Institute of Transportation Engineers
International Director Report
International Director: Stephen J. Manhart, P.E., PTOE, PTP
Date Submitted: March 17, 2008
District: Midwestern District (MWITE)
International Director Report
International Director: Stephen J. Manhart, P.E., PTOE, PTP
Date Submitted: March 17, 2008
District: Midwestern District (MWITE)
I. Issues or topics discussed at chapter, section and district board meetings that may need to have ITE Board and/or staff discussion/action (please list for each issue/topic—the chapter, section or district person to contact for further information):
a. Personal Employment Advertising in District and Section Newsletters – This subject came up in February. Illinois Section President Amarpal Matharu informed the District Board that he had received two requests from Illinois Section members to post personal ads for employment in the Illinois Section Newsletter, Items. He asked the District Board for direction on whether he should post these ads. After much deliberation among the Board, I asked the IBOD to share any experience their districts or sections had with posting personal ads for employment. Here were the responses I received:
i. Mid Colonial District (MASITE Section newsletter Editor Dean Kaiser) – This district publishes Section newsletters only. Corporate sponsorships offer unlimited “help wanted” ads plus “sponsor board” recognition. No personal employment ads via newsletter. Opinion that Board would not approve this, as person has not provided necessary sponsorship.
ii. Northeastern District (Director Lynn LaMunyon) – We haven’t run into this on the District level yet. I have copied Mayer Horn, the TransTalk Newsletter Editor (Met Section). He might have more information.
iii. Northeastern District (Met Section Newsletter Editor Mayer Horn) -- Our policy about employment ads is as follows:
· Companies can place employment ads at no cost if they are sponsors. Sponsorship costs $200 per calendar year. Sponsorship includes a business card ad in our newsletter with a hyperlink to the company's web site, inclusion of company announcements at no additional cost, employment ads on the section's web site, and listing on the section's web site as a sponsor.
· Government organizations can place employment ads in the newsletter and on the section's web site at no cost. This policy would probably apply to not-for-profit organizations, but I don't recall this having arisen.
· I would print personal employment ads of Met Section members at no charge.
iv. Texas District (Texas District website & newsletter editor Gary Thomas) – We post employment opportunities on the TexITE Web site at no charge. We currently accept/post personal ads from members. To be honest, never really thought about it. But I don’t think I’m opposed to it.
v. Western District (Director Randy McCourt) -- To my knowledge the Western District and its Sections/Chapters have never done the “I am looking for a job” thing. We post advertisements for agencies/firms looking to hire staff (at a cost) – but not the other way around.
vi. Florida District (Director Jeff Arey) – The Florida District (10) does not have personal ads in the newsletter.
In the end, the spring issue of Items was published with the two personal ads included (see Attachment A). I will keep the IBOD informed of this new service, and subsequent reaction from the membership. Thanks to all who participated in this information-gathering exercise!
b. Transportation Lobbying… Continued – Recently, we were asked to add ITE to the list of supporting organizations for the “Make Roads Safe” international campaign. MWITE supports such a move, but with the following comments.
· This action is somewhat similar to the effort that the North Central Section sought a few months ago when they considered becoming a sponsoring organization for "Vote Yes” campaign in Minnesota. At that time, NCITE has considered becoming a member of the Minnesota Transportation Alliance. The Alliance is a transportation lobbying group advocating for investments in the state’s transportation system. Last year, the Alliance was successful in leading a Minnesota resolution campaign to direct all Motor Vehicle Sales Tax monies to highway and transit funding. Many public and private agencies and organizations are Alliance member organizations, including the fifteen organizations I listed in my last Director’s Report.
· Earlier this year, the Minnesota Legislature had approved a transportation funding bill that had been vetoed by the Republican governor. The Democratic majority in the state legislature needed the votes of a few Republican legislators to help overturn the veto. In the weekend leading up to that fateful vote, I wrote letters to the editor of both major metro newspapers (See Attachment B), as well as letters to each of the legislators who had originally voted against the transportation bill, urging support to overturn the veto. Both newspapers ran the letter, and several legislators replied with their side of the story. In the end, six Republican representatives supported the bill, thus successfully helping to overturn the veto, providing the citizens of Minnesota with increased transportation funding to the tune of $6.6 billion over the next ten years.
Does ITE’s larger support of the “Make Roads Safe” campaign allow our districts, sections and chapters to support other efforts at a local scale? Are my letters to the editor and to state legislators fall within ITE’s Policies and By-Laws? As far as I know, these issues have yet to be resolved.
While the North Central Section’s immediate need to resolve this issue has passed, there will be other times when sections and districts will want to consider support for organizations and initiatives improving transportation. Do our actions set the precedents?
II. “New” topics and papers that you feel the other Board members and ITE Staff should be aware of that were presented at one of the chapter, section or district:
§ Wisconsin Section presentation -- University of Wisconsin-Madison Car Share Program“ ZipCar” – Contact ITE Wisconsin President Dave Jolicoeur for more information, djolicoeur@sewrpc.org
§ Illinois Section presentation – “Moving Beyond Congestion” by Ms. Leanne Redden, Chicago RTA (http://www.movingbeyondcongestion.org/ ) – Chicago’s RTA, CTA, Metra and Pace have joined together in a strategic planning process to develop a vision and strategy for the future of transit. The joint goal is to provide a region-wide consensus for convenient, affordable, reliable and safe transit expansion.
§ Illinois Section presentation – “O’Hare Expansion and Role of O’Hare Modernization Program (OMP)” by Rosemarie S. Andolino, Executive Director of Chicago’s OMP. The OMP, a $6.6 billion program in 2001 dollars, reconfigures O’Hare’s outdated intersecting runway system into a parallel runway configuration, substantially reducing delays and increasing capacity well into the future. The OMP also includes construction of a new terminal on the west side of the airport. The OMP will create up to 195,000 new jobs and $18 billion in economic activity to the region’s economy each year in addition to the 450,000 jobs and $38 billion O’Hare generates today.
§ North Central Section presentation – “Panel Discussion of HEAT (Highway Enforcement of Aggressive Traffic) in Minnesota by Sue Groth of Mn/DOT, Mark Peterson of the Minnesota State Patrol, and John Bloomfield, Human Factors Researcher from the University of Minnesota. Presentation of the reduction in crashes along targeted highways within state.
§ North Central Section presentation – “Updated Access Management Tools and Real World Examples”, a panel discussion by David Plazak, Iowa Sate University’s Center for Traffic Research and Engineering (CTRE), Brian Gage from Mn/DOT, and Kristi Sebastian from Dakota County, MN. Mr. Gage provided an overview of Mn/DOT’s new Access Management Manual, while Mr. Plazak and Ms. Sebastian provided real-world examples of access management in Minnesota and throughout the Midwest.
III. Student Chapter or student-related innovative activities and/or products that the ITE Board and/or staff should be aware of:
§ The ITE student chapter at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) participated in Student Day at the school. The chapter and its student members collaborate with other UIC units like Urban Transportation Center (UTC). The Chapter aims to facilitate further exchange of latest information on a variety of scientific, professional, and educational issues related to transportation in collaboration with other UIC programs, faculty and staff who are committed to research in transportation.
§ NCITE and the Illinois Section hosted annual scholarship and awards presentations this year. Both sections had seen an increase in applicants – a welcome change from previous years.
IV. Unique programs or projects of the chapter, section or district:
a. Simulcasting ATSSA Webinar – NCITE promoted and co-sponsored the simulcast of a webinar on the FHWA’s new Sign Reflectivity Final Rule that was presented at ATSSA’s Annual Meeting in New Orleans. (NOTE -- This simulcast represented an opportunity for persons to learn from the presentation while not actually attending the conference. This “virtual conference attendance” is something ITE’s IBOD should consider as an alternative means of serving members who, by virtue of high travel costs, cannot attend our Technical Conference or Annual Meeting. The only issue would be webinar costs.)
v. Western District (Director Randy McCourt) -- To my knowledge the Western District and its Sections/Chapters have never done the “I am looking for a job” thing. We post advertisements for agencies/firms looking to hire staff (at a cost) – but not the other way around.
vi. Florida District (Director Jeff Arey) – The Florida District (10) does not have personal ads in the newsletter.
In the end, the spring issue of Items was published with the two personal ads included (see Attachment A). I will keep the IBOD informed of this new service, and subsequent reaction from the membership. Thanks to all who participated in this information-gathering exercise!
b. Transportation Lobbying… Continued – Recently, we were asked to add ITE to the list of supporting organizations for the “Make Roads Safe” international campaign. MWITE supports such a move, but with the following comments.
· This action is somewhat similar to the effort that the North Central Section sought a few months ago when they considered becoming a sponsoring organization for "Vote Yes” campaign in Minnesota. At that time, NCITE has considered becoming a member of the Minnesota Transportation Alliance. The Alliance is a transportation lobbying group advocating for investments in the state’s transportation system. Last year, the Alliance was successful in leading a Minnesota resolution campaign to direct all Motor Vehicle Sales Tax monies to highway and transit funding. Many public and private agencies and organizations are Alliance member organizations, including the fifteen organizations I listed in my last Director’s Report.
· Earlier this year, the Minnesota Legislature had approved a transportation funding bill that had been vetoed by the Republican governor. The Democratic majority in the state legislature needed the votes of a few Republican legislators to help overturn the veto. In the weekend leading up to that fateful vote, I wrote letters to the editor of both major metro newspapers (See Attachment B), as well as letters to each of the legislators who had originally voted against the transportation bill, urging support to overturn the veto. Both newspapers ran the letter, and several legislators replied with their side of the story. In the end, six Republican representatives supported the bill, thus successfully helping to overturn the veto, providing the citizens of Minnesota with increased transportation funding to the tune of $6.6 billion over the next ten years.
Does ITE’s larger support of the “Make Roads Safe” campaign allow our districts, sections and chapters to support other efforts at a local scale? Are my letters to the editor and to state legislators fall within ITE’s Policies and By-Laws? As far as I know, these issues have yet to be resolved.
While the North Central Section’s immediate need to resolve this issue has passed, there will be other times when sections and districts will want to consider support for organizations and initiatives improving transportation. Do our actions set the precedents?
II. “New” topics and papers that you feel the other Board members and ITE Staff should be aware of that were presented at one of the chapter, section or district:
§ Wisconsin Section presentation -- University of Wisconsin-Madison Car Share Program“ ZipCar” – Contact ITE Wisconsin President Dave Jolicoeur for more information, djolicoeur@sewrpc.org
§ Illinois Section presentation – “Moving Beyond Congestion” by Ms. Leanne Redden, Chicago RTA (http://www.movingbeyondcongestion.org/ ) – Chicago’s RTA, CTA, Metra and Pace have joined together in a strategic planning process to develop a vision and strategy for the future of transit. The joint goal is to provide a region-wide consensus for convenient, affordable, reliable and safe transit expansion.
§ Illinois Section presentation – “O’Hare Expansion and Role of O’Hare Modernization Program (OMP)” by Rosemarie S. Andolino, Executive Director of Chicago’s OMP. The OMP, a $6.6 billion program in 2001 dollars, reconfigures O’Hare’s outdated intersecting runway system into a parallel runway configuration, substantially reducing delays and increasing capacity well into the future. The OMP also includes construction of a new terminal on the west side of the airport. The OMP will create up to 195,000 new jobs and $18 billion in economic activity to the region’s economy each year in addition to the 450,000 jobs and $38 billion O’Hare generates today.
§ North Central Section presentation – “Panel Discussion of HEAT (Highway Enforcement of Aggressive Traffic) in Minnesota by Sue Groth of Mn/DOT, Mark Peterson of the Minnesota State Patrol, and John Bloomfield, Human Factors Researcher from the University of Minnesota. Presentation of the reduction in crashes along targeted highways within state.
§ North Central Section presentation – “Updated Access Management Tools and Real World Examples”, a panel discussion by David Plazak, Iowa Sate University’s Center for Traffic Research and Engineering (CTRE), Brian Gage from Mn/DOT, and Kristi Sebastian from Dakota County, MN. Mr. Gage provided an overview of Mn/DOT’s new Access Management Manual, while Mr. Plazak and Ms. Sebastian provided real-world examples of access management in Minnesota and throughout the Midwest.
III. Student Chapter or student-related innovative activities and/or products that the ITE Board and/or staff should be aware of:
§ The ITE student chapter at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) participated in Student Day at the school. The chapter and its student members collaborate with other UIC units like Urban Transportation Center (UTC). The Chapter aims to facilitate further exchange of latest information on a variety of scientific, professional, and educational issues related to transportation in collaboration with other UIC programs, faculty and staff who are committed to research in transportation.
§ NCITE and the Illinois Section hosted annual scholarship and awards presentations this year. Both sections had seen an increase in applicants – a welcome change from previous years.
IV. Unique programs or projects of the chapter, section or district:
a. Simulcasting ATSSA Webinar – NCITE promoted and co-sponsored the simulcast of a webinar on the FHWA’s new Sign Reflectivity Final Rule that was presented at ATSSA’s Annual Meeting in New Orleans. (NOTE -- This simulcast represented an opportunity for persons to learn from the presentation while not actually attending the conference. This “virtual conference attendance” is something ITE’s IBOD should consider as an alternative means of serving members who, by virtue of high travel costs, cannot attend our Technical Conference or Annual Meeting. The only issue would be webinar costs.)
VI. General Comments / Other Significant Issues to bring to the attention of the Board and HQ Staff:
a. Chicago District Meeting – The Illinois Section will be hosting the 2008 Midwestern District Meeting at the Hard Rock Hotel in Chicago, IL, on July 6-8, 2008. These dates provide opportunities for attendees to bring family to the event for the Taste of Chicago and July Fourth events nearby. It is estimated that the room rate will be $189/night plus tax.
a. Chicago District Meeting – The Illinois Section will be hosting the 2008 Midwestern District Meeting at the Hard Rock Hotel in Chicago, IL, on July 6-8, 2008. These dates provide opportunities for attendees to bring family to the event for the Taste of Chicago and July Fourth events nearby. It is estimated that the room rate will be $189/night plus tax.
Attachment A -- Excerpt of Spring Issue of ITEMS Newsletter
Attachment B -- Excerpt of Saint Paul Pioneer Press, Sunday, February 24, 2008, p. 9B
No comments:
Post a Comment