The Fall 2009 TFLEx Workshop was held in Orange County, California, and was hosted by Bill Dineen and the OCTA. Our sincere thanks go out to Bill and his staff for the wonderful job they did in making this workshop a successful event. Attendance was down due to travel restrictions from many member agencies. To address this issue, three of the sessions were broadcast on the web, allowing members to view presentations and hear speakers. Our thanks go to Ray Garton for setting up the webcasting and making sure it worked well during the workshop. The successful experiment in webcasting will continue with future workshops. Thanks again to everyone at Orange County Transit.
The main topic of this workshop was The New Normal in transit finance. Bill Dineen welcomed participants and gave an overview of the workshop objectives. After his remarks, Bill turned the program over to Terry Cordell to provide the results of a survey he did prior to the workshop on current funding problems and service issues facing members. The survey results are attached. During the discussion, participants expanded on the issues they are currently facing and how they expect those issues to continue to affect their agencies moving forward.
Participants then gathered in smaller groups to come up with the three main issues they see continuing to affect their agencies moving forward; in other words, what their agencies were going to be dealing with as the new normal.
On Monday afternoon Irene DeMers led a discussion on the Significant Interest Group (SIG) calls done between workshops. Participation in the SIG calls has generally been good; but could always be better. Members agreed that two things could be different - 1) co-chairs should be rotated as needed and 2) an agenda team should be established to set topics for the calls and. Bill Dineen volunteered to be the new co-chair for the grants SIG. The calls will be webcast in the future, so participants can share presentations and other visual media.
Tuesday morning's session included two economists sharing their take on the new normal. Dr. Jerry Nickelsburg from UCLA discussed "Old Normals and New Normals" and concluded with the idea that the "new normal" may be the "old normal" with continued annual GDP growth in the 3.2% range. Dr. Christopher Thornberg, founding principal of Beacon Economics, gave a fast paced and fascinating presentation with his view being that the recovery will occur but will most like be slow. All members are encouraged to review Dr. Thornberg's presentation on the TFLEx web site, as it is full of great information on the national (and California) economy.
Tuesday afternoon's session concentrated on changes in the municipal bond markets. David Leininger, CFO at DART started things off with a discussion of his agency's recent bond sale. DART financed new capital construction by selling $1 billion in bonds, including $829 million in Build America Bonds.
Rodney Johnson, Deputy Treasurer of OCTA, gave a presentation on the bridge financing OCTA is using for the financing of the Highway 91 Express Lane placement, due to the collapse of the financial markets in 2008. The complicated transaction of the bridge financing has provided stability, and OCTA now has some breathing room to review options.
Jim Martling of Sperry Capital discussed his company's role in the OCTA Highway 91 Express Lane placement and how the markets have changed since the liquidity crunch. Nic Malas from Siebert, Brandford Shank & Co. echoed Jim's comments and added his own take on the issues.
The Spring 2010 Workshop will be held at the Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland Ohio in April 2010. The workshop will consist of sessions all day Monday and Tuesday until noon, with the business meeting to be held on Tuesday afternoon. Preliminary topics of the workshop will include the value of technology and the capital impact on operations, industrial relations and the role of unions, and societal changes that are leading to changes in transportation. More information will be forthcoming, including specific dates for the workshop.
The regular Business Meeting was chaired by Terry Matsumoto on Wednesday morning. Minutes of this meeting are attached as a separate document. All members are encouraged to attend the Business Meetings at the workshops.
All presentations from the Fall Workshop are available to members on the TFLEx Sharepoint website at http://tflex.securespsites.com.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Summary of TFLEx Spring Workshop - Public Private Partnerships (P3)
April 6 - 8, 2009
Chicago, Illinois
The Spring 2009 TFLEx Workshop was held in Chicago, Illinois, and was hosted by Joe Costello and the RTA. Our sincere thanks go out to Joe and his staff for the wonderful job they did in making this workshop a successful event. Forty-five people registered for this workshop. Everything was well organized and the presentations were informative. Thanks again to everyone at Chicago's RTA.
The main topic of this workshop was Public Private Partnerships (P3). Stephen E. Schlickman, Executive Director of the RTA, welcomed participants and gave an overview of the workshop objectives. After his remarks, Stephen turned the program over to representatives of the Government Finance Officers Association for a primer on Public Private Partnerships. This session started with a discussion of the benefits and challenges of P3s. The presenters also talked about risk allocation and how important it is in developing P3s. They reviewed different types of P3s with examples of projects from around the country. A discussion of financing and funding sources followed, and the session ended with a case study of a proposed California high-speed rail system.
During Monday's lunch, guest speaker Ellen Rissman, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, gave a sobering talk on the current state of the economy and what benchmarks the Fed uses in judging the state of the economy.
Monday afternoon, the first panel discussion of the workshop included Robert Frye, Rochester Gennesee RTA, Scott Schroeder, BART, Terry Cordell, Las Vegas RTC, and Joe Seliga, law firm of Mayer Brown. This panel focused on the pitfalls and lessons learned from P3s in both the capital and operating areas.
Joe Costello welcomed participants on Tuesday morning and introduced Tom Mulvihill from KPMG, who provided a view from the "Private" partner of P3s. His discussion included a review of risk allocation, traditional versus alternative funding, P3 examples from around the world and his view of the future of P3s in transit. The second panel of the workshop included Randy Blankenhorn, Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, Rhonda Reed, Federal Transit Administration, Kevin Adams, MV Transportation, Robert Kelly, the Amalgamated Transit Union, Larry Wilson, Illinois DOT, and Mike Schneider, Co-Chair, APTA P3 Task Force. They presented a variety of industry viewpoints on P3s. Discussing public interest viewpoints in the third panel were Eric Reese on the GFOA's recommended practices on P3's, Frank Beale, Chicago Metropolis 2020, Maria Choca Urban, Chicago's Center for Neighborhood Technology.
The lunch speaker on Tuesday was Mike Pagano, an economist from the University of Illinois at Chicago, who discussed current revenue trends and the future state of affairs that will impact the P3 environment.
Tuesday afternoon's panel included representatives from the transit properties in the Chicago region discussing their views on P3s. The panel included Melinda Metzgar, PACE, Bill Tupper, METRA, Ken Kabira, CTA and Heather Tabbert, RTA. Bennett Johnson, former budget director for the City of Chicago also talked about some of the efforts the City has undertaken in P3's. The workshop concluded with an example of an operating P3 from Dayton, Ohio. Representatives from Commuter Advertising Company discussed their partnership with the greater Dayton RTA for audio ads on transit vehicles. Stephen Schlickman wrapped up the workshop by thanking all the participants and attendees.
The Fall 2009 Workshop will be held in Orange County, California. The topic of the workshop will be "The New Normal," centering around the current economic situation, how agencies are dealing with funding issues and new methodologies for projecting revenues. More information will be forthcoming, including the dates for the workshop.
The regular Business Meeting was chaired by Joe Costello on Wednesday morning. Minutes of this meeting are attached as a separate document. All members are encouraged to attend the Business Meetings at the workshops.
All presentations from the Spring Workshop are available to members on the TFLEx Sharepoint website at https://tflex.securespsites.com.
Chicago, Illinois
The Spring 2009 TFLEx Workshop was held in Chicago, Illinois, and was hosted by Joe Costello and the RTA. Our sincere thanks go out to Joe and his staff for the wonderful job they did in making this workshop a successful event. Forty-five people registered for this workshop. Everything was well organized and the presentations were informative. Thanks again to everyone at Chicago's RTA.
The main topic of this workshop was Public Private Partnerships (P3). Stephen E. Schlickman, Executive Director of the RTA, welcomed participants and gave an overview of the workshop objectives. After his remarks, Stephen turned the program over to representatives of the Government Finance Officers Association for a primer on Public Private Partnerships. This session started with a discussion of the benefits and challenges of P3s. The presenters also talked about risk allocation and how important it is in developing P3s. They reviewed different types of P3s with examples of projects from around the country. A discussion of financing and funding sources followed, and the session ended with a case study of a proposed California high-speed rail system.
During Monday's lunch, guest speaker Ellen Rissman, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, gave a sobering talk on the current state of the economy and what benchmarks the Fed uses in judging the state of the economy.
Monday afternoon, the first panel discussion of the workshop included Robert Frye, Rochester Gennesee RTA, Scott Schroeder, BART, Terry Cordell, Las Vegas RTC, and Joe Seliga, law firm of Mayer Brown. This panel focused on the pitfalls and lessons learned from P3s in both the capital and operating areas.
Joe Costello welcomed participants on Tuesday morning and introduced Tom Mulvihill from KPMG, who provided a view from the "Private" partner of P3s. His discussion included a review of risk allocation, traditional versus alternative funding, P3 examples from around the world and his view of the future of P3s in transit. The second panel of the workshop included Randy Blankenhorn, Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, Rhonda Reed, Federal Transit Administration, Kevin Adams, MV Transportation, Robert Kelly, the Amalgamated Transit Union, Larry Wilson, Illinois DOT, and Mike Schneider, Co-Chair, APTA P3 Task Force. They presented a variety of industry viewpoints on P3s. Discussing public interest viewpoints in the third panel were Eric Reese on the GFOA's recommended practices on P3's, Frank Beale, Chicago Metropolis 2020, Maria Choca Urban, Chicago's Center for Neighborhood Technology.
The lunch speaker on Tuesday was Mike Pagano, an economist from the University of Illinois at Chicago, who discussed current revenue trends and the future state of affairs that will impact the P3 environment.
Tuesday afternoon's panel included representatives from the transit properties in the Chicago region discussing their views on P3s. The panel included Melinda Metzgar, PACE, Bill Tupper, METRA, Ken Kabira, CTA and Heather Tabbert, RTA. Bennett Johnson, former budget director for the City of Chicago also talked about some of the efforts the City has undertaken in P3's. The workshop concluded with an example of an operating P3 from Dayton, Ohio. Representatives from Commuter Advertising Company discussed their partnership with the greater Dayton RTA for audio ads on transit vehicles. Stephen Schlickman wrapped up the workshop by thanking all the participants and attendees.
The Fall 2009 Workshop will be held in Orange County, California. The topic of the workshop will be "The New Normal," centering around the current economic situation, how agencies are dealing with funding issues and new methodologies for projecting revenues. More information will be forthcoming, including the dates for the workshop.
The regular Business Meeting was chaired by Joe Costello on Wednesday morning. Minutes of this meeting are attached as a separate document. All members are encouraged to attend the Business Meetings at the workshops.
All presentations from the Spring Workshop are available to members on the TFLEx Sharepoint website at https://tflex.securespsites.com.
Friday, May 9, 2008
Boston, MA - September 8-9, 2008
The Fall 2008 TFLEx Conference will be held in Boston, MA, hosted by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) on September 8th and 9th, with the business meeting on the 10th. More information on the agenda, registrations, and travel arragements will follow.
Mark your calendars!
Photo: Boston from the Boston University Bridge. Credit Flickr by Ja chega
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Chicago, IL - April 7-9, 2008
All sessions at the Regional Transportation Authority.
175 West Jackson Boulevard
Chicago, Illinois 60604
312-913-3200
Transit-Finance Learning Exchange invites you to attend
Federal Funding Issues
(Field of Study: Finance)
April 7-8, 2008
April 9, 2008 - Business Meeting
Program Content/Learning Objectives
Funding from the Federal government continues to play an important role in the ability of transit authorities to finance capital projects. Over the last several years, policies used to distribute that funding have changed. This workshop will concentrate on reviewing some of those changes and making participants aware of how those changes can affect their ability to provide capital projects. After attending this conference, participants will be able to:
Understand how the FTA's new charter regulations will affect the ability of their agencies to provide special services.
Understand how new grant programs like Job Access Reverse Commute and New Freedom Initiative can be successfully implemented.
Understand the USDOT's National Strategy to Reduce Congestion and what it means to their agencies in obtaining discretionary funding for capital projects.
Understand how software can assist in allocating available funding to infrastructure needs on the basis of the established capital programs goals and objectives.
Identify issues with the National Transit Database and determine best practices in developing and sharing industry-wide benchmarking data.
Identify and share best practices through "Needs & Leads.
175 West Jackson Boulevard
Chicago, Illinois 60604
312-913-3200
Transit-Finance Learning Exchange invites you to attend
Federal Funding Issues
(Field of Study: Finance)
April 7-8, 2008
April 9, 2008 - Business Meeting
Program Content/Learning Objectives
Funding from the Federal government continues to play an important role in the ability of transit authorities to finance capital projects. Over the last several years, policies used to distribute that funding have changed. This workshop will concentrate on reviewing some of those changes and making participants aware of how those changes can affect their ability to provide capital projects. After attending this conference, participants will be able to:
Understand how the FTA's new charter regulations will affect the ability of their agencies to provide special services.
Understand how new grant programs like Job Access Reverse Commute and New Freedom Initiative can be successfully implemented.
Understand the USDOT's National Strategy to Reduce Congestion and what it means to their agencies in obtaining discretionary funding for capital projects.
Understand how software can assist in allocating available funding to infrastructure needs on the basis of the established capital programs goals and objectives.
Identify issues with the National Transit Database and determine best practices in developing and sharing industry-wide benchmarking data.
Identify and share best practices through "Needs & Leads.
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