Octa's transportation blog

CEO Meetings Address COVID-19 Impacts

OCTA CEO Darrell Johnson recently met with elected officials and a local university to discuss various topics, including the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19).

Johnson and staff members hosted briefings with U.S. Representative Young Kim (R-Placentia) and U.S. Representative Mike Levin (D-Dana Point) to discuss OCTA’s legislative priorities and provide an update on coronavirus (COVID-19) impacts on OCTA’s projects and programs. During these meetings, discussion centered on surface transportation reauthorization priorities and the use of community project funding to target specific infrastructure projects. They also discussed OCTA’s planning and engagement related to resiliency, environmental issues, and equity.

He also participated in a research interview with the California State University, Fullerton, Department of Sociology focusing on Local Governance and Crisis Resilience. The general purpose of the research is to study how local agencies that provide public services were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and how they responded. The research team is speaking with agency leaders throughout the region and hopes to author research articles that derive lessons and policy suggestions from the experiences of the disruptions and uncertainty of the pandemic. Johnson highlighted OCTA’s response efforts as well as the COVID-19 impacts our operations, personnel, financing, and revenue sources.