Of course, all money should go to roads, because that's how most people travel. That argument has held sway for a long time. And it's good that the RTA advocates are making the point that even if those living far from the existing lines do benefit, from reduced congestion, etc., from those who do benefit, I think it is about time to start talking a little more about how they people who don't "benefit" are imposing on those of us who live closer to downtown with their pollution, etc. The better direct solution would be to have some sort of tax a la London plan, but since that's unlikely to happen in "the land of the car," the least they can do is donate a bit to the RTA. My preference would be to raise the gas tax and target that percentage to an RTA, rather than the sales tax. "No nation can preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare." --James Madison, April 20, 1795
>>> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 8/10/2007 2:35 PM >>> Hello all. Thanks, Matt, for this action alert. Attached please find a summary I wrote about Transport 2020. I wrote it after the completion of phase one of the study in 2002. I updated it in the past 2 weeks to include information about the recently completed phase 2 of the study. As Matt indicates, we've been getting a lot of Vicki McKenna-inspired e-mail on this topic. I'll dig one out of the archives and forward it to bikies to show you the quality of the rhetoric. At first we got simple one-liners like "stop the silly trains" (my personal favorite); more recently we've been getting soliloquies on the virtues of an automobile-only transportation system. All my best, Al Matano > Bikies, > > If the amount of fuss we caused at the State level is any indication, a > lot of you care deeply about finding for bicycling. It turns out there > is a great opportunity to voice your support for bicycle funding right > here in Dane County. > > Here is how you can help: > > 1) E-mail your county supervisors in support of the Regional Transit > Authority proposal. http://www.countyofdane.com/coboard/supervisors.asp > > 2) Make an appointment for Thursday, August 16th at 7:00pm to attend the > Dane county supervisors meeting. > > 3) Reply to this e-mail if you plan to attend. I will put together some > useful background information for people who wish to speak at the County > Supervisors meeting. If you have web links to good sources for > background, please share them! > > 4) Keep September 4th open - that's the Madison City Council Meeting on > the same topic. > > > You can read some details at the 1000 Friends of Wisconsin Web Site: > > http://www.1kfriends.org/ > > > Basically, the Regional Transit Authority (or RTA) that is being talked > about will add a 0.5% to the local sales tax, and dedicate a portion to > funding bicycling projects. Given the reluctance at the State level to > fully fund bicycling according to federal recommendations, the RTA and > the tax are sorely needed. Yet, some anti-rail/anti-bike forces are > starting to rally against the RTA. The RTA plan as I read it really > helps everybody and it would be a shame to let the anti-smart > transportation folks win the argument. > > Thanks to all! > > > _______________________________________________ > Bikies mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/bikies
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