MPA Students visit the Transbay Joint Powers Authority

Students from PA 727 Program and Service Delivery attended a field trip to the Transbay Joint Powers Authority.  They heard from Adam Van de Water, the Executive Director who spoke about the wide variety of technical tools to implement projects (CFD's, Tax Increment, value engineering, naming rights, air rights, bonding) as well as the importance of soft skills to build alliances and maintain political support. Van de Water touched on the importance of creating a vision and why the ability to tailor a message specifically for an audience is essential to maintaining enthusiasm for a complex project.

Program and Service Delivery offered Fall 2023 is taught by Marc Roberts, a seasoned public manager with strong financial skills, familiarity working with elected officials, and a collaborative team member. Retired from city government in 2022, Mr. Roberts dedicated 36 years of his career to public service, with 22 of those years being at the Executive/CEO level. He is a frequent speaker at conferences - most recently leading the session on Strategic Skills for Project Success at the California State Conference of the American Planning Association. For the last three years, he has been one of the volunteer faculty of the California APA Leadership Academy teaching critical leadership skills to mid-career managers. Mr. Roberts has managed a wide variety of transformative land-use projects. He was the project manager for the development of the South Livermore Valley Specific Plan, a program that helped revitalize Livermore’s wine country, and won a national planning award. As the Community Development Director, he led the team that wrote and implemented the Downtown Specific Plan, a plan that transformed Livermore’s Downtown through dozens of coordinated private and public projects. Roberts is a member of the California Planning Roundtable, a policy research and development resource for the California planning profession to enhance the sustainability and livability of California’s communities.