Wednesday, April 15, 2009

OCTA

Our speaker for the week was Peter Buffa, Chairman of the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA). It was quite timely as there have been a number of newspaper articles about their plans. They are responsible for all ground transportation in Orange County; buses, trains and highways,with exception of the Tollways.

It was no surprise – money is tight. They have been affected and have had to make cutbacks, mostly in the bus system here in Orange county. However, with the stimulus money from the government, they plan to make advances and improvements in our highways, as well as local Metrolink stations to entice more ridership. They look forward to developing a high speed rail system from Anaheim to San Francisco (in about 2 ½ hours) in the near future, as well as someday from Anaheim to Las Vegas. They will be modeled after systems in other countries, and someday even hope to develop an air/rail system. The biggest problem is how to get Orange County people out of their cars!

Woody Jones was our president during 1999-2000. He spoke about what a fun year and a great experience it was for him. The club continued to hold the Golf tournament as well as a Night at the Improv as fund raisers, while again holding the Smiles Dental Clinic.

In addition, members built a house in Tijuana with the Corazon project during his term. He felt it was a fun and worthwhile project. It was such a wonderful experience to see a family receive a home you'd helped to build; something the family wanted and thought they never could obtain. Woody explained how he'd enjoyed traveling to the International Convention that year in Singapore.

We also had the honor of having Ed Hardenburgh's grandson and his mother join us. They extended an invitation to a cystic fibrosis walk on May 2nd. In addition, the club continued its support of the foundation in the form of a check presented to Ed's grandson.