Transportation Committee
RECORD OF
MEETING
WORKING
GROUP C
DATE/TIME/PLACE:
ATTENDANCE:
DISCUSSION SUMMARY:
The
working group continued its review of the fact sheets that began at the
previous meeting with particular focus on the Raleigh Durham Regional Transit
Plan/Regional Rail Project. Some of the
themes that began to arise from the discussion of all the fact sheets include
that the need for champions is vital, particularly elected officials. Nearly all of the projects had someone that
really pushed the initiative forward and made it happen. Also, all of the regions reviewed in the fact
sheets were facing much greater growth pressures than the Capital District
faces. Rapid growth can create the
urgency for implementing big ideas. And
finally, in many circumstances, the efforts to pursue big ideas were part of a
public policy choice. Although many of
the circumstances of other regions are not currently present in the Capital
District, CDTC needs to play out the future long term scenario if things
change. Change would trigger the “what
if” thought pattern and our work could lay the groundwork for that thought
pattern.
The
discussion then turned to how this information might be presented to the
public. There was concern from the
working group that CDTC present these big ideas in a way that is credible and
does not damage CDTC’s reputation. It
was thought by the group that we need to be honest about what the big ticket
items could mean in the Capital District.
Although it is hard to envision
doing these kinds of projects under current circumstances, if the rate of
growth increases things could change to make these big ideas more
realistic. For the public, it was
decided to offer two scenarios: one would focus on the fact that here is where
we are and that we need to meet existing needs and commitments and the second
could pursue these big ticket ideas if the circumstances allowed them to be
realistic. The
NEXT STEPS: CDTC staff will create a
draft report for the working group summarizing all the work completed to date
and what this means for the Capital District.
A working group meeting will be scheduled once members have had the
opportunity to review and digest the material in the draft report.