Pena Praises Clinton Transit Policy

ANAHEIM —  U.S. Transportation Secretary Federico Pena on Monday touted the Clinton administration’s public transit investment as key to improving the nation’s overall economy.

“We have invested more than $1 billion a year compared to the previous administration,” Pena said at a meeting of the American Public Transit Assn. “There hasn’t been this kind of support for new transit in decades.”

Pena told the thousands of transit industry leaders at the Anaheim Hilton hotel that the United States is now rated the most “productive economy in the world” and said transit has played a “key role” in President Clinton’s overall economic strategy.

“President Clinton is very pro-transit,” he said. “Very early on in this administration, we developed a new transit strategy. We made customers our partners and brought in a management team with many years of transit experience. Then we evaluated our investment strategy and discovered that transit wasn’t keeping pace with the demands of a growing economy.”

But that has changed, Pena said.

“Altogether, we have signed 17 contracts with metropolitan areas from coast-to-coast to build more than $10 billion in new transit lines and extensions,” he said. “Never before has there been this level of commitment for travel in America.”

In a brief interview after his speech, Pena said that when governmental agencies try to gain support for their transit projects, it is important that citizens understand why these projects are important and what kind of impact they will have on their lives.

“Sometimes, these transit projects become so focused on the planning, financing and construction that we lose sight of the fact that we are doing this to improve the quality of life,” he said. “Transit creates access to learning centers, job sites and day care centers.”

In response to Pena’s speech, Dale Neugebauer, California press secretary for Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole’s campaign, said the money the Clinton administration has spent on transit demonstrates that “Bill Clinton is a big-spending liberal.”

“Orange County is not exactly a great place to brag [about] that,” Neugebauer said. “Secretary Pena explained where a few billion dollars of the largest tax increase in American history went. We’d like to know how the rest was spent.”

Pena also presented a check for $100,000 in federal funds to high school students from the Transportation Career Academy in Los Angeles, which is geared toward preparing graduates for careers in transportation.

“President Clinton wants us to invest more in education so our young people and workers have the skills and training they need to compete in the economy of tomorrow,” he said.