Council Congratulates New MTC Chair Alfredo Pedroza

The Bay Area Council congratulates Napa County Supervisor Alfredo Pedroza on being named this week (Feb. 24) Chair of the powerful Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC). The Council has worked extensively with MTC’s new leadership – collaborating on housing production, championing a connected and world-class transit system, reforming MTC’s mandatory work from home strategy, developing a return to transit strategy, and advocating for regionalism across all issues. In a letter this week to the Congress, the Council joined with MTC and other organizations urging Congress to approve $30.5 billion in the American Recovery Plan Act to help keep our transit systems operating through the pandemic and poised to support a strong recovery. The bill would also include resources to keep major capital projects on track. 

“As the Bay Area, like the rest of the world, looks ahead to emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic, recovery and resilience will be front and center in all of MTC’s work,” Pedroza said in an MTC statement announcing the appointment. “That means working with our partner transportation agencies to adapt to new travel patterns and new budget constraints while continuing to focus on the user experience; working with our cities and counties — and so many others — on new solutions to the Bay Area’s housing crisis; and helping to make sure all Bay Area residents and all Bay Area communities get to participate in the region’s economic recovery.”

The Council also congratulates Nick Josefowitz on his election as Vice Chair. Both Pedroza and Josefowitz will serve two-year terms. And we extend our thanks to former MTC Chair Scott Haggerty for his leadership. To engage in the Council’s transportation policy work, please contact Senior Vice President Gwen Litvak.