Best of times, worst of times
Staring at years of gaping budget shortfalls unless it finds more money, Metro later this year will start painting a picture of two very different public transportation futures.
One of the scenarios - expected to be the focal point of public hearings in September - would include sustaining transit service and the kinds of enhancements that would be possible with new revenue. The other would be a substantially diminished version of what you see today on the roads and light-rail tracks.
“We will be looking for your advice, your direction in terms of how you take the revenues that we do have, if we are not able to get new revenue, and effectively serve the Missouri population,” Todd Plesko, Metro’s chief of planning and new systems development, said during a public hearing on proposed fare increases at St. Louis City Hall.
The most likely permanent new source of financial stability is a half-cent transit sales tax that’s expected to be placed on the November ballot. Half of the proceeds from that tax would go to transit operations and the other half would be growing the MetroLink system in St. Louis County.
But Metro is prohibited from politicking in favor of the tax. At least one Metro critic said the transit agency’s best-case, worst-case scenarios may come close to the line.
“It is a scare tactic,” said Tom Sullivan, the Metro critic. “The name of the game is create a doomsday scenario. That is what they are doing right now.”
Metro spokeswoman Adella Jones said that’s not the case. The law requires Metro to hold public hearings that accurately show what service adjustments will look like - good and bad.
Some circumstances were out of Metro’s control, she said. St. Louis County originally targeted February for the tax measure but County Executive Charlie A. Dooley pushed to have it removed from the ballot after the agency lost its high-profile lawsuit against MetroLink contractors.
“We can not advocate for a tax,” Jones said. “You hear it’s a fear tactic. It is not a fear tactic.”
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I wish Metro would hire Tom Sullivan. I’ll bet we would have the most efficient, cracker-jack transit system in the country if they did. Seriously, after riding the Metro in Washington, D.C. for a week for my exclusive transportation needs I’ve seen what it can be like to have viable light rail and it’s fantastic. The attitude towards mass transit in this town seems to be the same as that of the St.Louis public schools. Everybody sees a need for massive improvement but there is no leadership to see it through. I’m talking about our town’s movers and shakers who need to get behind these institutions and push for change. It seems all they can think about is selling their corporatiions to foriegners and moving out of here.