MAYOR WELCOMES TRANSPORTATION LEADERS TO HONOLULU

(Wed., Jan. 20, 2010)—Mayor Mufi Hannemann today welcomed leaders of the American Public Transportation Association to Honolulu for the group’s annual Business Member Board of Governors meeting. The board and its committees will meet today (Wed.) through Friday at the Ihilani Resort and Spa at Ko Olina, and will hold a farewell banquet on Friday evening.

"We’re very pleased that the nation’s largest nonprofit advocacy group for public transportation chose Honolulu for this important event," said Hannemann, who is in Washington DC this week to meet with President Obama, top federal transportation officials and the US Conference of Mayors. "Our bus system is one of the nation’s finest, and our rail transit project has generated lots of excitement among public transportation professionals."

Federal Transit Administration Administrator Peter Rogoff will participate in the meeting via teleconference. Honolulu Managing Director Kirk Caldwell will address the group on Thursday, and rail project manager Toru Hamayasu will provide a project update on Friday.

The Business Member Board of Governors is a 25-person elected body that represents APTA’s private-sector members with expertise in all modes of transportation and project development, said board chair Sharon Greene. Hannemann last year invited the group to hold this annual meeting in Honolulu, and approximately 100 participants are expected to attend.

"On behalf of the APTA Business Members, I’m very happy to bring the group once again to Honolulu, and we greatly appreciate the hospitality of Mayor Hannemann and the city," Greene said. "We look forward to riding Honolulu’s rail system. We are committed to and acknowledge the milestone effort in the city’s transportation system."

Among the meeting’s participants will be APTA President William Millar; APTA Executive Committee Chair Mattie (M.P.) Carter; APTA Executive Committee Vice Chair Michael Scanlon; Federal Railroad Administration Deputy Administrator Karen Rae; and Amtrak Vice President for Policy and Development Stephen Gardner.

APTA last year honored Honolulu’s rail project with its AdWheel Grand Prize for the informational DVD distributed with the project’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement.