Six Named to Unified County Transit Board
The county’s 29 cities have moved closer to taking control of common transportation policies by naming six people to serve on a new board charged with coordinating highway and transit projects countywide.
The Orange County League of Cities on Thursday night chose Tustin Mayor Richard B. Edgar, Los Alamitos Councilman Robert P. Wahlstrom, La Habra Councilman William D. Mahoney, Anaheim Councilman Irv Pickler, San Juan Capistrano Councilman Gary L. Hausdorfer and Santa Ana Mayor Daniel H. Young to the new Orange County Transportation Authority.
Pickler and Edgar already sit on the County Transportation Commission; Hausdorfer and Edgar sit on the Transit District board, and Young sits on the county’s Transportation Corridor Agencies and is heading a six-city monorail proposal.
The new Transportation Authority will merge the county Transportation Commission with the County Transit District and the Consolidated Transportation Services Agency, which provides transit service to the elderly, infirm and disabled.
The Board of Supervisors has not yet scheduled a date on which it will name its four representatives to the new board. An 11th member, to represent the public at large, will be chosen by the first 10 members, once they meet.
The city representatives, who will outnumber the county’s, are expected by the league to vote as a bloc at meetings of the new OCTA.
But a philosophical rift has emerged, with some pro-development city officials objecting to the current leadership at the County Transportation Commission and the county’s efforts to enforce strict growth and congestion management regulations countywide.
The new Transportation Authority board is expected to meet in June.
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