October 2010
Cathedral City is committed to reducing air pollution in the city and throughout the Coachella Valley, and has been working to expand its alternative-fuel fleet over the last few years. With the help of Clean Transportation Funding from the MSRC, the city has purchased 10 CNG vehicles, built its own CNG station to support these vehicles, and looks to do more in the future.
"Cathedral City's commitment to using alternative fuels goes all the way back to the mid-90s when I first joined the City Council," said Council Member and MSRC Vice-Chair Greg Pettis. "The MSRC provided critical funding to the City to help facilitate our pledge to use cleaner fuels by offsetting the cost of the vehicles and the construction of our new CNG station. This is what the MSRC does - it helps agencies implement their plans to improve air quality for their communities, which is why I'm so proud to serve on the MSRC," said Pettis.
ohn Longville's career in government services has spanned more than 30 years, and he counts his seven years with the MSRC as one of the highlights. As one of the founding members of the MSRC, John reflects on the Committee's origin, its creativity, and how influential the MSRC has been in helping clean up the air in the South Coast District over the last 20 years.
As baseball season unfortunately comes to an end for the Los Angeles Dodgers, a race for the pennant was not in the cards. However, the Dodgers did knock one out of the park this season with the Dodger Stadium Express, with the help of funding from the MSRC.
The MSRC provided Metro with $300,000 in Clean Transportation Funding to operate a shuttle service to transport fans roundtrip from Union Station to Dodger Stadium for every home game this season using clean-fueled CNG transit buses. The MSRC's funding was instrumental to the success of the project. "We couldn't have done it without the funding from the MSRC," said Warren Morse, Metro's Deputy Executive Officer for Communications. "Funding for these types of projects is very tight, so it was a tremendous help in getting the project off the ground."
