I live in the far-West Valley where no public transportation exists and I have a disability that makes it impossible for me to drive. For three years I have relied on my family for transportation to ASU and to my school-required internship.
Many other students with disabilities depend on family members as well. Others spend hours waiting on buses or Dial-A-Ride services, which is overwhelmed by demand and underfunded.
When I graduate, I plan to become employed and self-sufficient. A regional public transit system is vital to our future.
When Prop. 400 passes, it will be the first regional funding for public transit that will add 2,100 new buses and 40 new routes (increasing frequencies and extending hours of service), and add 1,200 new Dial-a-Ride vans which will reduce waiting time. It will extend the light rail to the West Valley and North Phoenix areas, and build and improve freeways and roads.
Prop. 400 will improve transportation and will improve the mobility of people with disabilities. I'll vote "yes" on 400 on Nov. 2.
--April Reed
ASU student
Light rail is a big part of the transportation budget agreement for Phoenix's leaders. It is promoted with glitzy literature that combines "vision," "high-tech" and "long-term solution," and the major extension pitch is backed by elaborate projections, multi-color charts and graphs, consultants with imposing arrays of academic credentials and promises of federal grants.
Prop. 400 is the regional transportation proposal that voters face on the Nov. 2 ballot. And with a "yes" vote, it would extend Maricopa County's half-cent sales tax for another 20 years to fund a $9 billion transportation plan.
But Prop 400's light rail does not acknowledge regional needs in a fair and appropriate way.
...The light rail plan to provide the solution to urban transportation is based on myths and will be rudely shattered when the realities reassert themselves. The truth is that light rail systems drain off astonishing amounts of tax dollars, exacerbate automobile congestion, harm bus transportation and undermine desirable freeways.
Voters deserve a separate vote on light rail, and should not be forced to accept an unacceptable plan. A defeat of the entire $9 billion plan will limit plans for light rail in the Valley.
...Light rail transit will not decongest roads by converting automobile users into users of mass transit. Drivers' support for rail transit is based on a hope that other drivers will use the light rail and open up the road; in fact, the majority of rail riders are taken out of buses, not cars. Light rail in the middle of the main streets actually increases traffic congestion.
With traffic congestion and the so-called "urban transportation crisis," the argument for light rail is that nothing else works or that there are no alternatives. This is simply untrue. The essentials of good transportation solutions are obvious to anyone who studies the problem with an objective eye and a respect for facts.
We need a revised plan that would devote more of our scarce resources to enhancing the transportation projects that work: freeways, streets and bus transit. Not one that diverts half of our tax dollars away from building and improving freeways.
The previous tax began in 1985, and the current half-cent sales tax does not expire until Jan. 1, 2006. If voters reject Prop. 400 on Nov. 2, there is plenty of time for county planners and state legislators to put a revised regional transportation plan on the ballot. A transportation plan that includes new freeways, widened and continued expansion of freeways, completion of HOV lanes for carpools and express buses, arterial street improvements and expanded bus service.
We need transportation solutions, not light rail. Please vote "no" on Prop. 400.
--Jack Salley
citizen
How many times have you been trying to get to or from someplace important only to get stuck in rush hour traffic? If you are like me, your answer is more times than you can even begin to count. Transportation around the Valley can be a nightmare if you are one of those people who must take our so called "mass transit system."
It is hard for me to believe the sixth largest city in the nation does not have an adequate mass transit system: what we have is a joke. It is time that the 3.2 million people living in the greater Phoenix area take action and demand that our government do something about this dilemma.
On Nov. 2, the voters can send a clear message to our government that we want a solution by voting in favor of Proposition 400. According to The Arizona Republic, this proposition would extend for another 20 years a half-cent transportation tax in Maricopa County that was first approved in 1985 to fund freeway construction. This tax would raise nearly $9 billion over the next 20 years.
This money, along with federal funds, would finance a plan accepted by Valley mayors earlier in the year. This plan would implement six crucial steps for improving the Valley's transportation woes: fund new freeways in high-growth areas, add new lanes and interchanges to existing freeways, add 275 miles of arterial streets, construct 1,200 new bus stops, add 40 regional bus routes with 2,100 buses and create 27 new miles of light rail. These six steps are crucial to alleviate our transportation problems in the Valley.
...Critics of Prop. 400 may say that this continuous expansion program would make our freeways perpetual works in progress. While I acknowledge there is some truth to this, I do not feel that traffic would be any worse than it is now due to the fact that most construction would be completed at night and on the weekends.
Critics also argue that noise and pollution concerns would increase in neighborhoods intersected by new light rail stations. The citizens of these communities should be willing to put up with these temporary disturbances because in the long run, the light rail stops in their neighborhoods will make their house values skyrocket.
We only have to look at suburban Chicago for a striking example of this. The suburbs with train access to downtown Chicago are much more affluent than those without stops.
If you were to conduct a cost-benefit analysis on Prop. 400 and what it will accomplish, the benefits will greatly outweigh the costs. This is why I feel it is absolutely necessary to vote in favor of Prop. 400. The plans it will implement will boost the local economy and secure Phoenix's place as one of the fastest growing and most vibrant communities in the West.
--Jason Nordmark,
ASU student