President's Message 2016-17

Dear ITE Southern California Members,

Welcome back from the summer! I am proud and honored to serve as your Section President this year. In June, you elected Sowmya Chandrasekhar to your Section Board as your new Treasurer. Congratulations, Sowmya! Welcome back Board Members, Vice President Dean Lehman and Secretary Josh McNeill. Thank you for dedicating your time and expertise to keep our Section going strong.

Many of our Section members, including I, attended both the Western District Meeting in Albuquerque and International Annual Meeting in Anaheim. It was great to connect with many of you and to see the election of our own Neelam Dorman to the office of Western District Secretary-Treasurer. Congratulations, Neelam! Our Section accepted an award for giving over $2,500 to the Richard T. Romer Student Endowment Fund. Thank you Giancarlo Ganddini, our First Past President, for your dedication on our Section's behalf to our student's future. I am so proud of our profession for its open-minded approach to the evolution of our industry. We are bringing new players, technology, and ideas to address the long-standing issue of congestion and mobility. We are thinking outside of the “single-driver box”, by proposing innovations in the planning and design of walkable, transit-oriented communities. We are embracing technology and harnessing the power of “Big Data”. Connected vehicles are finally becoming a reality thanks to our partners in the automotive industry.

We held our Annual Steak Fry on August 24th at the Monterey Hill Restaurant. Thank you Kimley-Horn and Associates for your meeting sponsorship. Thank you participants. We trust that you found the presentation informative and the connections valuable. Our next Section Meeting will be a catered luncheon at Caltrans District 7 Headquarters in downtown Los Angeles on September 29th. I would like to thank Counts Unlimited for sponsoring our September meeting and newsletter.