On Tuesday, October 14, 2008 the Drum Major Institute for Public Policy hosted the latest installment of its 'Marketplace of Ideas' series featuring Sean Arian, Director of Economic Development Strategy for Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

The port of Los Angeles is the busiest container seaport in the United States, handling 20 percent of the nation’s imports. It also generates a large portion of the region’s toxic air emissions, including global warming pollutants. Under the leadership of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, the port adopted a Clean Air Action Plan in November 2006, aiming to reduce port-related emissions by at least 45 percent by 2012. The plan includes initiatives to cut pollution from trains, ships, trucks, and equipment used to move cargo. One ambitious component is the Clean Truck Program, which will both impose tough emissions standards on 16,000 diesel trucks and prevent exploitation of truck drivers by mandating that only licensed trucking companies can service the port. The Clean Air Action Plan has received multiple honors from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
 
A panel discussion what New York, New Jersey and the nation can learn from Los Angeles included:

HON. JERROLD NADLER
United States Congress

CHRISTOPHER WARD
Executive Director
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey

KIM THOMPSON-GADDY
Co-Chair, North Jersey Environmental Justice Alliance I

Introductory Remarks Delivered By

GARY LA BARBERA
President
International Brotherhood of Teamsters Joint Council 16

Moderated by

ANDREA BATISTA SCHLESINGER
Drum Major Institute for Public Policy

Sean Arian is Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s Director of Economic Development Strategy. He is responsible for guiding the Mayor’s economic development strategy focusing on key sectors of the Los Angeles economy, working on issues as diverse as the development of Mayor Villaraigosa’s “green growth” strategy at the Port of Los Angeles and the Mayor’s strategy to build the green economy in Los Angeles.

Prior to joining the Mayor’s Office, Sean worked as a manager and consultant at McKinsey & Company, a global management consulting firm. Sean also worked as the Project Director for the Access to Justice & Legal Reform Initiative in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the Executive Director of the Harry Bridges Institute, and the Director of International Policy for the International Longshore & Warehouse Union. A native of Los Angeles, Sean earned his J.D. from Columbia University School of Law, and a bachelor of arts from the University of California at Berkeley. In 2002, Sean served as a Fulbright scholar in Latin America, and in 1995, he served as a Japan Foundation fellow in Yokohama, Japan. He is a member of the California Bar.

CHRISTOPHER WARD

Christopher Ward is currently the Executive Director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.  He was appointed on May 22, 2008.  He previously served at the Port Authority as Chief of Planning and External Affairs, as well as Director of Port Redevelopment from 1997 to 2002.

Immediately prior to being appointed Executive Director of the Port Authority, Mr. Ward served for over two years as Managing Director of The General Contractors Association of New York, Inc. (GCA), where he directed and managed the major trade association that represents the heavy construction industry in the City of New York.  Before joining the GCA, Mr. Ward spent a year as Chief Executive Officer of American Stevedoring, Inc., a stevedoring and port services company headquartered at the Brooklyn Port Authority Marine Terminal with major operations at the Elizabeth Port Authority Marine Terminal.  Mr. Ward had previously worked at American Stevedoring in the 1990s.

Prior to leading American Stevedoring, Mr. Ward served as Commissioner of the NYC Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) for the Bloomberg Administration from 2002-2005.   Mr. Ward lead a staff of 6,500 and managed a combined capital and operating budget of over $2 billion.  During his tenure at the DEP, he oversaw the maintenance and ongoing construction of the City’s water supply, distribution and wastewater system, carried out Federal Clean Water Act and Clean Air regulation, and managed all conservation programs and hazardous and asbestos material emergencies and remediation. Prior to his service at the Port Authority, Mr. Ward spent much of his professional career in service to the City of New York in various capacities, such as Senior Vice President for Transportation and Commerce at the Economic Development Corporation, Assistant Commissioner at the Department of Telecommunications and Energy and as Director of Research at the Department of Consumer Affairs.Mr. Ward holds a Bachelor of Arts from Macalester College and a Master of Theological Studies from Harvard University’s Divinity School.  Mr. Ward has also served as an Adjunct Professor at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University.

HON. JERROLD NADLER

The Honorable Jerrold Nadler represents New York's Eighth Congressional district. Congressman Nadler was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1992 after serving for 16 years in the New York State Assembly. He was re-elected to his eighth full term in 2006 with a resounding 80 percent of the vote. Throughout his career he has championed civil rights, civil liberties, efficient transportation, and a host of progressive issues such as access to health care, support for the arts and protection of the Social Security system. He is considered an unapologetic defender of those who might otherwise be forgotten by American law or the economy, and is respected specifically for his creative and pragmatic legislative approaches.

In his roles as an Assistant Whip and a senior member of both the House Judiciary and the House Transportation Committee, Congressman Nadler has the opportunity on a daily basis to craft and shape the major laws that govern our country.

Congressman Nadler is a longstanding and nationally recognized expert on transportation. During his 16 years as a New York State Assemblyman, Nadler was able to match his ideas for improving transportation and infrastructure with legislative solutions. In this capacity he founded and chaired the Assembly’s Mass Transit and Rail Freight Subcommittee. Since his election to the U.S. House, he has brought that expertise and enthusiasm to work for New York as a senior member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. He is now the highest-ranking Democrat from the Northeast, and co-chair of the Congressional Transit Caucus, where he’s fought for better subway service and New York’s fair share of mass transit funding. Congressman Nadler stood virtually alone for many years in decrying the downstate New York region’s isolation from the national rail freight system and its almost total reliance on truck-borne freight. Such dependence has created enormous costs to the area in terms of increased air pollution, asthma, congestion, and the general expense of doing business in the region. More alarming, the region’s over-dependence on the George Washington Bridge for moving freight creates a serious national security vulnerability. Congressman Nadler proposed to reverse these effects by reconnecting New York to the nation’s rail freight system through the construction of a rail freight tunnel under New York Harbor.