The Transportation Commission Gets to Work

The Coronado Transportation Commission met for the first time on Thursday afternoon in the City Council Chambers. It elected Michael Giorgione chair and former City Councilman Phil Monroe vice chair. Commissioner Richard Scharff nominated Monroe, citing his years of public service.

Monroe expressed interest in the chair position, but suggested that Giorgione might make a better choice.

“A lot of what we are going to do will involve the Navy,” Monroe said.

He suggested that as retired flag officer, Giorgione would have a better rapport with Navy officials. The commission agreed and elected Giorgione by a vote of 4-3. Monroe was unanimously elected vice chair. 

The rest of the meeting was taken up with an overview of the commission’s mission and its relationship with other entities, such as Caltrans and Coronado’s Traffic Operations Committee. Funding and past traffic studies, including the 2009 Annual Traffic Report, were also discussed.

There was keen interest in seeing a copy of the tunnel report. Assistant City Manger Tom Ritter said that a draft should be available soon. Monroe was particularly interested in an overpass study that the tunnel commission had undertaken. 

“There’s been a lot of good work and we need to take advantage of it,” Giorgione said.

Besides reviewing past studies, commissioners also expressed interests in forging a good working relationship with Caltrans. “All of our long-term traffic problems involve this agency,” Jefferson Alison said.

Indeed, traffic calming is a key component in the ordinance that established the commission, according to Ritter. Caltrans controls the streets with the most traffic. Orange Avenue and Third and Fourth streets are state highways and are under Caltrans' jurisdiction.

“We need to sit down with the folks,” Scharff said. “Caltrans needs to be a partner, not an adversary.”

While much of the discussion involved traffic, Giorgione stressed that the commission was charged with looking at all modes of transportation —walking and cycling, as well as driving.

There was also general consensus that the commission would pay close attention to views expressed at a public workshop that was held on Sept. 8, 2010. “Our fellow residents expect that out of this group,” Scharff said.

As a starting point, Monroe was interested in developing a structure for the commission. He noted that the City Council had charged them with finding ways to reduce the impact that traffic has on residents.

“First we need to define what impact is, then use that information to develop a strategy to develop projects to solve the problem,” he said.

For its next meeting on June 7, the commission asked for a presentation from a Caltrans representative and a summary of comments made at the public workshop.