Some Principal Points for the CBT Campaign
Thursday, February 18th, 2010
You can trust Metro this time...really."
Citizens for Better Transit
–Principal points–
VOTE NO on PROP A, the Metro Tax!
1) Tax increase hurts the poor
Prop A is a 14% sales tax increase that hurts the poor disproportionately.
2) Likely to be huge cost over-runs
Metro isn’t trustworthy. a) They won’t tell voters which light rail route they are definitely going to build b) they won’t tell us precisely how the money will be spent c) the last Metrolink expansion ran at LEAST $150 MILLION over budget, and taxpayers are going to be paying down debt for 30 years.
3) Local population numbers won’t support
St. Louis City/County does not have the population density necessary to make Light Rail viable. St. Louis City has a population density of 6K/square mile. St. Louis County has a population density of 2K/square mile. An area needs a density of 10K per square mile to make light rail viable
4) Most will never use, but all will pay
Only 10,000 people in St. Louis County use public transportation, and not all of them use Metrolink. Why should St. Louis County tax payers fund something they’re never going to use? It would literally be cheaper to buy a car for every St. Louis County public transportation commuter – EVERY YEAR, IN PERPETUITY – than to raise taxes to fund metro another 80 million dollars.
5) Will take years to build
How is the extreme cost of light rail justifiable? In the best scenario, it costs $60 MILLION/mile. Light rail routes also take a MINIMUM of 5 YEARS to build.
6) Other options are cheaper and faster
Buses and Bus Rapid Transit (high tech buses and bus routes) are a fraction of the cost, and deployable in a fraction of the time it takes to build a light rail route.
7) Many more taxes will be needed
Prop A is a bailout for Metro mismanagement. Prop A, should it pass, will only be the FIRST of MANY new Metro taxes. Why? Because Metro has major pension liabilities, overly ambitious expansion programs, and wrongheaded expansion approaches that are BANKRUPTING METRO. And all of this while metro isn’t anywhere near self-sufficiency. 25% of Metro revenue comes from fares.
8.) Bus line cuts will hurt the poor
When metro expands light rail, it cuts bus service, also hurting the poor.
9) New taxes in the recession will keep unemployment high
Passing a new tax does NOT stimulate economic growth. Taxation in a recession is a BAD idea and hurts those hardest hit by the effects of the recession.
10) Metro is supported by special interests
Tax payers are being asked to blindly fund an irresponsibly managed organization so that wealthy special interests can receive subsidies. Special interests will get fat, as the tax payers get thin.
11) Metro is deceiving the public.
The publicized “plan” is nothing more than a wishlist. It lacks specifics. Voters have no clue what to expect. Again, it’s Metro and the East West Gateway Council’s mentality of, “Give us your money, and we’ll be sure to make the right decision for you.”