Category Archives: General

Vendor Show Success!

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Thank you to everyone who attended the 2024 Vendor Show! It was a great success; we had the most attendees ever for a Central Coast Section Vendor Show and eight outstanding Vendors. I want to thank the following Vendors, without which the show would not have been possible:

South Coast Lighting & Design, Inc

Wireless Technology, Inc (WTI)

Econolite

NexTech Systems, Inc

National Data & Surveying Services (NDS)

RodeFX

AM Signal

Western Systems

If you missed it, or attended, but did not have a chance to get all of the information or contacts from the Vendors, a copy of the presentation is on the Vendor Show page.

President’s Message – ITE Brand Initiative

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ITE International is in the middle of an initiative to align the ITE brand across the various District and Sections. The goal is to reinforce ITE as the collaborative transportation industry leader reaching across the various transportation disciplines. The brand initiative process is looking at how each District and Section identifies by name, message, and logo. The initiative is expected to be completed later this year with new guidelines to introduce consistency to the ITE brand while trying to keep local character.

Our ITE Central Coast Section Logo was created in 2010 as a way to promote the District Annual meeting in Santa Barbara in 2012 and the Section Board decided to keep the logo moving forward. Based on the branding recommendations I have reviewed and the meetings I have attended, it appears that we will at least have to make some changes to our logo by making the “ITE” International logo larger and by adding the “A Commiunity of Transportation Professionals” tag line underneath the logo. We will also have to make changes to the website to also reflect this change.

If you want to know more about the initiative follow this link.

Let me know if you have any comments or suggestions.

email

Happy Holidays!!

General, Notice

Hello ITE Central Coast Section Members:

I hope this email finds you well and you are getting ready for the holiday season and will spend some needed rest time with your friends and families. We have had a good year with several successful meetings and a fantastic Vendor Show in Ventura. It was the first time we had the show in over 2 years and I really want to keep the momentum going in growing our section and overall member participation and benefits.  

The Central Coast Section has decided not to hold elections this year and to keep the same officers on the board. This decision is based on current discussions about possibly restructuring the section. The past few months have included discussions about how we might strengthen our respective sections by combining the Central Coast and Central California Sections. This has the potential to provide more membership and financial resources for the Section to operate better. 

This is still in the early discussion phase, but we seek your input to add to the discussions. We want to hear your thoughts in the next few weeks before our next meetings in early January on how this could benefit or impact the Section. Please also consider ways we can strengthen our current section or how a larger combined section may provide more opportunities or impact your level of engagement. Ultimately, we are all looking for ways to improve the long-term sustainability of the Section(s) and remain relevant and meaningful to the members.

Please send me an email with any thoughts, suggestions, or feedback for our Section.


Happy Holidays!

Kathy Kleinschmidt

ITE Central Coast President.

President’s Message

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Hello ITE Central Coast Community,

Excited for 2023 and all the momentum thus far. I want to say a special thanks to Derrick Bailey of the City of Santa Barbara for presenting at the first virtual meeting in February, as well as Kimberly Leong, ITE Western District President, in swearing in the new officers. 

The new board is working hard to get more meetings/events scheduled (virtual, hybrid, and in-person). Stayed tuned for more information about the joint meeting at Cal Poly on April 13th and other section meetings, hybrid vendor show, and our annual fundraising golf event. To receive timely notifications of website posts, meetings, and events; please “Follow” our website (lower right hand corner of website). In addition, we will continue to send emails to our members.

This year we are focused on communication/collaboration, networking, younger members engagement, and professional development; and want to provide the “value add” for your membership. I am grateful to have you as a member of the Central Coast Section and want to engage more professionals (planning and engineering) and grow our section.

Please let me know any suggestions or feedback, about how we could improve our Section. In addition, if you want to get involved, please reach out to me. We do have some Committee Chairs that are vacant (Membership Chair and Younger Member Group) and would appreciate the involvement.

Many thanks,

Kathy Kleinschmidt

ITE Central Coast Section President

Mid-Year President Update

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Hi ITE Community,

Happy Summer! We’ve had a busy first half of the year, kicking off with our Joint Southern California section meeting. Our first hybrid event, held in-person at Cal Poly, and online via Zoom was a success! We had great participation in the chat, and the students/professionals who could join in person enjoyed a networking event after the meeting. 

We’re fresh off of the Western District ITE Meeting, where several of our members won awards. Tom Mericle was the recipient of the Individual Achievement Award, Paul Valadao was named the Outstanding Transportation Educator, and our student chapter received the Student Chapter Award. Congratulations to you all! 

Our annual golf tournament in June was a huge success, thank you to everyone who participated in and sponsored tees. The funds we raised go directly to Cal Poly’s ITE student chapter and all donations are appreciated.

Going forward, our plan is to embrace the hybrid option whenever possible, catering to our members’ busy schedules, while also allowing for some much missed face-to-face time. Over the next few months, we will be rolling out a series of informal get togethers, intended to bring our community back together in a “post” pandemic era. I know I’ve missed the feel of an in-person event, and am excited to mingle with all of you on a personal level, outside of the confines of a virtual call. My goal with these social events is to foster a shared passion for our work in a roundtable setting, open to all. Stay tuned for more on that front. 

Keep an eye out for a busy next few months with ITE, and if you’d like to get more involved please do not hesitate to reach out. 

Cheers,

Vidhi

2022 President’s Message

General, Notice

Happy New Year, ITE Community! It’s hard to imagine that our last in-person event was the vendor show two and a half years ago. While not seeing engaged faces in person has been difficult, our section has hosted some incredible virtual events, taking advantage of the remote meetings. We’ve seen more consistent attendance with a wide variety of speakers presenting to our group. When we do go back to in-person meetings, we plan to offer a hybrid option. As transportation professionals, we all know how difficult it can be to commute across our section, which spans from San Luis Obispo to Simi Valley and beyond. Virtual platforms have made it easier than ever to stay connected and take advantage of the services and webinars ITE provides. 

I want to thank our members for continuing to support ITE and remain active in their community and their profession. If there’s anything we can do for you, or if you would like to become more involved with the Board, please contact me. Here’s to a healthy and safe 2022!

Vidhi Sachdeva, Central Coast Section President

Membership Update

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Beginning this year the Section has a new Membership Committee chaired by Faridur Rahman. The following update on current membership was provided at the Section Board Meeting in March:

As of March, 2021 ITE Central Coast Section has 129 total members. Members are broken down into several categories: student members, younger members, members, fellow members, and retired members. All membership levels are ITE International members and Section only membership is no longer provided.

In 2020 Central Coast Section added 11 new members. In 2021 we added 7 new members in the first two months of the year. Majority of members added this current year are students members from Cal Poly Student Chapter.

The full membership report is available here:

2020-membership-reportDownload

If you have any membership questions or ideas for increasing membership please contact Faridur Rahman.

President’s Message

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From the desk (and kitchen table) of the President:

Welcome to the ITE Central Coast Section!

A silver lining of the Pandemic’s challenges has been the ability to reach more members by using a virtual environment for our meetings. Even after our Section resumes in-person meetings, virtual and hybrid events will play an important role in keeping us connected along the Central Coast. We all know that transportation is essential and that the work we do has a profound effect on the public. I encourage you to explore all the ways ITE can enhance your professional development and connect you with others.

We hope you can join us soon!

Travis Low, 2021 Section President