January-February
Message
District 6 Members,
I hope that you and your loved ones had a wonderful holiday season as we enter the first quarter of 2009. It seems like only a short time ago we entered the year 2000 (“Y2K”), and now we are only one year from completing our first decade of this century. Wow, time flies!
In this issue, you’ll hear about what occurred last fall at the ITE International Board of Direction Meeting. Also, we welcome our new WesternITE Managing Editor Rachel Donovan (see prior issue for Rachel’s background). This is her first issue. We are very pleased to have her join our Western District team in this important role. Section and Chapter Scribes, please send Rachel your reports by the 25th day of odd-numbered months to editor@westernite.org. Please forward relevant technical articles to this e-mail address for consideration in the newsletter.
I am also pleased to announce that Joe Henderson (Past President of the Colorado-Wyoming Section) has taken on the role of Vice Technical Chair for our District--welcome aboard!
Last Fall 2008, I visited several ITE Sections within our District. On November 19, 2008, I attended a presentation on the newly passed bond measure for high speed rail in California at the Joint ITE Southern California and Riverside San Bernardino (RSBITE) Sections Meeting. Hopefully, alternative modes of transportation throughout our District and nation will soon become much more commonplace.
I also presented three Presidential Proclamations to Section leaders: Larry Wymer (October 23, 2008--Northern California Section), Edward C. Krulikowski (November 15, 2008--San Diego Section) and Robert Sweeting (December 9, 2008--Central Coast Section). Additionally, I shared my “Engineering Recommendations: Getting to ‘Yes’ With the Public and Elected Officials” presentation with the Northern California Section, and I swore-in officers for the San Diego and Central California Sections on December 4th and 9th, 2008, respectively.
In this first quarter of 2009, we have our mid-year board meeting scheduled in conjunction with an annual Colorado-Wyoming Section event in Winter Park, Colorado. I also plan to meet with the Idaho and Montana Chapters (including students) in addition to the Arizona Section. Mark your calendars for our upcoming Annual District 6 Meeting in Denver, Colorado (July 12th-15th, 2009), where you can merge your summer vacation with this exciting meeting while expanding your transportation network. The Local Arrangements Committee (LAC) has many festive activities planned for you and the rest of your family at the upcoming Annual Meeting.
Although the fall of 2008 brought us some serious economic challenges, now is the time to stay involved in our profession. Here in 2009, ITE keeps us all connected and in the forefront of our industry as we ride-out this historic economic "wave". Our expertise will continue to be needed and, with a new administration, we have an opportunity to help advance our transportation infrastructure. As we strive toward innovation, there is nothing that we cannot achieve as we overcome our challenges and work toward an even better tomorrow. Through our industry and an expansion of our energy “portfolio,” our profession, along with a renewed openness and creativity, can help “re-tool” our economy and provide “win-win” projects. This can help address our unique economic challenges.
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