We have had a busy fall in Arizona! New Board members were sworn in at our September 23 meeting, including President Ray Yparraguirre, Vice President Karen King, Secretary Mark Hickman, and Treasurer Dave Sabers (see photo below). Edgar Perez provided an update on the Western District activities, and life memberships were awarded to Lowell O’Grady, Richard Weeks, and Ray Williamson from the Arizona Section.
We had 45 attendees at our October luncheon on the campus of the University of Arizona, in conjunction with the Southern Arizona Chapter of ITE and the U of A student chapter of ITE. Several awards for SAITE members were presented, and the new officers of the Southern Arizona Chapter (Jorge Riveros, President; Rick Robinson, Vice President; and Darlene Danehy, Secretary/Treasurer) were sworn in by Ray Yparraguirre (see photo).The interactive presentation featured Michael Graham, spokesman for the City of Tucson Department of Transportation, and Andrea Kelly, reporter for the Arizona Daily Star in Tucson. They discussed working with the media and how to explain technical concepts in common language.
We had 80 attendees at our November 18 luncheon in Phoenix and listened to a fascinating presentation from Paul Basha, EPS Group, who provided results on their study of light rail collisions conducted for the City of Phoenix. The November luncheon was hosted by the City of Peoria who also provided a tour of their new, state of the art traffic operations center for ITE members after the luncheon.
On December 7, the Arizona Society of Professional Engineers (ASPE), ITE and ITS Arizona hosted the 9th Annual Holiday Party. At the party, a silent auction benefiting Chrysalis Shelter, a local crisis shelter, raised nearly $1000 including donations of toys, personal and household items. The Arizona Section also financially supported the Future Cities Competition and the related golf tournament in Phoenix.
