Southwest Rail Corridor Coalition

The current membership of the coalition consists 24 organizations and individuals. Seventeen people attend the meeting including two potential new members (John Gale, ARPA and Maricopa County AQD, and Gene Holmerud, Coalition of AZ Bicyclists) Calendar:

• August TBD, 2007 – Core Project Team Meeting
• September 28, 2007 – SWRC/ARPA/AzTA Passenger Rail Symposium
• November TBD, 2007 – SWRC Coalition (Full Team) Meeting

The following items were discussed during the meeting.

1. Smyth reported that Gannett Fleming, Sonoran Institute, and Copper Basin Railway have joined the coalition.
2. Smyth lead a discussion on increasing the professional standing of the Coalition.
   • Smyth reported on a meeting of SWRC, ARPA, FOT, and AzTA. Each group identified it mission and area of interest. It was concluded at this meeting that SWRC should move forward as an independent organization working closely with the other three.
   • Smyth introduced Eric Emmert, Dorn Policy Group. Dorn Policy is a Public Affairs company and they have indicated the intent of taking the SWRC Coalition on as a client. Details need to be worked out.
   • Emmert drafted a Strategy Document for the Coalition. This document and the SWRC Project Charter will be merged and updated over the next few month.
   • The Coalition needs to generate some funding. To this end the Coalition has requested financial assistance from FOT and AzTA. The FOT and AzTA have taken the requests under consideration.
   • Smyth presented a brochure that David Schwartz help developed. Input was requested. Smyth will finalize the brochure by June 25th and have it printed.
3. Smyth reminded the Coalition about the September 28, 2007 Rail Symposium. A draft program was distributed. The four out of state speakers have been contacted and agreed to attend. Formal invite letter have been mailed. For the Arizona panel 4 of the 6 panelist have agreed to attend.
4. Scott Friedson, ADOT reported that the “State of Arizona 2007 Railroad Inventory and Assessment” is complete and will be available to the public after Friedson makes a presentation to Victor Mendez, ADOT Director. Also, Friedson reported that Phase 1 of the “Phoenix-Tucson High Speed Strategic Plan is complete but not available to the public. A primary conclusion of the Phase 1 report is that the Phoenix-Tucson rail passenger corridor should be parallel to the current Union Pacific alignment through Coolidge.
5. Scott Friedson reported on the status of ADOT’s response to the Governor’s Executive Order on Transportation Options. The report is still with ADOT and the Governor has not set a date for the report to be delivered to her. Several members of the Coalition who have contacts with the Governor’s staff indicated that the Governor is waiting until the legislature is out of session before she has the report sent to her. This is consistent with what Shannon Scutari, Governor’s staff, told several members of the Coalition that met with here. Scutari indicated it would be mid to late July when the report is delivered. At this point ADOT can not provide any of the report to the public. The SWRC will continue to stay in contact with ADOT and the Governor’s office.
6. Rob Bohannan (for Kevin Wallace, MAG) reported that the MAG Commuter Rail Strategic Plan is moving along. The key element at this time is stakeholder input. The first stakeholders meeting was held on May 1, 2007. The next meeting is scheduled for June 28th at the Mesa Convention Center. Each stakeholder from the first meeting was asked to identify 3-4 other stakeholders to be invited to the June 28th meeting. There should be several hundred people at this meeting. Bohannan encouraged all that were interested to contact MAG and attend the meeting.