Former SJ mayor returns to talk transportation

By: Kyle Hansen

Posted: 2/14/07

Norman Mineta, former U.S. secretary of transportation, will be speaking at San Jose State University Thursday afternoon about the effects of traffic on the economy.

The event will be held in the Engineering Building auditorium, room 189, at 1 p.m.

Mineta was the longest serving transportation secretary in the history of the department, serving from 2001 to 2006, according to his biography on the White House's Web site. Mineta is also the first person to switch directly from a Democratic to a Republican cabinet.

Prior to his service in the Cabinet, Mineta was a member of the House of Representatives, representing San Jose from 1975 to 1995. Mineta was mayor of San Jose from 1971 to 1974 and was the first Asian-Pacific-American mayor of a U.S. city, according to the biography.

Some students were not aware of Mineta and did not seem interested in his speech.

"I don't see how that will help me - maybe it will be good for other majors," said Ahmed Elkady, a senior majoring in mechanical engineering.

Sandy Tang, a junior majoring in business management, said that transportation was not that important and public transportation has solved a lot of problems.

"The buses are great," she said. "They just need to come more often and we need more parking."

Terry Christensen, a political science professor, said that Mineta was an important leader in San Jose and has kept his connections to the area in addition to his success in Washington.

"Unlike many political leaders, he's never lost touch with his home base, not least because he never forgets a name or face," Christensen said via e-mail.

"Norm was a crucial leader at a turning point in San Jose politics, as the city transitioned from a conservative, business-dominated old guard to a more liberal new establishment that included women, minority groups and neighborhood associations," Christensen said.

"His election and his leadership were essential to the establishment of racial and ethnic inclusion in San Jose politics - and one reason we still get along pretty well here despite our great diversity," he said.

Mineta is also the founder of the Mineta Transportation Institute, which is part of the Lucas Graduate School of Business at SJSU.

The institute offers a master of science in transportation management and a certificate in transportation management, according to communications director Leslee Hamilton.

It is mainly funded by the federal government through the department of transportation's Research and Innovative Technology Administration and by the state of California through the Department of Transportation.

Hamilton said that the institute is fairly unique in the country and focuses only on surface transportation from a policy and administration perspective. Most other university programs look at transportation from an engineering point of view.

"We have a board of trustees that oversees the institute that is composed of a 'who's who' of transportation experts," Hamilton said. "That is pretty unique."

The institute also recently won one of 10 awards in a national competition between 36 universities, Hamilton said.

Mineta will be speaking on how the economy can be impacted by traffic, said Ahmed Hambaba, the associate dean of graduate and extended studies.

"If you do not have really good transportation, whether on the ground or in the air, you are not as competitive," said Hambaba, who helped to organize the event. "Sometimes as students or faculty we do not think about those things."

Thursday's speech is the first of this semester's series of speeches for the Silicon Valley Leaders Symposium, sponsored by the College of Engineering. The symposium is in its seventh year, but the college wanted to expand this year to include the whole campus, according to Hambaba.

"This is the 150th anniversary, so we wanted to use this as an avenue to invite people to come speak at the university," Hambaba said.

Hambaba said that the college is trying to help students to broaden their horizons and to give students exposure to different types of leaders so that they can see the skills and attributes they will need to succeed.

"Our main objective for the symposium is to connect with Silicon Valley corporations," Hambaba said. "It is a bridge, it is a way to open students' minds."

Future speakers for the Symposium include congressman Michael Honda, the heads of technology corporations such as Adobe and KLA-Tencor and a Nobel Laureate.