OCTA Board Will Select Public Advocate to Replace Reed : Transportation: Three activist candidates are vying for the seat being vacated by retiring representative.

Orange County commuters will get a new advocate Monday.

It will be either Sarah L. Catz, 36, a Laguna Beach business lawyer; Charles C. Wilson, 31, Southern California Edison’s local community relations chief, or Gregory T. Winterbottom, 46, a consultant and former transit manager.

The Orange County Transportation Authority board, which sets transportation priorities and oversees more than $500 million annually in highway and transit spending, will grill the three activists and select one to fill the coveted seat representing the public at-large.

The 11-member board consists of six representatives from Orange County’s cities, four of the five county supervisors, the public’s representative and the non-voting chief of Caltrans’ district office in Orange County. The 10 elected officials get to appoint the public member.

OCTA board members receive up to $500 a month for attending meetings, but they can earn more if they are named to regional rail panels as well.

Dana W. Reed, a Newport Beach attorney specializing in political campaign law, is retiring as the public member. As the public’s representative, he successfully pursued new rail passenger service and served as a strong advocate for Orange County’s bus riders and car-poolers.

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Although well-connected because of her OCTA and community service activities, Catz is not a member of Orange County’s Republican-dominated political power structure. A Democrat, she would be the only woman on the OCTA board since County Supervisors Chairman Harriett M. Wieder recently became an alternate instead of a regular member.

“I want to do my part in improving the quality of life in Orange County,” Catz said recently. “I grew up in Los Angeles, where transportation alternatives were few and far between. I’ve had the fortunate experience to have traveled quite a bit and I’ve seen successful transportation systems throughout the world.”

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The highest priority for OCTA, Catz said, is to “reduce traffic congestion, decrease our accident rate, improve our air quality and improve our economic productivity--and we should do all that by providing a balanced, multi-modal transportation network.”

“I’ve put a lot of my time and effort into the transportation problems of Orange County,” said Catz, who was favored to win going into Monday’s vote. “I’ve served on the Citizens Advisory Committee and the Citizens Rail Committee, where I was selected as the chair. And for the past 19 months I’ve been putting my heart and soul into serving as an alternate board member, and I’ve been a very active member of the (transportation) authority.”

Wilson is a veteran of GOP politics, having served on the staff of former state Sen. John Seymour (R-Anaheim) and various Republican campaign committees.

“I want this job because my daughter just celebrated her first birthday, and 40% of the county’s growth comes from its internal birth rate,” Wilson said. “I have a very personal interest in making sure she will have opportunities for education, employment and a quality of life.”

“I think the transportation authority faces significant challenges and one is meeting Measure M requirements that make economic sense,” Wilson said. He said his age--31--is important because he is in the county’s fastest-growing age group and would serve as someone “whose career has not yet peaked.”

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Measure M is the half-cent, countywide sales tax increase for traffic improvements approved by voters in 1990. It programs spending on specific projects, such as $750 million for an urban rail line, and requires cities to adopt controversial growth management plans.

Wilson said he would support an urban rail system, but only if there is sufficient data to show a “good demographic fit.”

“I’d like to see the ridership pay for as much of the cost as possible,” he said.

He also cites the need to balance spending geographically, to avoid a north-versus-south political split within the county.

Wilson earns about $150 a year as a member of the Orange County Public Facilities Corp., which oversees development of new county offices, parking garages and other structures.

Winterbottom, who uses a wheelchair due to an auto accident in the 1960s, formerly headed OCTA’s transit services for the frail elderly and disabled, and has been an advocate for residents who are totally dependent on public transit.

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S ole proprietor of the Total Ac cess Associates consulting firm, based in his Villa Park home, Winterbottom is also a political veteran. A Republican, Winterbottom worked for former state Sen. Paul Carpenter (D-Cypress) and former County Supervisor Larry Schmit.

“I have a specific background in transportation,” Winterbottom said. “I’ve worked with persons with disabilities and have also worked in the broader sense with transportation issues. I was staff for the Senate Select Committee on Southern California’s Transportation Problems, and I think I would fairly represent the public.

“General traffic relief is the No. 1 priority,” he added. “We need to concentrate on the Measure M commitments . . . and I think one of the major issues facing the board for the next few years is this Americans with Disabilities Act, and I’m uniquely qualified in that field.”

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The finalists have attempted to break the bonds of narrow labeling or stereotyping in order to demonstrate that they have broader appeal.

Catz, for example, said her view of rail transit has matured in recent years as a result of her exposure to cost figures.

“If it made sense, I’d love to see an urban rail system,” Catz said, “but we have to be very careful, and I think that the money we’re now spending on the preliminary studies is well worth it.”

Wilson, aside from advocating more freeways, sees the need for alternatives as well.

And Winterbottom talked of serving each transportation constituency as efficiently as possible. “I don’t see myself as necessarily playing the ADA role,” he said. “We have to make the system responsive to the people who use it.”