Transportation Commission Wants Advisers to Try Again

One citizen adviser to the Orange County Transportation Commission suggested doing away with the commission and letting transportation descend to the “crisis stage” to get public attention.

Another of the 17 members on the citizen’s advisory committee recommended drawing up a plan of the county’s transportation needs for the next 20 years and temporarily closing lanes on freeways and major streets to demonstrate what will happen if transit needs are unmet.

A third member suggested encouraging public transportation by helicopters.

In all, there were 49 proposals presented Monday to the commission, which did not seem overly impressed with the group’s ideas.

Commissioners felt the advisory committee’s suggestions “should have gotten more thought before they came before the whole board,” said the commission’s executive director, Stan Oftelie.

“I think the process is a good one, (but) they probably should have done some screening before they came before the commission, Oftelie said.”

Each commissioner appoints two members of the advisory panel, with civic groups appointing others.

Oftelie said the advisers “brainstormed a whole bunch of ideas and put them before the commission and asked what the commission thought of the ideas.”

In the end, the commission suggested that the advisory panel pick out the ones they thought most practical and resubmit them. The commission would then try to decide if the ideas are valid and if funds can be found to carry them out.

The suggestions were grouped under such headings as construction, finances, planning and public policy, public relations and research.