WNC Transportation Committee - Minutes
January 31, 2005 Meeting
Meeting commenced 12:18 PM
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In attendance:
Lucy Mejia
Olivia Cueva-Fernandez
Lou Baglietto
Dan Davis
Patrick Wilson
Donna Ethington
Don Compton
Dan Davis provided an update on some of the ACTA initiatives.
The Anaheim Street pump station is down to the functional part. Outlying
drains will be installed when repairs to the storm water pipes installed
two years ago are complete to ensure there is no seepage of groundwater
into the system.
In January the ACTA board approved seeking funding for the SR 47 Expressway.
The EIR documents are being reviewed and the draft should be out later
this summer and the final document completed by the end of the year.
The shuttle train pilot program will use shorter than normal trains
to carry containers from a Port ICTF terminal to the Inland Empire for
offloading onto trucks for transport to distribution centers and warehouses
in that area. Reloaded or empty containers will be transported back
to the same terminal to go out by ship. They’ll carry about 100 containers
per train and reduce that many truck trips per day.
Donna asked if these distribution centers were specific companies,
only WalMart or only Target or general distribution.
Dan said they’re both and that there are more and more of the general
distribution centers.
Donna asked if there were rail lines to these centers.
Lou said they’ll be going to a collection facility in Colton and trucked
to distribution centers.
Dan said it’s a pilot program and if it’s successful, and ACTA expects
it to be successful, they’ll try and put together a larger number of
train facilities and move more containers to the Inland Empire to be
redistributed that way.
ACTA’s third initiative that has been given approval to seek funding
and location is an Inland Empire truck depot, basically an area for
truckers that pick up containers under the PierPass program at night,
where distribution centers and warehouses are not open, to drop off
containers so they can go pick up more. During the day when the centers
are open truckers can pick up the containers from the depot and deliver
them to the centers, thereby eliminating a lot of the truck traffic
on the 710 and in the harbor area. To have a depot close to the port
really doesn’t do anything more than get the containers out of the port.
Olivia said where will this be located?
Dan said it’s still being investigated because it will be rather large
for the number of trucks that are expected to use the PierPass program
at night. For the most part the containers will stay on the chassis
or attached to the trucks.
Pat asked what ACTA’s part is in all of this.
Dan said it is just to get it started, find a location that can be
leased on a long-term basis, at a low rate, and there’s less expensive
property out in the Inland Empire. ACTA will not operate it, but will
look for funding, possibly from the PierPass program, stakeholders,
warehouses, receivers, PC centers, anyone that’s going to benefit is
a potential investor.
Pat said, then they will be privately operated? How would a business
person become involved in the process?
Lou said ACTA hasn’t determined that yet, but anything of a business
nature would have an RFP. ACTA is just now looking at how it would work,
where to put it.
Dan said they would probably hire a real estate consultant. The site
would have to be pretty large, preferably with existing asphalt and
security in San Bernardino or Riverside Counties, those types of areas.
There are a lot of distribution centers and warehouses in that area.
Donna asked if the container study had ever been released and that
it sounded like these are some of the solutions.
Dan said the idea behind the container study is to use these areas
in the Inland Empire, like the shuttle train and truck depot, as a virtual
container storage facility. Containers go to the warehouses and distribution
centers and once they’re empty go back onto a train and back to the
Port to be put on a ship. If they’re on a chassis at a truck depot they
come back to the Port that way, as opposed to creating new storage facilities.
There will always be a need for empty container storage near the Port
to supply shippers’ requests for containers. One of the biggest problems
with moving all the containers away from the Port is the timeline for
ships and having them waiting at the docks.
Lucy asked if the Port has a list of all the container facilities to
call if there is a shortage.
Pat said the Port doesn’t call us; the Port has customers that would
call us. FastLane stores containers for the company that has the shipping
line as a customer. The shipping line would call FastLane’s customer
for containers.
Pat said, on the Inland truck depot you mentioned that with the PierPass
program the trucks would pick up containers in the Port and drop them
at the truck depot for future delivery and bobtail back. It sounds like
an inefficient trip.
Dan said once a cycle gets going it won’t be an inefficient trip, they’ll
haul something back.
Lou said the container study was done by an outside consultant and
all that information has been passed on to the LA City Planning Dept
to help them understand the issues in Far East Wilmington and Wilmington
in general because they have been tasked with working with the Port,
individual customers and the Council office.
Olivia asked if they’re looking at the Watson land.
Lou said they’re looking at all of LA because of the ICO the Councilwoman
initiated that expires in a year or two. So they need to come back with
recommendations on what they’re going to do about this issue before
then.
Donna said she would really like to see that study. Pat said he had
a summary, but not the report. Lou said he would try and get copies
for the committee.
Donna asked for comments or suggestions on the proposed list of recommendations
developed through committee discussions that could be used as a first
step in developing a comprehensive transportation plan in support of
the Wilmington Waterfront Development Subcommittee motion.
She explained the reasoning behind most of these recommendations was
to get trucks off of the residential streets. The truckers need somewhere
to park so we’re asking POLA, ACTA and POLB to provide some of the land
in Far East Wilmington for a truck parking facility.
A side benefit of this truck parking facility is that it would enable
the CHP to enforce the BIT program. The BIT program is a truck safety
inspection program that’s done annually at truck terminals. If the truckers
are parking on residential streets, they’re under the radar. Some of
these trucks are probably not insurable so they’ve been able to get
around this requirement by not registering with the DMV for a ‘CA’ number,
which requires these trucks to be registered in the CHP BIT program
in order to get a CA number.
Olivia wanted to make sure the list of recommendations would go to
the PCAC Traffic committee.
She suggested prohibiting truck parking on Lomita and Figueroa. One
side of Lomita is Carson that doesn’t allow truck parking, consequently
all the trucks park on the Wilmington side that is all residential.
Donna said maybe we need another motion because there are no prohibitive
signs posted on Lomita.
Pat said he has always maintained that trucks should not be allowed
to park on City streets whether it’s residential or commercial. Many
communities have signs that say ‘no unattached semi-trailers’ and other
signs that say ‘no parking between 2AM and 6PM,’ which effectively eliminates
that street parking practice.
Trucks that park on City streets are being subsidized by the public
because the companies don’t have a proper place to park. There’s also
a security issue. When you see a container parked you don’t know if
it’s empty or loaded. If it’s loaded you don’t know if it’s hazardous
or if there’s some non-disclosed cargo in there. Containers are stolen
all the time and loaded with trash or tires because it’s cheaper than
recycling or paying to dump trash. People take containers, fill them
with hazardous waste and drop it somewhere else. It sits there for a
week or so until it gets loaded with parking tickets or impounded. Then
it sits in an impound yard for another few months while it goes through
the entitlement process and they end up with the junk.
Olivia said trucks parking on Lomita are a hazard because you can’t
see around them from the side streets or when you’re trying to pull
out of your driveway.
Pat said in west Long Beach there were complaints from businesses on
PCH and on Santa Fe for these reasons. He said it shouldn’t be limited
to just residential; there should be ‘no parking on City streets.’
Donna said then should we recommend to the Council office that they
initiate an ordinance to prohibit truck parking on City streets?
Pat said there are a lot of municipalities that have highly restrictive
parking around industrial areas because of the proximity of trucking
activities. Drivers want to park as close as they can. The closer you
get to an industrial hub, such as Wilmington, the more you’ll find this
activity.
Olivia said they’ve had a problem with a truck parking on her street
and she was told because the truck didn’t have a logo it couldn’t be
cited.
Pat said he didn’t know why there are exemptions. It should be any
vehicle over 6000 pounds, which is the standard differentiation between
a commercial vehicle and a pickup truck or step van.
Don suggested the neighborhood council use some of its funding to retain
legal counsel for these kinds of questions.
Lou suggested we ask the Council office to investigate the feasibility
of adopting an ordinance against commercial parking on Wilmington streets.
Pat said there might be a problem extending this to PCH because it’s
a State highway.
Donna said if this is the case, the Council office will come back and
say they can do this on all streets except PCH.
Don said a phone call to the Council office will resolve this.
Donna said it’s not that simple. These recommendations will have to
be a formal request that goes through the neighborhood council to be
sure everyone agrees. No doubt the truckers will want to comment on
them.
Olivia commented on the WWD motion that recommends the Watson Yard
be reconfigured so that it does not extend south of PCH. She said it’s
a good stance, but feels that the problem is not that trains park at
the yard, but that the operations cross L Street. She also recommended
landscaping to beautify the property.
Pat said these are some of the issues the committee has been discussing
with BN&SF and asked if the follow up meeting had been scheduled.
Donna said she was trying to coordinate scheduling with the Council
office and Mark Stehly the BN&SF environmental/hazmat rep. She commented
that if the WWD motion did come to fruition it would take years to implement.
The committee is working with BN&SF on preventative measures, a
pedestrian overpass, restricting train movements during certain times
of the day and beautification to lessen the impacts.
Lucy said the community was opposed to the recent heavy weight corridor
application that would allow trucks to use residential streets to access
the cold storage facility built at Sanford just off PCH.
Donna said the Council office denied the request and this is what prompted
one of the recommendations. There is no notification or formal procedures
for the Wilmington Neighborhood Council to weigh in on these permit
requests.
Olivia said the recommendation to open Lomita Blvd is an idea that
has been around since the ‘80s. She said if that road is opened she
wants to be sure trucks do not go beyond Wilmington Avenue on Lomita.
Is there some way to also say trucks can not have access west of Eubank?
Pat suggested signage. He said those streets are under City of LA jurisdiction
and truck traffic could be controlled.
Lou said the trucks should stay off of Eubank, but it would be difficult
to do because there is so much local truck traffic in that area. If
truckers were pulled over they could say I’m going to ICE or some other
business.
Donna said that’s why the recommendation includes a median on Eubank
at PCH. To make the road too narrow for trucks so they can only enter
and exit ICE and the other businesses from Lomita.
Lucy said they could drive over the median.
Don said it needs to be set back so it doesn’t interfere with the crosswalk.
He said that’s a problem with the median on PCH at Broad and that’s
he’s tripped over it trying to cross the street. It’s a hazard to anyone
who can’t see. He asked if those blinking yellow lights were working
for the kids crossing to Banning High.
Lucy said it’s working for them but it backs up traffic because kids
are crossing one at a time instead of one big group like you would have
with a signal.
Olivia asked if there was some way to keep trucks off Figueroa north
of C Street.
Pat said Santa Fe is a designated over-dimensional route and that may
apply to Figueroa. He said if he were a truck driver he wouldn’t want
to use Figueroa unless the freeway was backed up, but if it’s an over-dimensional
route that will be a problem.
Donna said there are plans to reconfigure the C Street off ramp at
Figueroa as part of the Port-wide Transportation Master Plan and there
would probably be plenty of opportunity to comment on that.
The issue of commercial truck enforcement was discussed in regard to
lack of manpower, ingress and egress rights to businesses located in
or near residential areas, no prohibitive signage on restricted streets
and lack of drivers’ understanding of City ordinances.
In regard to requesting POLA, POLB and ACTA to provide land for a Port-related
truck parking facility, Dan asked why we would request a public agency
to provide public land for private use at no cost.
Donna said it wouldn’t be at no cost, we’re just asking to make the
land available.
Dan said they should just be ticketed for parking on the streets and
their leases should provide them with a location. You don’t go to a
public agency and say make your property available because the truck
drivers aren’t going to want to park there because it’s not secure.
Who’s going to pay for security?
Pat said we’ve had this conversation before and agreed that we need
to get the trucks off the streets and that it shouldn’t be free parking.
Donna said this just requests that property be made available. The
ports have to make money on that property, they own it. They would lease
it to someone who will make it a truck parking facility, pave the lot,
install perimeter fencing, restroom facilities and security and charge
truckers to park there at the prevailing rates. That’s our intent.
Lucy said the truckers are not going to want to park there because
they don’t want to pay.
Donna said that’s why the DMV leasing regulations need to be enforced.
There are too many motor carriers operating illegally and that’s what’s
keeping the rates low. Legitimate trucking companies are competing with
companies that have no overhead. As a consequence the truckers can’t
afford to maintain their trucks or pay to park.
Pat said in the intermodal trucking industry there is no barrier to
entry. It’s nothing to start a trucking company and it’s very easy.
It’s what you do afterwards that determines whether you’re a responsible
business person. Because there’s no barrier to entry and because you
can rely on subsidized operations by parking on public streets, by not
complying with regulations, like DMV licenses and BIT inspections that
are imposed by state, federal and municipal regulatory bodies, it’s
real easy to offer low rates. Trucking companies are notoriously competitive.
They may not be doing it illegally, but inappropriately. Parking on
public streets is a bad way to run your trucking company. It’s irresponsible
at best.
The regulations need to be enforced. That will keep trucking companies
from parking on the streets, theoretically. You can come up with all
kinds of signage, but if you don’t enforce it, it’s not going to be
effective. So you have to enforce existing regulations. You have to
require that companies adhere to the rules that are already out there.
Lucy asked Pat if there should be some kind of regulation that says
if you have a trucking company you should have a place for them to park.
Pat said he didn’t know how you could make it a law to require that,
or to make that a condition of your business. It’s hard to approach
it from a positive covenant. It’s easier to approach it from a negative
covenant. It’s illegal to park on the street. The positive covenant
would be that in order to have a trucking company you have to provide
parking. It’s too difficult to enforce. It’s easy to write a parking
ticket.
You need staff and I’m not disputing the fact that we don’t have a
budget to do this, but the idea of increasing Port Police about a year
ago was a great idea, but it went sideways. The Port Police could enforce
everything we’re talking about very effectively.
Olivia said we had the same issue with illegal buildings and rentals,
home extensions and remodeling. We told City Council if you give us
some inspectors they’ll make the money to pay for themselves.
Pat said, right here in this building we have parking enforcement that
could generate a fortune writing tickets. They could double or triple
their salary. It takes 30 seconds to write a $120 parking ticket.
Lucy said parking enforcement is afraid of these truck drivers because
they come out armed and they don’t want any confrontation. They’re abusive
to the residents who try to stop them from parking in front of their
house, so nobody reports them anymore.
Donna said when she brought up the issue of violations at the ‘Goods
Movement and Ports’ conference in LA, the CTA was startled.
Pat said he would be an advocate because they don’t realize what’s
going on in the harbor area. They’re looking at the statewide trucking
industry.
Donna said that’s probably true, but in order to clean up Wilmington
some of the measures would have to be general and wouldn’t affect those
that are not in violation. Two of the recommendations in regard to amending
the Uniform Intermodal Interchange Agreement to require motor carriers
to provide off-road parking and enforcing DMV leasing regulation 4453.5
are supported by the following regulations:
Under the terms of the Uniform Intermodal Interchange Agreement (UIIA)
the interchanged equipment leaves the terminal with the motor carrier’s
agreement to return it in the same condition in which it left and to
‘obey all federal, state and local laws, rules and regulations’ while
this equipment is in the motor carrier’s possession.
The motor carrier is required to insure ‘all equipment involved in
an interchange including vehicles of its agents or contractors.’ To
comply with this a motor carrier must first comply with DMV leasing
regulation 4453.5 and 49CFR376.
California Vehicle Code 4453.5 states: (a) In the case of leased vehicles,
the lessor (truck owner) and the lessee (motor carrier) shall be shown
on the registration card as the owner and the lessee of a vehicle, and
the department shall designate their relationships upon the card and
the ownership certificate by the words "lessor" and "lessee"
and, at the election of the lessor, the department may designate thereon
either the address of the lessor or the lessee, or
(c) The lessor shall provide the address, or the name and address,
of the lessee on a form prescribed by the department in all cases where
the information is not on the registration card and ownership certificate.
Information received under this subdivision shall be used only for law
enforcement and shall be available only to law enforcement officials
at their request.
49CFR376 states ‘The authorized carrier may perform authorized transportation
in equipment it does not own only if there is a written lease between
the authorized carrier and the owner of the equipment granting the use
of the equipment and signed by these parties.’
It further states that ‘The lease shall provide that the authorized
carrier lessee shall have exclusive possession, control, and use of
the equipment for the duration of the lease. The lease shall further
provide that the authorized carrier lessee shall assume complete responsibility
for the operation of the equipment for the duration of the lease.’
In other words, by law the motor carrier has ‘complete responsibility
for its operation, exclusive possession and control over that equipment
for the duration of the lease.’
Motor carriers are getting around these laws because the truckers are
not filing title changes with the DMV, which makes the trucker the responsible
party, or by claiming they are renting the trucks, which is allowable
for up to 4 months if they are in fact only renting the trucks.
US Customs law 19CFR112 states: that a cartman (motor carrier) may
not employ vehicle owner operators as independent contractors to perform
cartage operations, or use vehicles belonging to another person or persons
who are employees of another firm to conduct its own cartage operations.
In other words, the motor carrier cannot sublease loads to a self-employed
trucker or use vehicles not owned or leased to that motor carrier. Regardless
of the fact that truckers can have a lease with more than one motor
carrier, any motor carrier ‘must assume complete responsibility for
the operation of the equipment for the duration of the lease.’
Olivia asked why CalTrans can put trucking restrictions on some State
highways and freeways, but they can’t in Wilmington. For example, truckers
used to go all the way up PCH to Oxnard.
Pat said now it’s restricted to 4-axle vehicles. It’s primarily a safety
issue.
Olivia said truckers can’t use the Pasadena freeway, and Pat said because
it’s twisting and winding and has short off ramps.
(Note: Greig Asher was looking into the possibility of either making
the Wilmington portion of PCH a City street, like Torrance and Manhattan
Beach have done to get the container trucks off PCH altogether, or to
build medians or narrow the road to discourage truckers, but we never
heard the results.)
Meeting adjourned 1:40PM
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