California Construction Trucking Association (CCTA)

It’s a good thing for EPA that Clarence Thomas never says anything at oral argument.

In the Sackett case argued before the Supreme Court on January 9, MSNBC reported… Justice Samuel Alito called the EPA’s actions “outrageous.” Justice Antonin Scalia noted the “high-handedness of the agency” in dealing with private property. Chief Justice John Roberts said that the EPA’s contention that the couple’s land is wetlands, something the couple disagrees with, would never be put to a test under current procedure…The justices will rule by summer.

It’s Nice to Change Directions

I once read a quote that if we do not change direction, we are likely to end up where we are heading. The state of our state is truly an example of a social experiment heading in the wrong direction. Many, maybe too many here today believe that the euro-enviro social experiment needs to be fulfilled – it’s the 60’s and now the 70’s activist destiny to see it through to fruition.

I for one believe that no one group should have such a monopoly on this state. I have become such a skeptic about these social engineering plans like AB32, SB375, CEQA, ESA, CARB regulations and the many, many seemingly over-lapping agencies that enforce the same regulations as if their jobs and way of life depended on how many business they can drive out of this state and country. I guess the denier accolades will follow me for years to come.

 Change or the concept of change is heavily influenced by our particular life experiences and perceptions of our “environment”. I’ve also notice that as we get older, we become more thoughtful, compassionate and maybe a little opinionated. We seem to better understand history for sure which hopefully all overtakes our youthful impatience and inexperience.

Each month for the last decade at least, I have been somewhat responsible for not only making sure that everyone on the staff and the president of the association writes their monthly column on time for our CTN magazine, but I also have to make sure it is all on topic and hopefully distinguishable.

We also try to meld issues that face our industry with educational information and some funny things now and again, it’s all about balance and interest. We add some nice personal touches that staff members like Betty, Greg, Hank, Rob and now Fred brings to their articles. There’s a little fun and much wise words of wisdom all meant to help our diverse and growing membership.

If you’ve read the AADT staff’s column over the last few months, you should understand just how many things we have changed. These changes will hopefully improve our services and also guarantee that we will not have to increase prices even in a world of growing inflation. What can possibly be wrong with that? We are about listening to our members and customers, professionalism, training, technology, efficiency, less is more – is the change we are committed to. I believe 2012 will be the year that AADT’s market share will again grow at a record pace, regardless of how bad some parts of our economy are – now that’s optimism.

And make no mistake CDTOA…Oopps….I mean CCTA, the new California Construction Trucking Association is also changing, expanding and growing. Instead of just dump trucks, we will welcome and equally represent every type of on-road construction vehicle that visits or works on a jobsite. There are many things – services, products, information, legal representation and challenges, from CARB and Caltrans to the DMV and CHP, with a little DIR added in. You would be hard-pressed to find within any other association the commitment and activity that you will find at CCTA.

In a recent SSCA Board and Membership meeting I attended as a guest of Dan Ugalde, the featured speaker that night was Inland Empire-based Dr. John Husing who is a research economist specializing in the study of Southern California’s economy. Dr. Husing noted that while we have had some bad years “things are looking up”. He noted that commercial and industrial property vacancy rates were low, but office vacancy rates were still high and that about 1-million homes in the state are stressed or underwater, and until that is all fixed there won’t be much home building. He thinks by 2015 or 16, the home issues will be resolved and there will be a shortage. His story generally was pretty positive.

The next morning while reading the paper, I noticed an article about how the England-based grocery concept store, “Fresh & Easy” was closing down 12 recently opened stores within two weeks around Southern California. The spokesperson noted that the company was closing non-performing stores “until the economy improved.” They must not have received Dr. Husing message. I thought to myself, people give up almost everything but eating, the timing of the store closures seemed odd to me if things are getting better.

Yes, I believe that change at least for us is all about moving in a different direction and 2012 will be a special year for our organization.