Proof that anti-light-rail measure is not needed
Forces out to halt light rail are elated over a judge’s ruling Friday that kept their initiative on the ballot in an upcoming special election.
They should be.
They beat back a number of challenges, including whether a state ban against paying petition circulators by the signature applies to city initiatives (it doesn’t).
Where they shouldn’t get so jazzed is Phoenix’s recent decision to shelve a planned extension on the west side of town.
The detractors view that as evidence that momentum is on their side. Perhaps.
But the postponement is also evidence that the citizens initiative they are pushing is unnecessary in the first place.
The Building a Better Phoenix initiative grew from opposition in south Phoenix to the South Central extension, which would require traffic lanes having to narrow from four lanes down to two.
Drafters of the measure initially sought to block only the South Central line.
But they chose instead to elevate what was a parochial issue to a citywide one by putting all light-rail expansion on the chopping block. Then they coyly added a sweetener to the deal by proposing that city transit funds earmarked for trains be redirected to street improvements.
That, essentially, will be what Phoenix voters decide in a special election Aug. 27: Should we kill light rail to pay for streets. Except they really don’t need to. The Phoenix City Council’s surprising decision in March proves that.
In a 5-3 vote – Kate Gallego, a light-rail supporter who won the mayoral runoff, had not been installed yet – the council voted to delay indefinitely a line that would connect the current track at Camelback Road west to 43rd Avenue. Instead, the $153 million would be freed up for road repairs.
In other words, the council did precisely what the initiative calls for — except without laying to waste to every planned expansion of light rail.
The flexibility isn’t new. Voters in 2015 authorized a 0.7-cent transit tax for 35 years to pay for expansion and improvement of light rail and bus routes and road maintenance and repair.
While officials outlined how the estimated $31.5 billion pot would be split – 51% for buses, 35% for light rail and the remaining 14% for streets – the ballot measure’s language did not include such specificity.
That is, the city can amend its Comprehensive Transportation Plan and re-allot the money as it sees fit, as long as the dollars are used to further the plan.
In that light, the Building a Better Phoenix initiative comes across as a solution in search of a problem.
And a deceptive one at that.
The measure is set up as a binary decision: Stop a costly transit program only a few uses and funnel that money to repair streets that a whole lot more people rely on.
The implication is that the latter won’t get done unless we get rid of the former, and that’s simply not the case. Or that by stopping light-rail expansion, a flood of money will be available to fix the so-many streets that need help right away. That isn’t true, either.
In fact, the city council in October had shelved another light-rail line, this one connecting downtown Phoenix to Paradise Valley Mall.
However, whatever savings that could be redirected elsewhere cannot be realized anytime soon because that line wasn’t scheduled for construction until the 2030s.
Light rail has had its critics and always will. It also has its many champions, who rightfully argue that trains are designed to be part of a comprehensive multimodal transit plan and one that voters have approved multiple times.
Its existence does not need to be relitigated.