this committee for several years. He noted that it has been an advisory committee with broad representation. Transportation has passed issues by TAC and the committee has given input. He said it is the right forum to discuss issues. That�s the value of the committee. If TAC doesn�t have valuable agenda items, then it shouldn�t waste time and meet.

L. Lawrence asked, where do the resources come from to get a project done? D. Lieb commented that what is being talked about reveals certain things. He has been involved for several years. Communication issues have been important when the President charged the UA (with the forum task). It wasn�t their thought to say � TAC should do this. TAC and the UA need to use each other better.

J. Feldman asked the group if TAC should plan the forums and asked if there is a budget. A. Epstein noted that the Office of Assemblies can do the ads and help with the forums. Committee chairs can post to their own web sites and post the minutes. A. Epstein will post TAC minutes to the web site.

T. McConnochie commented on the communication to UA. TAC should report to Transportation and then to UA each month. UA should have the opportunity to ratify anything that is brought forward to it. He also said that it sounds like there is a motion to have TAC take over the forums. J. Feldman said that TAC could combine with the UA subcommittee on the forums. He asked TAC if they are willing to take on the forums. M. LaFalce said that it is a lot of work and didn�t know if TAC was a working group or a representation group. Y. Levitte commented that it is an advisory committee. That TAC should be suggesting topics for the forums and not conducting them. TAC is the “Think Tank”. J. Feldman notes that the UA does the hands on work but the TAC can come up with the ideas.

The group would need to identify themes and speakers. A. Meyburg asked to have an explanation of the objective of the forums. L. Lawrence said he thought that the President was looking to identify issues that the community has, but unless more attend it is a waste of time.

J. Feldman asked if others felt that way. The previous forum topics were:

1. Sustainability (in general)
2. Sustainability and parking

T. McConnochie said that the UA should do something controversial like rates and more people would attend. A. Meyburg said that the President instigated the idea of six events but does TAC know what he asked? If it is not clear what he wants, TAC would have no clue what to do. J. Gibbs said that M. LaFalce could ask Susan Murphy, Vice President of Student and Academic Services about it since it was part of the Red Bud deal.

Y. Levitte said that the objective would be to see how many people care about parking�what are the real issues�what needs to be addressed.

D. Lieb said we need to be cognizant that there are a variety of opinions are out there. There are some small groups who have large voices. L. Lawrence said that he would ask for a copy of the letter from President Rawlings.

D. Lieb said that it also required was a student referendum and if UA doesn�t do it, Transportation will do it through the t-GEIS (transportation focused-Generic Environmental Impact Statement). T. McConnochie noted that the referendum was by the Student Assembly (SA), and the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly (GPSA), not UA. A. Meyburg said that the referendum would not mean much because of the underlying circumstances. You can�t lay out all the pros and cons. Everyone will want everything and will get disappointed when it can�t happen. If you ask what they want, they will expect it. The referendum needs to force people to balance and prioritize. T. McConnochie said he would like to see this committee review such a referendum.

D. Lieb said that it is his impression that the Red Bud Woods group thinks the majority of students would be in favor of eliminating cars for freshman and sophomores�to prove they represent the majority. D. Lieb said that the referendum would be constructed by the t-GEIS group and then be reviewed by TAC.

In addition Commuter and Parking Services (C&PS) is about to conduct its biennial customer survey. A discussion of surveying the entire population versus using a representative sample ensued.

Summary

J. Feldman said that the group focused on the fact that TAC is an advisory committee that gives input and is willing to be a think tank for the next forum�if there will be one. He will make a list of issues from the first two meetings to share with TAC. TAC will review the survey for referendum.

J. Gibbs said to make a standard agenda item on recent transportation issues.

A. Meyburg asked that everyone be sent the charge for the TAC.

S. Gomez-Ibanez said, at UA that David brought up an email address for transportation issues where 99% were transaction related. She asked if TAC can have access to the 1% of transportation emails that are issues TAC may be interested in.

Car Sharing Summit

D. Lieb gave a brief synopsis of the Car Share Summit. It was put together by D. Roth, a grad student who is on the Adhoc committee on Sustainable Transportation, Ithaca College, MPO, TCAT, Cornell and Mayor Carolyn Peterson were involved in the summit. Invited guests were from Bolder, CO, Car Share and San Francisco, City Car Share. D. Lieb thought that the audience showed remarkable interest to pursue this for the Ithaca community and that it often ties together with transit. There will be an implementation team.

Future Meetings

The remaining meetings through April will be scheduled for the fourth Monday of the month from 11:30 AM until 12:45 PM.