Hasan Ikhrata, the sometimes polarizing executive director of the San Diego Association of Governments, submitted his resignation to the board of the planning and transportation agency late Friday.
His final day will be Dec. 29. Sources close to Ikhrata told the Union-Tribune that he began calling some board earlier this week to advise them of his impending departure.
“I’m honored and humbled that I have served this region for the past five years. I’m proud of the achievements, which would have taken decades in other places to accomplish. I’m proud of the vision we built for the region,” Ikhrata told the Union-Tribune late Friday. “I will it my relations with the board haven’t been the best but we managed to do all these amazing things regardless of this relationship.”
Ikhrata aded that “it is the right time to leave. I’m confident in the staff. It’s been five years. This relationship isn’t helpful to the staff, and the relationship between the board and a new leader will better serve the staff and the region.”
Ikhrata’s resignation letter Ikhrata, who ed the powerful transportation agency in 2018, gave no clue of his plans during a board meeting Friday when his staff briefed elected leaders on a project near and dear to his heart — a long-debated, multi-billion-dollar proposal to bring a direct mass transit connection to the San Diego airport via a people mover.
Board Chairwoman Nora Vargas will be working with the SANDAG Board to discuss the next steps to fill the CEO role, the agency said in a news release Friday night. More details will be forthcoming in the months.
“This news is a bittersweet moment for our region,” said Vargas, “I am grateful for Hasan’s vision, leadership, and unwavering commitment to helping us all reimagine the future of the San Diego region. Throughout his tenure, Hasan has spearheaded transformative changes in transportation and regional planning for the County of San Diego, and I want to wish him the best in his next endeavor.”
Ikhrata’s relationship with his board has at times been rocky. In November, Ikhrata, who was pushing for per-mile fees on drivers, told the Union-Tribune that he may leave if elected officials can’t agree on a transformative vision for public transit.
Ikhrata, who formerly held positions at the Southern California Association of Governments and Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, is among the most strident believers in the massive urbanization of the San Diego region.
“I want to make sure the board, regardless if they’re Republican or Democrat, doesn’t spend every single meeting asking for me to be fired or fighting with each other,” he told the Union-Tribune. “I want to see civility and feel that we’re making a difference.”
While partisan grandstanding often consumes SANDAG’s board, many of the disagreements can be traced back to Ikhrata’s own politics. Not only did he freeze a handful of long-promised freeway projects, but he’s also explicitly made limiting car travel the centerpiece of his now 4-year-old campaign.
The Jordan-born transit expert has spent his tenure in San Diego stumping not only for a massive rail expansion but aslo the per-mile fees on drivers and fluctuating highway tolls to discourage rush-hour gridlock.
“If you want the transportation system to work for the people, whether you drive or take the bus or walk or bike, you have to price the system right,” he said.
That position — while widely embraced by academics and other transportation experts around the globe — hasn’t won Ikhrata many friends in San Diego. In fact, the call for such road charges has put him at odds with not only conservatives but local Democrats who have feared political blowback from the somewhat controversial idea.
The region’s long-range transportation agency has stayed busy in recent years, completing the Mid-Coast Trolley extension, g a binational agreement with Mexico over the Otay Mesa East border crossing and securing funding to start the paperwork on moving the tracks in Del Mar.
Ikhrata was hired in 2018 to manage the agency and ister its then nearly $1.14 billion budget. SANDAG, whose budget has since grown to $1.2 billion, oversees the long-range planning for county infrastructure and other needs.
In 2021, the board of directors of the regional planning agency extended his contract for three years at an annual salary of $414,149.
The majority of the board at the time considered Ikhrata’s performance “exceeding expectations” and approved his fiscal year 2022 performance objectives, which include strengthening collaborative relationships around the county, advancing regional priorities, delivering capital projects, enhancing SANDAG’s organizational culture and digital capabilities, and looking for funding sources.
Missing from the objectives, some leaders said, was anything about TransNet, the half-cent sales tax for local transportation projects first approved by voters in 1988, and extended in 2004 for another 40 years. Ikhrata initially proposed diverting the money dedicated for road projects to transit, but faced intense pushback from East and North County officials.
In recent years, the agency had come under scrutiny after internal audits raised questions about improper spending and poor policies.
U-T reporters Phillip Molnar and Jennifer Van Grove contributed to this report.
