Evan is the director of the Voting by Phone Foundation and the instigator of the 13th Street Bike Path and the Advocacy Tables now allowed on the Pearl Street Mall, where he entertains on the tightrope.
Published by the Colorado Daily 10/?/94
AS THE MILLENNIUM TURNS... by Evan Ravitz
This June, the City spent your money to find out how to sell this
"big bus" plan to get your vote. The overwhelming "Reasons
Why Respondent Would Vote for Transit Tax" were to reduce
air pollution and traffic congestion. 2A will increase pollution
and marginally affect congestion:
RTD's own "Riding Checks" show an average of 5.5
passengers at any time on any local bus. But RTD and The American
Public Transit Association both say it takes 7 passengers
to save fuel (and pollution) compared to each person driving alone.
Our looping, weaving, slow bus system is already increasing
pollution- roughly 30,000 gallons extra fuel are consumed
yearly because of largely empty local buses- except at rush hour
and on Broadway. The Transit Plan doubles service, which will
actually triple the added pollution: Transportation Division
admits they expect only 40-50% more passengers with 100% more
buses.
The situation is actually worse because not every passenger
would otherwise drive alone- CU's "RTD Bus Pass Survey"
shows three-quarters of student bus riders would otherwise walk,
bike, skate or carpool. Funding the promised service increase
with the taxes raised won't leave funds for the touted conversion
of buses to propane or natural gas, so the wasted fuel will be
mostly diesel, which produces plenty of particulate
pollution, our worst problem here.
There are ways to construct a local bus system that will
lessen pollution, including: 1. Straighten
out the route spaghetti into a grid with many transfer points
to make service much faster and encourage bikes on buses. 2. In
places and at times with sparse ridership, substitute on-demand
vans, which would also serve the handicapped and as delivery service.
3. Stop subsidizing the car problem: city parking fees don't begin
to pay for the land, construction and maintenance costs of parking
lots. We all pay the difference in taxes, no matter how much we
drive. Drivers should help subsidize the solutions: buses, cycling
and walking.
Other reasons to reject 2A:
1. The greater need is for regional buses, funded regionally.
City studies show the average bus ride here is 13.1 miles, impossible
within city limits. Also, an average of 9.4 passengers ride each
regional bus, which does save fuel and pollution. It's
only fair to tax the whole region for more of this, not just in
Boulder.
2. 2A's failure will produce another cover-up. RTD and
the City trumpet their bus system, and don't mention that 7 of
10 local bus routes increase pollution. When doubling the buses
doesn't magically change the situation, they'll ask for more money.
3. The 2A sales pitch misrepresents the contents of 2A and
City Council's Transit Resolution 707. The ads says cyclists
and walkers will be helped. But 707 says buses get first and
second funding priority. The City "Modal Shift" study
shows we cycle six times and walk nine times as much as we bus!
Let's build on success, not just failure!
4. 2A makes you subsidize growth! Latest City figures show
almost all the 3% annual growth in driving miles comes from growth,
not us each driving more. But the designers of 2A used discredited
figures showing the opposite. So the taxes are designed to make
us pay disproportionately for the problems of growth the City
refuses to address. (The Slow Growth! initiative will- in 1995.)
No wonder over half the pro-2A campaign contributions as reported
as of 10/24 to the City Clerk come from developers- led by Boulder's
largest, McStain!
5. 2A promotes the "cult of personality" instead
of transportation. The "driving" force is Councilman
Tad Kline, who says he was elected to "get Boulder moving",
and wants to provide this moving experience before he has to run
for re-election in November '95. Mr Kline before his election
was chair of the Transportation Advisory Board, which, in the
City's "top-down processed democracy" makes him now
something like Transportation Czar. 2A is a good example
of why the Russians gave up their Czars two revolutions and 77
years ago! If 2A passes, and becomes Boulder's own DIA, Kline
might still get to play Federico Pena, who gave us DIA and is
now U.S. Secretary of Transportation. Pena showed he could cut
the big deal and suck the big bucks from the taxpayers. 2A
is the largest City tax increase since the Open Space tax of 1967,
about a 10% increase in the city budget.
Watch the Great Transit Debate between Councilman Kline with Citizen
Bellis (pro-2A) versus Councilwoman Feinberg with ex-Councilman
Pomerance (anti-2A) Thursday November 3 at 7 PM in UMC room 158.
Or see the latter two and Boulder Community Alliance spokesman
Kevin Rooney on Channel 54/62 Sundays (October 30th and November
6) 10-11PM. The BCA is promoting a democratically-derived, rational,
regional, balanced transportation solution for '95. Call Kevin
at 444-4613.
* * * *
Please vote for City issue 2B and County issue 1A, the
recycling increases that do work together on a regional
problem, like a good transportation system should.
Although Colorado Amendment 12 would make initiatives easier,
which I support, it is so loaded with Doug Bruce's personal baggage
and arcana that I will vote no, as I did on his Amendment One
for similar reasons, which does force government to ask before
going into our pockets for turkeys like 2A.
Please vote for Green Party candidate Phillip Hufford for Governor.
The polls say Romer is way ahead, so don't worry that your vote
for Hufford might get you Benson instead. It will send a message
to Romer to stop selling us out by, for example, signing Senate
Bill 139, the "polluter's bill of rights", which gives
immunity to prosecution if a company turns itself in for polluting.
If Hufford gets 10% of the vote, then the Greens will qualify
as a third party for future elections in Colorado. They
will not have to waste their time again with Colorado's ridiculous
petition requirements (which violate the Helsinki Accords on ballot
access) when they could be campaigning on an equal footing with
the Donkeys and Elephants.
This is no ordinary third party with a set agenda. The Greens
favor more true or "direct" democracy, which
will get more alternatives on the ballot, not just those for which
money talks. Voting by phone makes this practical on a large scale.
Evan is the director of the
Voting by Phone Foundation and
the instigator of the 13th Street Bike Path and the Advocacy Tables
now allowed on the Pearl Street Mall, where he entertains on the
tightrope.