I thought this would be of interest to you. Olin Moore Office of Congressman Martin Olav Sabo Sheridan
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- NEWS from Congressman Sabo Representing Minnesota's Fifth Congressional District For Immediate Release April 6, 2004 Sabo Opposes Delay of Hiawatha LRT Start Date Washington, D.C. -- Congressman Martin Olav Sabo (DFL-Mpls.) today wrote to Ms. Jenna Dorn, the Administrator of the Federal Transit Administration, to oppose the Metropolitan Council's request to delay the opening of the Hiawatha Light Rail Line in Minneapolis until April 30, 2005. Sabo is the chief congressional proponent of Hiawatha LRT, and has appropriated over $300 million for the project. "The Metropolitan Council's motives are transparent. Sadly, the only result of the Council's decision to blame the striking workers and delay the start of Hiawatha LRT will be to derail our region's future transportation development," said Sabo. Mr. Sabo was joined by Representatives Oberstar, Peterson and McCollum in signing the letter. The text of the letter to Administrator Dorn follows this page. # # # April 6, 2004 The Honorable Jenna Dorn Administrator Federal Transit Administration 400 Seventh Street, S.W. Washington, D.C. 20590 Dear Administrator Dorn: We write to express our strong objections to the Metropolitan Council's request to delay until April 30, 2005, the opening of the Hiawatha Light Rail Line in Minneapolis, Minnesota. >From its earliest planning stages, we have and will continue to strongly support the Hiawatha LRT line. An FFGA amendment is necessary to make modest changes to the project, and we fully support these changes that will increase ridership and enhance Hiawatha's success. However, we believe that the Metropolitan Council request to delay the Hiawatha in-service date until April 2005, is an unfair attempt to extract concessions from workers in an ongoing labor-management contract dispute. There is no legitimate construction-related reason to delay the opening of the Hiawatha Light Rail Line for an additional 13 months. Senior management of Metro Transit, the builder-owner-operator of the Hiawatha LRT, freely acknowledges this fact, which reinforces our suspicions that the Metropolitan Council seeks to unfairly influence labor negotiations. Therefore, while we support the underlying FFGA amendment application, we strongly urge you to reject the Met Council's request to delay the Hiawatha Light Rail Line opening until April 2005. Sincerely, Martin Olav Sabo Jim Oberstar Member of congress Member of Congress Betty McCollum Collin Peterson Member of Congress Member of Congress REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
