The current cover story in the Riverfront Times will certainly not help Metro’s chances. If we had kept the street cars we would have been a lot better off.

What I see here is that Metro, a public entity, has held a seminar at public expense, invited a broad range of advocates for their tax increase, and completely excluded those who oppose the tax. Every speaker defined “getting it right” as passing a large tax increase, and greatly expanding the Metro system. Mike Jones summarized it in the last video: “If we don’t win in November, there will be nothing to talk about in January.” The bold impropriety of holding a publicly funded pep rally for a tax increase is amazing.

Although Mr. Jones doesn’t realize it, this directly contradicts another statement he made: “There are no successful urban areas that doesn’t (sic) have a successful transit system.” Metro’s expansion plans, which are an integral part of the tax increase proposal, will bankrupt Metro again, resulting in another financial crisis several years down the line.

Spending billions of dollars to expand a light rail system which the vast majority of people will only use to attend special events several times a year is a foolish use of public resources. Metro should focus its efforts, and its resources, on achieving the financial stability needed to run the heavily used bus system, and to implement targeted commuter bus expansion as demand warrants.

If the Metro tax passes in November, the average St. Louis county family will be spending $500 a year in taxes to subsidize Metro. Meanwhile, our busiest local highway carries three times as many people as the entire Metrolink system.

While high diesel prices have created a short-term hardship for Metro, the fact is that Metro’s financial problems are largely self-inflicted. But giving another bottle to an alcoholic doesn’t solve his drinking problem, it makes it worse. St. Louis county voters should not reward Metro’s irresponsibility with a big check.

Get the facts on the Metro tax here:

http://www.stoptheprop.com

Nick Kasoff T-shirts available in the lobby.

Andrew, if you’ll print ‘em, I’ll hawk ‘em.

Nick,

I challenge you to come down to the Delmar Station at 7:50am in the morning and tell myself and the rest of the packed platform full of people that the vast majority of people only take the train to ballgames. Funny, I thought I was going to work so I could be a productive member of this community.

Rachel - I used to live in Skinker-DeBalivier, and have ridden the Metro many a time. But the vast majority of people do not, and will never, live in an area which can be efficiently served by ANY form of public transit, much less a fixed rail system. That means all of us get to subsidize your ride. I know it works for you, and since the original Metrolink was built on existing rail at a very low cost, I’m pretty much ok with it. But the expansions are vastly more expensive, and serve areas with much lower density than the original line. If they build them, they’ll be cutting YOUR service to pay for it. Which is why, if you really like the current transit system, you should vote no.

But back to your original point … yes, the vast majority of people who have ridden Metrolink are those who only ride it on special occasions like baseball games. They live in one suburb and work in another, so Metrolink is useless to them for commuting.

I don’t think Nick Kasoff’s numbers can possibly be right. Metro is funded by two different sales taxes. One is ¼ cent tax that goes completely to Metro, the other is a portion of a half cent tax. Even assuming Metro gets all of the ¾ cents from those two taxes, a family would have to spend in excess of $67,000 a year – on taxable goods! - in order to be paying $500 to Metro. (Not rent, mortgage, phone bill, and all the rest!) That’s insane, given that the Census says the average St. Louis County household income is only $52,097 per year.

Moral of the story: Don’t believe everything you read on the internet. This guy wants to defeat the Proposition, and that’s fine, but making stuff up out of thin air is not okay.

Allow me to elaborate on the last post - I realize Kasoff is talking about what people would be paying if the tax passes; IF the tax passes that would be the 3/4 cent tax. So the number is the same: Based on a 3/4 cent tax, you’d have to spend > $67k/year in taxable goods to pay Metro $500. That doesn’t add up.

My taxes help pay for the school even though I don’t have kids. My sales tax pay for roads in West County that I never drive on or parks and trails that I’ll never get a chance to use. But I understand that my taxes are going towards supporting the entire region, not just the tiny corner of it that I inhabit. I want St. Louis to be competitive with progressive Midwestern cities like Chicago and Minneapolis. You shouldn’t cut your nose off to spite your face.

Jennifer - Take the total amount of the current tax in St. Louis county. Adjust it by a factor which accounts for the higher rate of the rate of the proposed tax. Divide it by the population of the county, multiply by 4. That’s where the number comes from. Pull up the reports and do the calculations yourself, you’ll see.

Rachel - I agree, my taxes support many things. And frankly, I don’t even have a problem supporting Metro. But this proposal is a poison pill that will leave Metro with greater financial problems than it has today. I support an efficient transit system that serves the portions of the metro area that are designed for efficient transit service. I don’t support an overpriced glamor system which bleeds resources from legitimate transit purposes.

If this was a 1/4 cent operating levy with no expansion funds, I would probably be supporting it. If we were talking about growing commuter bus service, which can be adjusted to meet changing needs and which has a much lower capital cost, that’d be fine. But building a high dollar rail system to sparsely developed areas - which is the promise implicit in this proposal - is transit system suicide.