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Transportation czars enjoy $300-a-night hotels while traveling
April 10th, 2009, 3:00 am · 42 Comments · posted by Teri Sforza, Register staff writer
The Orange County Transportation Authority spent $95,802 on travel and conference expenses for its board members over the past three years, according to agency documents - including $300-a-night hotel rooms in The Big Apple and $975-per-person conference fees to join a posse of SoCal officials trying to grease the wheels for transportation spending in Washington, D.C.
- OCTA’s most seasoned traveler was Art Brown, mayor pro-tem of Buena Park, who spent $24,017. Brown took 14 trips requiring air travel to places like New York, Miami, Washington D.C., Toronto, Portland and that most glamorous of all capitals - Sacramento. While in New York to do the annual OCTA’s–in-great-shape! song-and-dance for Wall Street rating agencies, Brown stayed at the chichi Le Parker Meridien hotel for $300 a night. (”Park Views? Further than the eye can see. Comfy Beds? Better than sleeping with the fishes. DVD/CD players? Oh yeah. Hi-Speed Web? What do you think? Humungous TV’s? Stole ‘em from Times Sq. Showers for Two? Even Two Sumo-Wrestlers,” says the hotel’s way-co
oler-than-you web site.) Brown’s most charming expense: A 90-cent Snickerdoodle. - Up next was Peter Buffa, one of two public members on OCTA’s board of directors. He took seven trips requiring air travel - including Washington D.C. and New York - with bills totaling $16,575. On one of those rating-agency trips, Buffa stayed at the five-star, $300-a night New York Palace hotel (right), which bills itself thusly: “An icon of Manhattan splendor, The New York Palace seamlessly blends old world elegance with new world opulence…. known for its luxurious hotel accommodations, spectacular views, spacious rooms, and unparalleled service.” Buffa also traveled to our nation’s capital with the Orange County Business Council and “Mobility 21” to lobby for better transportation funding and planning; registration fees alone were $975 in 2007 and $700 in 2008.
- Carolyn Cavecche, mayor of Orange, came in third, with 14 trips requiring air travel and expenses of $13,997. She too went on rating agency trips to New York and advocacy trips to Washington D.C., as well as many zips up to Sacramento for hearings and meetings with legislators. (She was chair and vice-chair at the time.)
The rest of OCTA’s board members - including county supervisors past and present - spent considerably less than the top three. You can see their totals below.
MONEY WELL-SPENT, OCTA SAYS
OCTA is the transportation czar for Orange County, overseeing billions in highway, road and rail projects. It recently increased bus fares and cut bus routes to deal with budget woes, and plans to cut its travel and conference budget by 10 percent next year.
But officials say travel pays big dividends.
“With an investment of $95,000, OCTA board members have helped secure hundreds of millions of dollars for transportation projects in Orange County. That’s a responsible use of taxpayer dollars and has resulted in a significant return on investment. I think it would be difficult to argue otherwise,” spokesman Joel Zlotnik wrote in an email.
Viewed another way, OCTA’s operating budgets totaled some $2.5 billion over the three years - and travel and conference expenses made up .004 percent of that.
Top traveler Art Brown (left) is on the Metrolink advisory board, and is the board’s go-to person on rail issues. It’s extremely important for him to stay current on the latest developments and update his colleagues, he said. “The board relies on me to give explanations on how it’s going to fit in the grand scheme for rail safety and better service,” Brown said. “It’s important to make decisions based on fact.”
When we asked what people actually do at these conferences, Brown dug out agendas addressing high speed rail, rail safety issues, rail car standardization… and when we asked if these sessions tempt one to stick pencils in one’s eyes, Brown laughed aloud and said, “I find them fascinating.” High-speed rail, he said, is the future.
TRAVEL SPENDING ROSE SHARPLY
Between 2007 and 2008, OCTA’s travel spending went from $24,523 to 
$46,967. Why?
“The increase in travel in 2008 is because of stepped up efforts by board members in Sacramento and Washington D.C. for a few reasons, including ensuring Prop. 1B* funds for Orange County, fighting to protect transit dollars during the state’s budget crisis, meeting with lawmakers in D.C. as efforts get under way to reauthorize the federal transportation funding bill, working with Mobility 21 (Southern California transportation coalition) to fight for state and federal dollars to help offset impacts from the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles,” Zlotnik wrote.
*For the uninitiated, Prop. 1B is California’s $19.9 billion Highway Safety, Traffic Reduction, Air Quality, and Port Security Bond Act, approved by voters in 2006.
The proof, as they say, is in the pavement:
- The trips to Washington D.C. and Sacramento helped secure all manners of manna for Orange County - including $383 million to improve the 405/605/22 carpool connectors; $217 million to separate railroad tracks from the road and improvements to the Riverside Freeway; and a bill making Anaheim the terminus for a high speed rail system that was originally going to end in Los Angeles. OCTA will get $212 million in federal stimulus funding, and hopes some of the $8 billion set aside for high speed rail will come here as well.
- The New York trips ensure that OCTA gets the best possible rates when financing and issuing debt to fund projects, Zlotnik said. It was also able to secure a $400 million letter of credit allowing OCTA to start work on the renewed Measure M projects (three years before people actually start paying the renewed half-cent sales tax).
(See Zlotnik’s email in its entirety below.)
FAIR ENOUGH. BUT STILL.
Three-hundred-dollar-a-night hotel rooms?! (Note the Le Parker Meridien’s view over Central Park at right.)
Well, the average hotel room in New York was $312 in 2008, Zlotnik said, quoting the city’s official marketing agency. Which prompts us at The Watchdog to volunteer to book OCTA’s future accommodations; it took us seconds to find some perfectly pleasant three-star hotels in Midtown West for $159 a night on priceline.com and hotels.com.
Top traveler Art Brown said that they usually try to stay at the “host” hotel where a conference is headquartered; once you factor in taxi fare to and from a cheaper hotel, it can turn out to be a wash, he said.
But those rating-agency trips to New York aren’t conferences. And in New York and Washington D.C., there’s that old-time rail thing called the subway. Nothing like the smell of the underground in the morning!
ADDENDUM: The New York Palace, Zlotnik notes, is just blocks from the subway. “I just spoke to Carolyn Cavecche who said she can’t recall taking a cab once other than to or from the airport,” Zlotnik wrote. “They walked to meetings or took the subway. I can’t comment on the smell.”
OTHER BOARD MEMBER TOTALS
(Those no longer on the OCTA board are marked with an asterisk*)
- Chris Norby, Orange County Supervisor: $8,561
- Bill Campbell, Orange County Supervisor, $8,011
- Thomas Wilson, former Orange County Supervisor, $4,259*
- Paul Glaab, Laguna Niguel City Council, $3,192
- Michael Duvall, former Yorba Linda councilman, $2,934*
- Cathy Green, Huntington Beach mayor pro-tem, $2,735
- Jerry Amante, Tustin mayor, $2,692
- Janet Nguyen, Orange County Supervisor, $2,033
- Pat Bates, Orange County Supervisor, $1,808
- Gregory Winterbottom, public member, $1,678
- Richard Dixon, Lake Forest City Council, $1,652
- Mark Rosen, former Garden Grove councilman, $966*
- Curt Pringle, Anaheim mayor, $936
- Susan Ritschel, former San Clemente City Councilwoman, $477*
- Lou Correa, former Orange County Supervisor, $252 *
ZLOTNIK’S EMAIL
The total OCTA operating budgets over the three years you’ve looked at
is approximately $2.5 billion. The total of $95,802 for board member
travel and conference is .004 percent of the $2.5 billion (four
thousandths of one percent).
With an investment of $95,000, OCTA board members have helped secure
hundreds of millions of dollars for transportation projects in Orange
County. That’s a responsible use of taxpayer dollars and has resulted in
a significant return on investment. I think it would be difficult to
argue otherwise.
NEW YORK
The purpose of OCTA’s annual trip to New York is to meet with the
investment and banking community and develop face-to-face relationships
that are extremely beneficial in ensuring OCTA receives the best
possible rates when financing and issuing debt for projects in Orange
County.
OCTA has issued $1.5 billion in notes and bonds over the past two
decades and has one of the highest ratings of any transit agency or
tolling entity in the country. The Measure M bonds have a AAA/AA ratings
and the 91 Express Lanes have a high A rating. Saving even one basis point would mean $150,000 savings for Orange County taxpayers.
Meeting with board members in person allows Wall Street to understand
OCTA’s services and programs and OCTA’s commitment to ensuring the
transportation programs are managed responsibly.
Because of the New York trip in December 2007, OCTA was able to secure a
$400 million letter of credit for a new commercial paper program to
begin work on Renewed Measure M projects, three years prior to M2 sales
tax kicking in. The rate was locked in at .27 percent. This was just
months before the credit collapse on Wall Street and the rates jumped to
1.5 percent to 2 percent.
SACRAMENTO and D.C.
Board members efforts and testimony in Sacramento and D.C. during the
past three years have resulted in numerous benefits to Orange County
taxpayers including securing a fair share of state funding for O.C.
projects as well as discretionary appropriations from the federal
government.
Here are just a few legislative highlights benefiting O.C.:
– $383 million in 2007 to improve the Riverside Freeway, Orange Freeway
and West County Connectors (405/605/22 carpool connectors)
– $217 million in 2008 for seven projects that separate the railroad
tracks from the road and improvement to the Riverside Freeway
– Nearly $56 million from the Prob. 1B transit security and safety fund
– Passed a bill that made Anaheim the terminus for the high speed rail
system. It was originally L.A.
– Killed a bill that would have prohibited freeway construction within
a quarter mile of a school that would have stopped virtually every
freeway project in Orange County
– Passed a bill removing a 4-foot buffer requirement on the Costa Mesa
Freeway that allowed for continuous-access carpool lanes to be
implemented.
– Protected Prop. 42 gas tax money to ensure it continues funding bus
operations.
– Federal appropriations totaled $51 million over the three years.
That’s money that is over and above any formula funding OCTA receives.
The increase in travel in 2008 is because of stepped up efforts by board
members in Sacramento and Washington D.C. for a few reasons including
ensuring Prop. 1B funds for Orange County, fighting to protect transit
dollars during the state’s budget crisis, meeting with lawmakers in D.C.
as efforts get under way to reauthorize the federal transportation
funding bill, working with Mobility 21 (Southern California
transportation coalition) to fight for state and federal dollars to help
offset impacts from the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles.
Joel Zlotnik
Manager, Media Relations
Orange County Transportation Authority
More Watchdog:
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- State moves to revoke embattled lender’s real estate license
- With $150 million in the bank, why is fire authority axing firefighters?
- Former top cop in Garden Grove guilty of embezzlement
- We won’t close gas stations tomorrow, OC’s air district says
- State still clueless about ‘excess’ property it owns, perhaps worth billions
- More confusion over new pool rules: Don’t drain, don’t dig, don’t waste water
- Nightmare parking ticket haunts Anaheim woman - on car she doesn’t own
- Court stops Laguna Woods Village board from filling ousted director’s seat
- U.S. Postal Service seeks $25 billion federal bailout
- High phone bill? Deregulation a ‘travesty’ for consumers, report says
- Lawmakers urge state to delay costly gas station regulations
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Keep up the good work watchdog. We all know you can’t trust politicians farther than you can throw them.
“…including $300-a-night hotel rooms in The Big Apple”
—————————————————————————–
Even during this recession, I doubt you can find a hotel room in NYC that costs less than $300 per night, except for the ones that charge by the hour. Regardless, the expenditures do seem high overall and some oversight is certainly needed.
$300 a night? Sounds normal.
Whats the big deal?
Great job. now, PLEASE write about Irvine’s empty iShuttle. Drives with no riders, costing the city’s taxpayers $2mln. Look for yourself, glance in the window and see no riders. Best yet, take a ride and take with the drivers. Literally zero riders.
These columns look for the worst and when they can’t find anything they blow some numbers out of proportion. $300 a night in NYC is not only reasonable it”s almost a bargain. The City in expensive for both lodging and food. When you compare rates at hotels in the OC $300 sounds high but you are comparing apples to oranges.
Would have been better for everyone to go to Las Vegas
Rooms at big hotels are going cheap!
Why are you wasting time on this? It’s not a big deal and totally justified. What you should have asked is who o.k.’d the design of “new” E/B 22 to 5/57 interchange. You know, the one that’s perpetually backed up as bad as if not worse as it was before. Or the fact that they didn’t build the W/B 22 carpool lane all the way ONTO the 405 instead of stopping before Valley View. Now those are the kind of answers I would be interested in seeing. The stock answer of “well, that’s the best we could do given our budget” is crap. If they can get $300 million, they can get $325 million to do the job right.
$300 a night in New York is cheap!
This is a bad article. OC Register sucks!
Seems like money well spent.
The same rotten crook who is responsible for a gutted OCTA public transportation system is on his way to the MTA, with a raise to $300,000. These same criminals promised a rail system in exchange for increased sales taxes many years ago. I would like to see more from the OCR on how this corrupt agency manages to get any taxpayer money. What do they do with it all? They certainly aren’t spending it on public transportation. The OCTA needs to be split up. There is a conflict of interest. OCTA should not be a road building agency.
Most of these projects that were funded came from state paid lobbyist, voters and congress, but it didn’t come from a conference in New York. Can anyone say”junket”.
Non-story. If the bill in NY was $500/night, then I have an issue. As far as overall spending (3yrs) vs. justification, I commend OCTA.
Sounds like a story Teri put a lot of time and effort into, but didn’t find much there… still, something had to be published to justify her time and effort.
While there isn’t much there in this story, keep looking out for us taxpayers Teri! Love your work!
To:
Joel Zlotnik
Manager, Media Relations
Orange County Transportation Authority
A little common sense from a business perspective. If an investment banker is going to make a truck load of money doing business with OCTA, they should travel to the client on their own dime. Make sense?
Buffa is full of himself. There’s a reason Costa Mesa citizens kicked him off the city council.
WHY ONLY 300 A NIGHT. COME ON RAISE THE STAKES GET A 1,000 DOLLAR ANIGHT ROOM AND ADD SOME ESCORTS TO THE MIX THAN U HAVE A STORY. OTHERWISE THIS IS GOOD NEWS. I DIDNT HEAR ANY PRIVATE JETS BEING USED….LOLLL
Are you serious? Where did they find a NY hotel for $300 a night? This was a great deal. OC Register — In the future, take time to do a little research before writing a story. It makes you look incompetent.
Catching the government thieves in the act is good work but firing these slimy weasles is what is required. Can they be dismissed outright? Will the government prosecution arm take them to court? Or will the OC Register stop pursuing this story immdiately so that no action is taken? No wonder that the people of California want to overthrow these stinking skunks. They should all be dispatched.
Why don’t you look into and question the official OCTA ethics policy. Look into how much gifts OCTA staffers accept from consultants and do not report. There is quite a system of staff lobbying. Sporting events, lunch events, dinner events, golf events. Although the law may allow acceptance of gifts to a certain amount, ethical standards should dictate that OCTA have a zero tolerance for staff acceptance of anything from consultants to preserve public credibility.
Time for the new CEO to clean the place up.
Everyone keeps writting $300 a night hotels in New York are a good deal while forgetting that these crooks have no business being there and are already paying tens if not hundreds of thousands dollars to lobbyists and other financial advisors who actually do the dealing with financial institutions in New York. They don’t have the expertise to hammer out these financing deals. They’re just there because the trip is free. These officials offer zero technical or financial expertise, they’re just there to authorize what somebody else negotiated on behalf of OCTA.
Hotel & Travel Expenses add up very quickly. These costs are minimal as the real cost is the amount of time these people spend away from their family and loved ones while trying to get government to drop more money to the agencies.
Oh you forgot to add in the $90-150 a day for parking in New York.
Looking over the board members. Can anyone point out which ones are transportation engineers or have a background in accounting.
Nice work. Keep ‘em honest. Even if there is nothing wrong with it, everyone should know.
They should publish a monthly/quarterly/annual report on travel expenses and what’s gained.
The difficulty, of course, is there’s always a reason when the trips are unsuccessful (too many projects competing for too few dollars) but there’s no way to know if the trips were really necessary to get the money. We might have gotten it anyhow.
Don’t forget this money is already on top of lobbyists OCTA pays. Seems like they should be doing the meetings and providing us written reports…
These trough feeding pigs will never change. No matter how much dirt is printed about them in the paper they will continue feeding heavily at the trough. That’s because we really don’t live in a democracy anymore. It’s a free-for-all feeding frenzy and the excuses are already orchestrated before the frenzy begins. They don’t care what you people think. Don’t you understand that? They have total contempt for you and yours. Isn’t that obvious. You catch one. While he’s justifying his behavior to you another one sticks his face in the trough. It’s despicable. But that is what the system has evolved into. We are Rome in the last chapter of it’s existence.
$95k over the course of THREE YEARS? In the current economic climate that should be something to be commended and not blown out of proportion as this writer is doing. If it had been $950k over the same period of time we’d have something worth talking about, but as it is it’s a non-issue. How about we spend our time investigating how the state of California has a $16 BILLION (as in 160,000 TIMES more than what’s being discussed) deficit rather than spending inordinate amounts of time on $33k a year expenses? You people should have bigger fish to fry.
You are a testament to sensationalist journalism! As many have stated, $300 in NY is cheap. And ratings do matter when selling bonds; the higher the rating the lower the cost.
I hope you are on the newsstand next to the Enquirer
Disgusting political scumbags. Janet Nguyen, Pat Bates, Chriss Norby and Bill Campbell spent 20 thousand dollars of our tax payer money to travel on posh trips? Scum of the earth hypocrites.
The high objection re the $300 a night in NYC brings this story to a low level. $300 a night in the Big Apple is almost a bargain - unless, as one poster said, they went for a “by the hour” room someplace. I would not object to one penny if OC had a decent public transportation system but we don’t. It’s impossible to get arond in OC using public transportaton with hours and hours to spend riding or waiting on busses and THIS is why so few use the public transportation system.
One read of the ocobserver’s post will put you firmly on the side of these officals. pigs at the tough - OMG !
The reporter is right!!!.. $300 a night is a lot for a hotel these days in NYC and many other places. You can go on many websites and get much better deals. We are financially “comfortable” entrepreneurs and we and our employees rarely stay in the conference hotel and save LOTS of money. Any reason that public servants can’t stay in 3 star hotels? Must they be in 4 star hotels? For vacation yes, I spend a lot. For business, NO.
Got important business in NYC and you’re being paid by the taxpayer? Stay in Jersey and take a car service across the Lincoln Tunnel. ‘Nuff said.
Why can’t these guys stay at a holiday inn? I bet he flies first class and takes limos to and from the airport. OCTA should cut their travel budget and put it back into the operating budget to reduce fares and increase services.
This is typical in any buisness. The only reason we are complaining now is because OCTA is now laying off employee’s. This organization, and the County of Orange has been Mis-Managed for years. It is now time to get a Fresh start, and we can do this by replacing all members of the board. There are so many ways to cut costs and expenditures, but first we need to Bring in Fresh Board Members. Lets all work together to achieve this, and hold all those present accountable for the Financial loss we are now experiencing. Address the real issues, which is Greed among those in positions of Authority. Support working class America, not Corporate Greed…During the OC Bankruptcy, OCTA Drivers took a .50 Cent an Hour cut for 5 Years, were paid half pay when driving cars to connect with their in-service Bus. Each driver lost approximately $35,000 each. They have already given till it hurts. Now it is time for Upper Management to do their share. Lets start by having each Board Member pay back all Monies used for their Trips, and ask them to take a 15% cut in Pay. After reading this, pass it everyone you know, ask them and yourself what should we all do collectively, and write down your suggestions of what the County needs to do to cut costs. Also lets seriously consider removing all Board Members through the Legal Process if necessary. Ask yourself; Why did OCTA’s CEO leave when he did? Is it because the Opportunity was there? Or is it because He saw Months ago, the Deteriation of the Counties financial position, and got out before it all fell apart. The hand writing was on the wall. Start writing your suggestions and post them. OCTA is not the only County Agency that will lose. Soon everyone will suffer !!
Egad… was room service included?
Same here.. I have traveled to NYC plenty of time. Even a Marriott Courtyard in NYC is almost $300 a night!
Sounds like deal to me.
$300 a night in the Big Apple? Where can I get such a deal? It cost $300 a night just to eat dinner in NY? Give me a break….
It is a simple matter of WASTE. They have no respect for anybody except themselves and there personal pleasures are number ONE.
do you want them to stay in Jersey and drive in through the lincoln Tunnel everday?
It might be cheaper.
especially with New Jersey being the armpit of the USA their rooms go for real cheap.
Whay have the Supervisors spent so little?!? Aren’t they supposed to be our voice in Washington and Sacramento? They need to be front and center representing our needs up the food chain. Good job OCTA for getting out there and rubbing some elbows to get our projects funded and make sure that our needs are addressed.
Why do people from OCTA need to travel? For what purpose?
Bravo to the OCTA Board for at least considering in their June 1st committee, http://www.octa.net/pdf/exec060109.pdf to adopt a code of conduct for the government employees who are continuously courted by consultants. The employees will have a tough time with this major departure in a business as usual process of attending sporting events, professional events, dinners, and lunches, all at consultant contractor expense. The employees will be required to avoid any actual “OR APPEARANCE OF” conflict of interest or impropriety.
As government employees, the OCTA should have conduct beyond reproach and STOP the personal financial gain perks that go mainly unreported. Lets hope the board moves to approve this quickly.
Anyone having done any business travel knows that the expenses add up quickly. No, if you are in NYC on business, you don’t stay in Jersey and take the subway - that’s just absurd and anyone who actually knows what they are talking can see why in a heartbeat. Moreover, let’s say you got that cheaper hotel for 199 a night (that you booked on price-line)… add in taxi fare, etc. and then see how much things stack up.
Business tripe demand punctuality, and they demand meetings at all strange hours and with little advance notice, and all of that is what is required to make the deal. Having 1 hour commute times to and from your hotel can ruin a whole trip, and to do what, save $50 a night? Pointless.
I think this was a shameful piece of journalistic ax-work.