Nuria Fernandez Joining USDOT Written by Marybeth Luczak, Executive Editor
Nuria Fernandez stepped down as Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority’s (VTA) General Manager/CEO on Jan. 19.
Nuria Fernandez is moving on from her position as Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority’s (VTA) General Manager/CEO to join the Biden-Harris Administration at the U.S. Department of Transportation, VTA reported Jan. 19. Evelynn Tran is now interim General Manager/CEO.
VTA did not specify Fernandez’s new position, but said that her federal appointment would be announced “in the coming days.”
Politico has reported that she will be named Deputy Administrator of the Federal Transit Administration. Transportation reporter Tanya Snyder wrote on Twitter: “The plan, sources say, is to eventually nominate her to administrator, but that requires Senate confirmation, and as deputy she can start right away.”
John Santamaria, Senior Vice President of Rail, Clever Devices
Clever Devices, an Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) provider, has named John Santamaria Senior Vice President of Rail.
Santamaria will focus on rail customer acquisition and project deployment, and help define the Woodbury, N.Y.-based company’s rail solutions portfolio.
He served most recently as Vice President and Chief Mechanical Officer, Car Equipment, at MTA New York City Transit (NYCT), overseeing maintenance and acquisitions. Santamaria spent more than 23 years at the agency, which he joined after holding engineering positions at Northrop Grumman. He is Vice-Chair of the American Public Transportation Association’s (APTA) Rolling Equipment Technical Forum and an active participant in the International Association of Public Transport (UITP) Rolling Stock subcommittee.
The Biggest Issues to Watch in 2021 Alan Greenblatt, David Kidd, Carl Smith | January 19, 2021 | Analysis
State lawmakers face a terrible hangover of problems from 2020. First and foremost is the pandemic, which is at its worst even as vaccinations are rolled out across the country. Caseloads and death tolls are adding uncertainty to the economy, which in turn is hampering state budgets.
As legislatures began to meet this month, some convened virtually due to concerns about COVID-19, while capitols were boarded up or surrounded by perimeter fences and SWAT teams because of the ongoing threat of political violence.
Anger about the election and its bloody aftermath is leading to partisan divisions about how to handle voting. Democrats would like to see more mail voting and other expansive measures, while Republicans argue that even the suspicion of widespread voter fraud while shot down repeatedly in dozens of court cas