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Minnesota Legislature rejects funding for light rail line
Isn’t it great that they fund a multi million dollar football stadium, but can’t support a transit system that would help a whole lot more people!
Republicans = (equal) no passenger trains, light rail, Amtrak, commuter rail. Good thing to remember this election year.
If it was such a great idea, the transit authority would pay for it themselves. We cannot afford to build rail systems that cannot support themselves. The North Star Commuter line covers only 1/3 of the operating costs if ridership projections were met, which they are not. For every $14 fare a rider pays, we the taxpayers pay $28. That makes no economic sense.
One would think the Minnesota legislature would have learned something from the aftereffects in Wisconsin resulting from their refusal of federal money for rail transportation there, as well as from the unexpectedly higher ridership on light rail projects in other cities around the country. Instead, it seems their attitude is “will of the people be damned… we’re playing politics!”
I am not convinced this project is a good idea. Rerouting the TC&W line through St Louis Park will be a real fur ball. I cannot imagine there will be enough riders to make the line successful. It will become just another North Star Line burden.
They are too busy trying to build a $1 Billion dollar football stadium. Every state legislator outside the Twin Cities wants one of their highways re-pave and the beloved Vikings to stay in Minnesota
Everyone who argues against transit because it “doesn’t make economic sense” just needs to look at Germany. They are a very fiscally responsible nation that still invests heavily in rail and transit. We’re not just talking dollars and cents here. The real measure of something’s value isn’t in whether it turns a profit or not, despite how Wall Street and the Tea Party would like you to vote. Rather, it’s how much it enhances the quality of life for everyone that it touches, including people who may never use it themselves but benefit from the increased economic well being and prestige that it enables. We have to think holistically and further down the road than next year’s tax return.
I’m tired of paying gas pump taxes for some free-loading urbanite that doesn’t own a vehicle. Let them ride their bicycle to work in -30 below Minnesota Winter temps. I don’t live in the Metro area and won’t get any benefit from another government welfare program for big business. Let those that want to ride public transportation pay for the cost of this line out of their own pocket! Those in favor of mass transportation can always ride a bus to work. Public transportation already exists for those potential new train riders, so why duplicate the existing transportation system? It doesn’t make any economic sense to do so, and the maintenance cost for this line will just be another burden on Minnesota Taxpayers!
Minnesota Legislature should come to New Jersey and see how light rail lines improve towns and encourage people to move to where these light rail lines.
Jeffery Guse, I would recommend that you go to taxfoundation.org (a conservative group by the way) and find out truly where our federal tax dollars are going. The answer may surprise you that the funding flows from the progressive “blue” states along the coasts and great lakes to the supposedly conservative “red” plains and southern states.
In fact, taxfoundation.org concluded in their study that if the USA consist of only the “blue” states, the Federal Govt would run a surplus.
Our esteemed friend from Illinois seems to think no one will ever use or receive benefit public transportation. It’s been pointed out in this forum, over and over again, all transportation modes require public funding. Also true, in spite of opposition, ridership is on the rise.
By the way, all governments that tax are socialist in nature but not Marxist. It’s not a redistribution of wealth but is, in fact, putting money where a majority of lawfully elected officials decide where legally collected tax money is spent. It is the American tradition of majority rule that gives validation to what our government does, like it or not. You can say what you want, vote how you like but it is how it is.
Seems like the politicians are the same ones that want us to use less gasoline and buy more efficent cars and at the same time they are eliminating transportation alternatives therefore creating more traffic jams causing us to use more gasoline. Go figure!
May all the tea party types swelter in never-ending traffic jams.
Vikings receive nearly $1 billion for a stadium owned by the public but off limits to them without a ticket and where the profits will be shared by billionaire owner and millionaire players. Happy day for GOP in MN.
Private profits from tax dollars. Public transit >new stadium. Thanks again GOP.
The Republicans feel it is far more important to invest in highways and oil drilling than to do such silly things as improve mass transit.
The Republicans feel it is far more important to invest in highways and oil drilling than to do such silly things as improve mass transit. /sarcasm
Every parking spot in the city costs $10K or more to build. Millions are funneled from the state coffers to fund highway programs. Subsidizing non-car owners? Are you insane?
Build this line NOW! Who cares about the stadium.
Adam