We are told by one of our readers that Foothill Transit, our local bus agency, has sent eight (8) representatives to a two-day conference in France. [update Thursday: actually, nine representatives. Darold Pieper, agency general counsel went to Europe, too] This is the same agency that recently had to increase bus fares for the low-income or environmentally-conscious folks who use the bus system. At first we found this unbelievable, and frankly dismissed it as a crank complaint.
However, we are always open to new information, and the new information is that the old information was true. The group left on Tuesday, July 1, and will return on Wednesday, July 9.
The 8-person Foothill contingent is made up of three elected officials, Peggy Delach (chair of the Executive Committee and Covina councilmember), Roger Chandler (member of the Executive Committee and Arcadia councilmember), and Doug Tessitor (member representative from Glendora and Glendora councilmember). Two senior staff members are attending: Doran Barnes, the Executive Director, and David Reyno, the Director of Government Relations. In addition, there are three worker bees getting the nod for this plum trip: Arciela Lopez (transit store manager), Dietter Aragon (planning), and Gary Nehls (procurement).
You, the bus riders and taxpayers who subsidize Foothill Transit (3 dollars in subsidy for every dollar paid into the farebox) are lucky to have these eight hard-working representatives doing your work in Paris, Rouen, Lyon, and St. Etienne. One can only imagine the things they will see and do. In fact, we here at the Insider do imagine these things, starting with this email from Doran Barnes back to the folks at headquarters:
From: Doran Barnes
Sent: Wednesday, July 2, 2008 3:48 PM (France time, Oooh-La-La)
To: Michael De La Torre; Lola Storing; Paula Lantz;
Cc: Kevin McDonald; Christina Lopez; Darold Pieper; Doran Barnes; Bob Arthur; Claremont Insider
Subject: FTA Public Private Partnership Conference in Lyon, France
Friends Back Home at Foothill Transit
Boy that was a long flight, but we landed safe and sound at Charles De Gaulle Airport (he was an important Frenchman). And now our little group (except for Dave; we lost him somewhere) is now safe and sound in our swell hotel with a nice view of the Arc d'Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower.
Sweet.
At the April Executive Board meeting, the Executive Board considered sending representatives to participate in a Public-Private Partnership Conference that will be held in Lyon, France. the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), the American Public Transportation Association, and The Embassy of France are collaborating on an international workshop on public private partnerships in the public transportation industry July 6-8 in Lyon and Saint-Etienne, France. The workshop will focus on how to fast-track new projects with partnerships that include private sector financing as well as private sector responsibilities for turnkey design, construction and operation of the project. We are not sure how fast tracking new projects in France relates to the Foothill Cities, but with eight [nine, actually]of us here, and with the fine wines and all, we know we can figure it out.
The Board took action to authorize the Executive Board Members and Executive Board Alternates to attend this event. Don't look for any information about this boondoggle on the Internet; our sponsors are smarter than that. We only distribute this information on a "need to know" basis. It slipped by at the APTA with a cryptic reference, here.
We do anticipate that a Board Member will be making a presentation at the Workshop on the Foothill Transit experience (even now, with the session only 5 days away, we are a little unsure whom that will be). We are planning to include site visits to the City of Rouen and the Veolia Environment Campus as part of this trip. Rouen is a very interesting city in that it shares many characteristics with the Foothill Transit service area. I can hardly wait to get back and tell you what 
those are.
In the meantime, this email contains a few pictures we took at Charles de Gaulle Airport. We last saw Dave Reyno in this igloo...
Thanks!
Doran
Doran Barnes
Executive Director
Foothill Transit
ph: 626.931.7200
fx: 626.915.1143
100 South Vincent Ave., Suite 200
West Covina, CA 91790
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