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Home Politics 

Story

Why Vote For Repeal

Way Too Much For Way Too Little

  • $1.1 billion price tag in 1998, a few years later - $6 billion

  • Now, $8.9 billion... and counting...

  • Transit tax costs a household $155 a year, not $40 a year as erroneously claimed by some city officials - and does not include your federal and state tax dollars also applied to the cost.

  • Plan focuses first on being "comprehensive" as in "comprehensive" immigration reform; focused on providing transportation "choices" rather than focusing on transportation's biggest concern - congestion relief

  • Instead, plan should focus first on real means of reducing congestion such as: road intersection improvements, adding left and right turn lanes, widening key roads, stop light coordination, and improving potholed roads

  • Virtually no environmental impact

  • Overwhelming bulk of air pollution reduction projected from getting older vehicles off the roads, not from light rail transit

  • Virtually no congestion relief

  • Air pollution increases along rail corridors as density is raised along corridors

  • May remove at best 2-3% of commuting vehicles from the roads

  • 87% of all bus seats available ride empty

  • in 1995: 0.63% of all urban motorized travel was by transit here

  • in 2005: 0.54% by transit... a net decline

  • 22.5 mph average speed of light rail (slow)

  • few seats per train (hence "light" rail)

  • Contrast to NYC subway or Chicago L-train which are "heavy" rail - carry more people - go faster

  • No centralized rail hub planned - riders will have to switch rail lines by non-rail means

  • No airport access by light rail planned
  • No more Federal funding for future light rail lines likely

  • Property taxes already being committed through a process known as "tax increment financing"

  • Property tax dollars slated for investment in roads diverted to accommodate South line

  • Rail puts a "floor" on property tax rates: long term (10+ years in to the future) cities frequently must choose between cutting bus service and/or raising property taxes to keep up with the ultra-high cost of subsidizing light rail

  • Rail lines must be rebuilt about every 30 years, costing as much or more as the original cost to re-build the line - few local governments take this in to account

  • Ultra low population density to have urban rail

  • Will be second smallest city in USA to have light rail (Little Rock, AK - smallest)

  • Local roads now resurfaced every 20-25 years instead of the ideal - every 12 years

  • Road quality deteriorating

  • No plans to add any lanes to I-77

  • Transportation priorities misplaced

    • Information reprinted with permission from VoteRepeal.com. The opinions expressed in articles are not necessarily those of WSOCTV, WSOCTV.com or WAXN.

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