STRATEGIES AND ACTIONS
Introduction
Making the vision a reality will require hard work on the part of
government and the private sector. Over
100 transportation actions were proposed by the New Visions task forces -- public outreach provided ideas for many
more. These actions have been grouped
into broadly supported strategies, combined to reduce redundancy, and refined
to reflect scopes appropriate to guide long range planning efforts. Major policy choices regarding major
investments for the region are discussed in the next chapter.
The
action strategies were reviewed during a lengthy public review period (12/95
through 6/96). Based on the responses
received, the number of strategies was reduced from seventeen to ten by
combining common elements. Some
proposed actions -- namely those dealing with CDTC institutional structure such
as the creation of permanent advisory committees or changing the composition of
the governing board -- have been referred to the upcoming update of the CDTC's
Prospectus (1997-2002). With this
exception, there appears to be little question about the desirability of
implementing these strategies -- the debate centers on relative priority in
constrained budget times. The questions
are more about how, who, how much and where -- not whether.
Each strategy narrative describes expected benefits and institutional and
budgetary implications of adopting the strategy. Then, recommended actions that would implement the strategy are
listed. Further detail on the impacts
of the actions can be found in the 14-volume New Visions technical report series.
Greatest Concerted
Effort
In addition to asking for comments on the strategies and candidate
actions, the New Visions Workbook
specifically asked for opinions on where the greatest concerted effort will be
required for successful implementation.
Budgetary priorities when financial resources are constrained were also
queried. Some of the typical responses
included here provide guidance and a dose of realism to strategy development
and set the stage for the budget discussions that follow.
Significantly, every strategy proposed in the New Visions Workbook was considered by at least one respondent to
require the greatest concerted effort.
This is one indication of the tremendous amount of work that
implementing the strategies will require by CDTC, its member agencies, and its
partners in the process. Three
strategies stand out, however, as ones where it is perceived that considerable
concerted effort will be required:
·
Reducing
jurisdictional barriers,
·
Ensuring
transportation/land use compatibility,
·
Pro-actively
planning, and
·
Providing
appropriate transit service.
Many of
the New Visions task forces saw
jurisdiction as a significant barrier to implementing recommended actions. The goal of reducing jurisdictional and
institutional barriers received considerable support during the outreach
period. However, reducing
jurisdictional barriers was also widely perceived to be an area where
substantial, focused effort will be required for progress to be seen. CDTC's basic focus is to provide an
effective transportation system to the region.
Where jurisdiction, either because of historic road ownership patterns,
funding eligibility restrictions, or other reasons, creates a barrier to
providing an effective transportation system, it needs to be addressed. There are multiple creative ways to address
these issues, as shown in the actions in this chapter. Understanding that considerable concerted
effort -- delivered in a politically sensitive manner -- will be required is
realistic.
Another area where substantial staff resources will be required is
improving transportation and land use compatibility through proactive
planning. "Perhaps the greatest
concerted effort will be to get municipalities, where the power to regulate
land use lies, to really consider transportation planning in their
decisions." (Donald R. Odell, New Visions Response Worksheet) However, as Jack Reilly from CDTA put it,
“This is a high staff time, high payoff effort.”
Donn Fichter, a NYSDOT retiree from the Transit Division, in citing the
provision of appropriate transit service as a high-effort task, said "I
foresee plenty of problems with items like labor rules, reliable funding, and
coordination of agency paratransit."
This opinion was shared by others, citing the American "love
affair" with the automobile, the difficulty in making transit competitive,
and the institutional structure of human service transportation.
Budgetary Priorities
and Funding for Strategy Implementation
"Unless we make sufficient investment for
the future now, the result will be a decline in the quality of life in the
region. This lack of investment will be
an opportunity lost and a very costly mistake." Brian Zweig, New Visions
Response Worksheets
"All of the strategies are necessary to make
the whole work. By eliminating any one
strategy, you begin to compromise the desired goal and therefore the expected
results. Either (we) must work with
available budget or find alternative funding sources if we are to accomplish
what New Visions has laid the
framework for." Mary Burke, New Visions Response Worksheets
These two sentiments -- work within the budget, and do what is necessary
to fully implement -- are reflected in the budget scenarios presented in the
next chapter. The interrelatedness of
the strategies is also a point well taken.
The budget scenarios that follow this discussion of strategies look at
preservation of the existing system, managing the system, and full
implementation. Outreach efforts
revealed significant, but far from universal, support for increasing
transportation revenues to implement important goals among stakeholders. It is clear that raising new funding sources
will require additional consensus-building, careful thought, and that success
will depend on the specific mechanism chosen.
These issues are considered more fully in the Budget chapter.
List of Strategies and
Actions
The following list summarizes the strategies [in brackets] and actions included in this chapter.