The Palm Beach Transportation Planning Agency: What This Is and Why You Should Care

January 4, 2024 / RVSB / Leave a comment

January 3, 2024

The Palm Beach TPA: Who Are They?

For the most complete information you can visit their website at www.palmbeachtpa.org From their website their function is summarized: “The Palm Beach Transportation Planning Agency (TPA) is a federally-mandated public agency that works with partners across Palm Beach County, Florida and the United States to plan, prioritize and fund the transportation system. The TPA’s mission is a safe, efficient and connected multimodal transportation system for users of all ages and abilities.”

The governing and advisory portions of it are broken up into several separate committees: The Governing Board, the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), the Citizen’s Advisory Committee (CAC), the Vision Zero Advisory Committee (VZAC), the Transportation Disadvantaged Local Coordinating Board (LCB) and last but not least the Executive Committee Board. It’s noteworthy that both the Governing Board and the Executive Committee Board consist of locally elected officials.

All of these boards and committees have respective responsibilities that are clearly explained in the Palm Beach TPA website. You can also look through to learn who represents your region or municipality and if there are vacancies that you would consider applying for to help the TPA’s overall work.

However, I’m acquainted primarily with the CAC, known as the Citizen’s Advisory Committee, as I had the honor of serving as a member representing district 1 of Palm Beach County for over 2 years.

My Palm Beach TPA Connection

It was just over a month ago that I made my resignation official serving as a member of the Citizen’s Advisory Committee (CAC) for my local Palm Beach Transportation Planning Agency here in south Florida.

A mixture of life episodes including an increased workload as a daytime educator and administrator for elementary, middle schooler and high schooler students led to my decision after serving for just over 2 years. At time of this writing, the CAC meets on Wednesdays just after lunchtime which is not conducive to most K-12 educators’ schedules. Also, I believe it’s best to give someone else the chance to serve on this committee to help keep it vibrant with new viewpoints and backgrounds.

I began my time there in spring of 2021 after being appointed by Commissioner Maria Marino of District 1 of Palm Beach County. It was a welcome assignment as I was ready to give back more to my community but not quite ready to consider running for local office as a public servant. My children were still young enough that I could manage the occasional absences from the home during the meeting times for the CAC. Yet, there were some occasions that the CAC discussion time would unravel along with the unexpected extended hours and I felt the pressure of having to decide between public service and taking care of the urgent needs such as taking kids to swim practice as CEO of the Home.

During my first meeting I was initially overwhelmed with all the numbers as they pertained to the proposed budgets and planning calendars for the various transportation projects and intermodal initiatives. I reached out immediately to close colleagues and friends who were elected officials here and beyond to ask if this would get any easier—”this” being the rapid digestion of facts and hopeful initiatives driven by the resident staff of an agency such as the Palm Beach TPA. The consensus is that, yes, while it may be a lot at first, it would become familiar and I would do well to utilize the opportunity to have the agenda reviews with staff prior to each meeting to give me the opportunity to ask questions.

I cannot say enough good things about the Palm Beach TPA staff members. They were always most informative with their meeting reminder emails and keeping in touch with us individually if we missed a meeting and being flexible to our needs as they arose. There was one time that I was concerned that our local federal representative was making ill comments about a particular transportation plan the Palm Beach TPA was involved with and I sought a meeting with the director. I was grateful to get immediate in-person meeting time and follow-up afterwards. It meant so much to me as a citizen that the TPA staff was willing to help keep the communication lines open whenever there was a question or challenge.

Intially I received the visions and initiatives for a multi-modal future in our urbanized south Florida as optimistical hopeful for the future but they clashed with the reality that I witness on a daily basis–most local citizens are not ready to use public transportation frequently as is currently proposed as one of the solutions to traffic congestion in our county. Also, I would be disingenuous if I didn’t mention that there were countless times when some of my fellow committee members found themselves (myself included) devolving into lines of questions, irratic thoughts spoken aloud and rigorous discussions that wouldn’t necessarily help the process but took up hours of a meeting. Of course, that’s sometimes the messy part of helping generate the public discourse needed to learn what direction to advise the decision-makers to consider when budget allocations or tranportation plans are on the chopping block.

However, despite some sobering revelations over the last couple of years I found that this particular committee was fruitful as a part of the vetting process for public opinion for the Palm Beach TPA and the governing board members to sift through—especially when it came to the relevance and necessity for certain projects to receive federal funding for specific localities. For instance, as I drive on interstate I-95 in north county today I’m seeing the roadway construction projects underway that I once read about in a meeting report at an earlier CAC meeting.

Again, being on the CAC was a great opportunity to share the concerns of my area in a public forum and serve alongside with colleagues and friends like Sammie Brown of Riveria Beach (pictured below) and fellow Palm Beach Gardens resident James Garvin. Linda Hess now represents district 1 and I’m confident she will represent everyone to the best of her ability. Thanks to everyone giving their time on CAC and the other Palm Beach TPA committees and boards.

How Can Palm Beach County Residents Interact with Palm Beach TPA?

As one navigates the website, you’ll find there are several ways to interact with the Palm Beach Transportation Planning Agency. Among them, but not limited to, are the following that you may find of interest to click on right away:

Attend meetings open to the public in person or online via ZOOM. You may remain passive or contribute your opinion in the “public comments” section or portion of the meeting: https://palmbeachtpa.org/how-to-attend-a-meeting/
There are multiple public comment/surveys conducted during a given calendar year depending on what the Palm Beach TPA is sorting through. For example, there has been talk of changing the format of Okeechobee Boulevard and although we have some 1.5 million (and counting) residents in Palm Beach County, we only heard from dozens instead of at least thousands of people. Currently, the long range “Vision 2050 Transportation Survey” is open for you to participate: https://survey123.arcgis.com/share/834b7f353c294cf3831ae66e904b88e2
Information on regional transportation planning meetings or conferences that the public can attend or view.
Suggestions on how to participate in specialty transportation themes like Florida Bicycle Month which is celebrated in March: https://palmbeachtpa.org/events/
The Palm Beach TPA interactive map—a great tool for learning about what projects are affecting Palm Beach County, etc: https://palmbeachtpa.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=e3d9a887a3b14c20b6d776e818a270e7
You can sign up to subscribe to a biweekly newsletter from the TPA: https://palmbeachtpa.org/subscribe/

If you are a Palm Beach County resident then I don’t need to share with you how traffic patterns and modes of transportation affect you on a daily basis. While we can all complain and battle constant inner road rage about the congestion and high speeders, this is an agency built to recieve information from the public if only they would participate through the above avenues.

Please consider learning more about the Palm Beach Transportation Planning Agency and consider sharing your opinion at least once a year to help this agency function with a better knowledge of what our citizenry wants and needs in relation to transportation in PBC.

R.V.S.B.

Note: Additional thanks to Valerie Nelson, current Executive Director of the Palm Beach TPA, who received countless questions from me over the years and is doing a great job representing the agency.

New School Year in the Pandemic Prism

August 23, 2020 / RVSB / Leave a comment

Education at home can be a beautiful mess

August 23, 2020

Palm Beach County, Florida

Tomorrow our county, considered the 10^th largest school district in the nation, will embark on its Covid-19 pandemic inspired educational journey for many parents/caregivers and children as they log into their e-learning platforms. There are some who have prepared to take their students into the select private schools that are offering in-person instruction with smaller classes and new physical distancing measures. My hope and prayer for all my fellow parents is that the teamwork between you, teachers, and your children be strong and inspired by the hope of a new school year with so many new things to be learned for everyone.

My personal Bean homeschooling plan is to start my students fully in the first week of September as I have in the past. For the last couple of weeks and going forward, my mornings are busily spent with the children doing small lessons, reviews, and cleaning out our educational areas. My bed has been the staging ground daily for organizing countless piles of papers and projects. If you find that your home is a mess in preparation for your children’s first day of school at home, it will get better and yes it’s normal. If, however, your home is completely spotless then I sincerely applaud you and would love some tips on how to do better in this area.

Approaching the Big Horn mountains from the west after leaving Yellowstone

My second podcast for CEO of the Home was recorded and released in late July and then I took off on a sabbatical by myself—it entailed me driving from Florida to Wyoming and back. In my haste to pack up and leave the household in good hands, I forgot to post it online for anyone interested. Simply put, it’s a small primer on how to approach a “multi-schooling” methodology should it be an option:

Episode 2: https://ceo-of-the-home.simplecast.com/episodes/how-to-multischool

My sabbatical was 2 weeks in duration and afforded me the chance to let my mind rest from the constant barrage of COVID-19 news coverage, contentious social media platforms, and our local frenetic pace of life here in south Florida. I deleted all my social media apps and news alerts on my iPhone so that I wasn’t tempted to scroll through during the quiet moments that this trip gave me.

Yellowstone National Park has a great trail ride available at Canyon

Also, I needed to rekindle my own love of learning. Wandering about in Wyoming gave me the opportunity to seek out new adventures like driving to a privately owned quarry outside Kemmerer and chiseling ancient rock for fish fossils. Picking up my paintbrushes to paint while sitting at scenic points in Yellowstone National Park gave me a renewed inspiration for playing with colors on paper. I’ve ridden horses but only through flat forests and swamps, mountain trail riding was a brand new experience for this flatlander.

Along with the silent hours I spent alone, I was able to think about what new things to weave into my children’s educational experiences moving forward. I had the blessing of commiserating with other parents who were traveling in Wyoming—it turns out that challenges my fellow Floridian parents have with this pandemic education prism are the same for other parents nationwide.

Tonight I also recorded my third podcast and I touch upon why I took this long break. What I didn’t address in it is that although I took this trip during a pandemic, I had weighed the risk and knew that my mental health was of utmost importance as I’m getting ready for another school year.

With that, I share my latest episode of CEO of the Home, Sabbatical and the New School Year:

Episode 3: https://ceo-of-the-home.simplecast.com/episodes/sabbatical-and-new-school-year

I wish you all the best as our respective school years begin this month and next!

In service of Love,

R.V.S.Bean

Fog Lifting: America May Be Ready for Trump…or Not

March 16, 2016March 16, 2016 / RVSB / Leave a comment

Mama Bean should be asleep or washing more dishes but my philosophical-political train of thought won’t stop…

The Setting

The morning following Florida’s super Tuesday had most of eastern Palm Beach County drenched in a heavy fog. Literally 10-15 minutes from where I live was where both former Secretary Clinton and Mr. Trump gave their respective victory speeches. The irony of the intoxicating mist in the hours following yesterday’s results was not lost on me.

The Climate

People are tired. People are stressed. I’ve said it to family and friends alike that you only have to look at how people drive on the roads to see the reflection of the public’s emotions played out. (Note: see old blog post for sociology opinion on the matter https://ceoofthehome.net/2012/03/11/driving-exposed-souls/) At the end of every work day, most Americans have hopefully enough energy to feed themselves and loved ones and find peace to go to bed in time for the grind awaiting in the morning again.

The Unthinkable

Both major political parties may be portrayed in the news media outlets as not agreeing on much but I’m confident enough to believe that we may all agree that the last several election cycles have been tiresome with their choices for President of the United States (POTUS). This technological age we live in today also makes personality faults ever-present at the click or tap of a “button”.

The Unreal Reality Revealing

How could we possibly be facing the choice of a former First Lady, turned U.S. Senator, turned jilted 2008 POTUS candidate, turned concessionary Secretary of State to now all-but-crowned Democratic POTUS candidate versus a businessman who could care less what anybody thinks of him including the GOP establishment that he has signed up to represent as he runs for POTUS? With the delegate numbers where they are today, the American media outlets are now a-chattering about the possible ways this can play out for either side.

The Sun Will Set and Hopefully Rise Again

Our nation is big, dare I say “great”. Truly, I’m not worried about who becomes the next POTUS even if the race is down to the major candidates being Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Our country has survived since it declared its independence in 1776 and I believe there is a majority of folks in every U.S. political party that are not about to lay down and allow anyone to take our nation down a lifetime path of being indentured.

Too bad we can’t just run single candidates and make the runner-up the Vice President–it might be refreshing in some ways to force us to learn how to compromise instead of always pitting ourselves against each other. Perhaps we need to start by putting things in perspective and respect the American voting public’s voice in the end, there is little excuse for not exercising personal responsibility to educate oneself about the people running for our nation’s highest elected office.

R.V.S.Bean

The Education Revolution: Perception, Possibilities and Parents’ Prerogative

July 15, 2013July 15, 2013 / RVSB / Leave a comment

Education Revolution: Perception, Possibilities and Parents’ Prerogative

NOTE: If you don’t feel like reading this blog right now,please consider watching this now or later, a TEDS talk clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U

State of Education

Parents or caregivers in 2013 are facing very different straits than 50 years ago when it comes to deciding where and how their children will be educated during their formative years as set by our local and federal laws. As a parent, I’ve been hypersensitive to any news regarding the state of education in our country whether it be standardized tests, curbing of budgets, teachers’ fatigue or fights and the list is endless. We’d all be lying to ourselves if we didn’t also admit that our emotions are assaulted when observing horrific criminal acts occurring on school grounds—school campuses where it is understood as an unspoken sacred place that we entrust our students will thrive and learn without suffering the pains of a scary world just yet.

Perception

Why has it all shifted? Most adults recall our early days as students in school as either taking a bus or having our parents/carpool drop off us at a building(s) where we congregated daily Monday through Friday from the morning until a few hours after lunch time—simple, repetitive, no awareness of alternatives. Of course, there was the occasional homeschooler (read “weird outsider”) that we would encounter but as young children it was easy to fear or make fun of that which we didn’t know.

These days the common buzzwords for educating our children include public, private, magnet, charter, home-schooling, virtual schooling and more. There is a contentious divide between the public school system and everyone else. Of the many heated debates in my home state, for example, the Florida legislature considered a bill (HB 867) known as the “Parent trigger” that would allow parents to collectively pull the trigger on a failing school—see The Palm Beach Post column printed on March 29, 2013 by Kathleen Oropeza, co-founder of www.FundEducationNow.org: http://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/news/news/opinion/commentary-florida-public-school-parents-dont-want/nW6zY/

I’m beginning to finally process all of the information I’ve been ingesting over the past decade on the topic and have hit a peaceful conclusion to be continued on a daily basis as my children grow. What do we think our children should learn? I believe that apart from knowing how to engage in language and other common core standards (see: www.corestandards.org ) that my children should love to learn. I believe it’s not so important to make sure they attain greatness in one school or another as much as they should enjoy the journey of growing up surrounded by family, friends and community—I wish to help protect my children from the wrath of apathy rampant in many students today.

Possibilities

The Palm Beach Post printed an article today highlighting a place in Delray Beach, Florida called “Space of Mind” written by Allison Ross, read more at: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/news/local-education/delray-beach-social-homeschooling-facility-riding-/nYpwt/

Although “Space of Mind” is a very unique idea that may be catching nationwide slowly, it signals along with many other developments such as charter schools popping up everywhere that our country is definitely in the midst of an Education Revolution. There are probably many folks who are unsettled by this reality of the “traditional” education paradigm shifting in different directions, however, may I offer a few suggestions as we ride through this together with the next generation we’re helping to raise?

Try to remember what this is all about: we hope for our future through our children’s progress as we understand that they will carry on after we leave. With that basic philosophy in our hearts, we can as parents/caregivers exercise our prerogative to decide among the countless possibilities as to what’s the best route to take for our children’s education.

We must also keep in mind that whatever path is chosen must be considered a fluid one as a reflection of what life is really like for everyone. What works for our 2^nd grader attending the local public elementary school down the street may not work for them when they are in 7^th grade and would perhaps benefit from virtual schooling with coaching by family and loved ones. The only guarantee we can assure our young students of is that we love and care for them—we must also accept that we will likely also learn along the way with them, a blessing for adults who have been jaded by life’s difficulties.

Plenty of Resources

Thankfully in the age of internet and iPhones we have many sources of information to access for researching education choices for our students. Accessing your local school board office is a great start to at least assess what is available in your area. For example, we have Ms. Beth Gillespie who works for the school district overseeing the home education office for south Florida’s Palm Beach County—a county where more than 5,000 students were home-schooled this past school year.

Whatever you’ve chosen or will choose for your children, you’ll always be their first and most important teacher(s). May we learn to grow with our little ones as they aspire to be like us—we hope they’ll be greater than us in capacity to love and learn for themselves and each other.

R.V.S.Bean

My sources: