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Opening year (2008) ridership = 4.1 million <br />TTA and FTA working together to resolve regional transportation modeling issues <br />NEW STARTS REPORT/MODEL ISSUES <br />TTA working with FTA and consultants to evaluate model elements <br />Due to deadlines, FTA will assign a "not rated" rating in the February report to Congress ("not <br />rated" preferable to "not recommended") <br />FTA will evaluate other project elements and provide updated rating to Congress upon <br />resolution of model issues <br />Impact on project schedule undetermined <br />Strong Congressional support - $20 million in the federal FY'05 budget; federal appropriations <br />to date -approximately $85 million <br />Commissioner Halkiotis asked about preferred rolling stock and if anything has <br />changed in the technology. He made reference to the hybrid buses that run in New York City. <br />John Claflin said that they use clean burning diesel, but it is still diesel powered. The hybrid <br />does not provide enough horsepower. <br />Commissioner Jacobs asked if there are any current efforts to advance a legislative <br />agenda in the N. C. General Assembly to generate additional revenue for TTA. John Claflin <br />said that the Regional Transportation Alliance is working on something right now and TTA has <br />been partnering with them. There is a strong movement by this group to bring forth legislation <br />that would allow a local option for each of the counties to determine what they would like in the <br />form of new revenues applied to highways and transit, pedestrian, and bicycle projects. <br />Chair Carey said that the mayors initiated this a few months ago, and the county board <br />chairs addressed it last month. There will be a joint letter from the county board chairs <br />indicating the preference for the new revenue source. <br />Commissioner Jacobs asked if there has been any support from Senator Dole and <br />John Claflin said that they have received excellent support. Senator Dole is a very strong <br />advocate for transit. <br />c. Report on Human Services Issues Forum 2004 <br />The Board received the final report on the proceedings of the Human Services Issues <br />Forum held on September 8, 2004 by the Human Services Advisory Commission (HSAC). <br />Co-Chair of the Human Services Advisory Commission Linda Tuday made this <br />presentation. The forum was on volunteerism. <br />Linda Tuday made reference to the report on volunteerism. There were new <br />components to the forum this year. One component was graphic reporting and to be able to <br />show the journey that occurs during the day. The second component was to have an <br />interactive dialogue. There were a lot of good ideas generated from the panels and the lunch <br />discussion. She read the recommendations to the Board of County Commissioners. <br />Commissioner Jacobs asked for a reproduction of this report and that it be given to the <br />County's volunteers at orientation. <br />12 <br />