REMARKS FOR
THE HONORABLE
NORMAN Y. MINETA
SECRETARY OF
TRANSPORTATION
APTA
CONFERENCE
LAS VEGAS,
NEVADA
SEPTEMBER 23,
2002
8:30 A.M.
Good morning. Thank you Celia, what a kind introduction!
To my long-time friends:
APTA's outstanding President, Bill Millar and Chairman Pete Cipolla from my home town of San Jose; Federal Transit Administrator, Jenna Dorn; Members of the APTA Executive Committee; General Manager Jacob Snow
Thank you for inviting me, and giving me the opportunity to speak to you.
Last year at this time, transit authorities from around the country, especially our friends at the Utah Transit Authority and the Dallas Area Rapid Transit, were working hard to ensure safe and efficient transportation for those attending the 2002 Winter Olympics and Paralympics in Salt Lake City. The success of those games is a testament to your perseverance and hard work, and a reaffirmation of the value of public and private sector partnerships.
I want to reiterate that these are the types of partnerships we like to see, and strongly encourage, at the Department of Transportation.
As a matter of fact, our success in reauthorizing our surface transportation programs while enhancing the safety and security of those systems – the subjects of my remarks to you here today – will largely be measured by our ability to create productive working partnerships with all of our stakeholders.
Nearly two weeks ago, millions of Americans took a day off from “business as usual” to commemorate the anniversary of September 11th – one of the greatest atrocities that has ever been hurled against this Nation and its people.
That national loss has stiffened our determination to do our duty, and fulfill the responsibilities that the President, Congress, and the American people have entrusted us with. And we will not fail them.
On behalf of President Bush and the American public, I would like to thank once again, all of our transit agencies around the country that responded so valiantly to the calls on September 11th and since.
In an effort to prevent terrorists from ever again using our 21st century technologies, such as our transportation systems, as weapons against us, President Bush directed our Department to redesign our transportation security systems.
The strategy to winning this new war requires all of us to work creatively and unceasingly from here on out. The enemy is very patient. We must keep our guard up.
I don’t have to tell you that it’s going to require a lot of work from all of us. And you know better than most, how much we have to do. The good news is, the work has already started.
In response to President Bush’s directives, the Department of Transportation has evaluated security in the surface transportation modes by studying, evaluating, sharing “Best Practices”, and developing recommendations to improve security across the transportation network.
Our FTA Administrator, Jenna Dorn, had the honor of testifying before our friends on Capitol Hill last week, on the progress she and her team at the Federal Transit Administration are making with you, our Nation’s transit operators, to help protect our vital transportation assets.
I’m sure Congress was just as pleased as I with the vigorous security improvements she and her team have implemented.
They include, 36 threat and vulnerability assessments at
both large and small transit agencies, and the deployment of emergency response
planning and technical assistance teams to 60 transit agencies across the
country.
For example, FTA has awarded nearly $3.4 million dollars to
83 transit agencies to organize and conduct full-scale emergency preparedness
drills.
They have also revised their National Transit Institute
courses and course schedule to include security and emergency response
planning.
And they are conducting 17 forums around the country to
promote regional collaboration and coordination among emergency service
responders and transit agencies.
Eight have been held with great success. In a few weeks, FTA will be visiting Detroit.
In addition, FTA has also accelerated development of
“Project Protect,” a chemical detection system for use in subways.
I want to also congratulate Jenna and her FTA team and
local partners for their E-gov initiative.
This is an example of the kind of management the President
expects to make government more customer-focused, results-oriented, and
performance driven.
I am very grateful to everyone in this industry who has
been working nonstop on fulfilling our transportation agenda, which is making it
truly intermodal. That
includes all of our modes: from aviation, highways, maritime, rail and
pipeline.
Speaking of rail, I’m hopeful that once
Amtrak and intercity rail service is reorganized over the coming years, we will
be able to maximize the full potential of that service.
I have never wavered from an important
conviction I have and that is, intercity passenger rail service is an important
part of the Nation’s transportation system.
But I do believe that our intercity passenger
rail network must transition to a system dictated by fundamental economics, and
must be based like all our modes of transportation on priorities worked out in
partnership with state governments.
Prices, passengers, and genuine priorities –
not politics – should drive service.
On another front, I am pleased to say we are making
tremendous progress in standing up the new Transportation Security
Administration.
So far, in the Nation’s airports, we have hired over 32,000
screeners and bag handlers, named 148 Federal Security Directors who will be
responsible for nearly 400 airports, and conducted over 84 job fairs.
But even with all that success, more needs to be done, especially if we are to achieve President Bush’s three preeminent goals of winning the war against terrorism – both at home and abroad; protecting our homeland against future attacks; and getting the American economy moving again.
Public transit plays an integral role in meeting those goals. Today, there are more people riding buses, subways, commuter trains and trolleys than at any time in the history of the Federal Transit program.
More than ever before, public transportation has served as a catalyst for expanding economic growth and trade, and for improving the quality of life for all Americans.
For example, I visited Dallas last year and saw the remarkable influence DART has had on urban development and its impact on the local economy.
This system illuminates a basic fact about our industry – for every $1 billion dollars invested in Federal aid for construction expenditures, we estimate 45,700 jobs are generated nationwide.
President Bush recognizes the importance of transit in keeping our communities safe and moving, and proposes to increase federal investment in public transit infrastructure.
You know that without transit – without the very program balance we seek in TEA-21 reauthorization – gridlock in our transportation system would surely affect the economy.
Our FY03 budget request is seeking federal transit funding of $7.2 billion, and proposes increasing the Formula Grants program by 8 percent, and a slight increase in Capital Investment Grants in FY03 as well.
And we seek authorizing legislation for the President’s New Freedom Initiative, together with $145 million in funding for it, to reduce transportation barriers for those persons with disabilities seeking to enter the workforce.
The President’s budget also requests a 20 percent increase for the Job Access and Reverse Commute Program, which focuses specifically on low-income individuals who need transportation to jobs and employment support services like child-care.
As we take the next steps in assisting low-income individuals to move from welfare to work, this program will become even more important.
To your credit, APTA has put in place a process for making transit’s voice heard in these critical reauthorization discussions. I want to commend your leader, Bill Millar, for being among the first to come to my office to discuss this process.
By the way, it’s easy to visit my office, because there’s a metro stop inside our building! That’s one advantage to this job.
It's still not too late for you to offer your opinions and ideas on how to make our transportation dollars go farther and to make the entire system more efficient. I encourage you to visit our website www.dot.gov and provide your input directly to the Department.
While I expect key elements of the Administration’s reauthorization proposal will seek to preserve and build upon the programmatic reforms of ISTEA and the financial reforms of TEA-21, we have an opportunity to do more.
I have directed
DOT to achieve several goals in the reauthorization process:
Assure adequate and predictable funding for investment in the Nation’s surface transportation system, including public transit.
Preserve funding flexibility to allow the broadest application of funds to the best transportation solutions identified by our state and local partners.
Build on the intermodal approaches of ISTEA and TEA-21.
Expand and improve programs of innovative financing, so as to encourage private sector investment in the transportation system, and look for other inventive means to augment existing revenue streams.
Provide the means and the mechanisms to perform risk assessment and analysis, incident identification, response, and when necessary, evacuation.
And, we must continue to make substantial improvements in safety.
We have a critical window of opportunity to work together in crafting legislation to reauthorize surface transportation programs that will stand for six years.
The federal fiscal 2004 budget, which President Bush must submit to Congress in February 2003, will reflect the framework of the Administration’s proposal for the successor to TEA-21.
While that may seem like a long lead time, I hope all of us appreciate the need to move forward rapidly.
We already have a number of active working groups focused on this issue, both within the DOT and at the White House.
I have asked the DOT team to ensure active participation by APTA, and by our state and local partners, in creating this reauthorization proposal – and, the best time for that involvement is right now.
Every man, woman and child in our country has the right to expect us to provide a safe, accessible, affordable and reliable transportation system.
Thank you for being our partners in achieving this goal.
We owe our very finest efforts to the memories of those killed on September 11, and to the family and friends they left behind.
Thank you all. Travel safely. And God bless America.
# # #