Transit supporters continue push for more state aid
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Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald at a rally with a coalition of public transit advocates Downtown on Monday. -
AFL-CIO communications director Marty Marks watches a rally of public transit advocates Downtown.
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Supporters of public transit fanned out across Pittsburgh's Golden Triangle Monday afternoon to seek support from riders for increased state aid.
About two dozen teams hoped to distribute at least 8,000 fliers calling attention to the $64 million budget gap Allegheny County's Port Authority is facing for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
A rally, news conference and leafleting effort came the day before Gov. Tom Corbett is scheduled to release his proposed 2012-13 budget. The governor has warned that his second budget, like his first, will be tight and require cuts in state aid to many popular programs.
The Monday events, held on Liberty Avenue at Ninth Street, were organized by "We Are One Western Pennsylvania."
The fliers distributed at bus and light-rail stops asked riders to call the governor's office and ask him to support recommendations in his Transportation Funding Advisory Commission's report. The commission recommended increases in transportation-related taxes and fees as a way to raise more money for road and bridge repairs and for transit subsidies.
The governor, however, has said repeatedly that he would be reluctant to raise any taxes while the economy still is recovering from a deep recession.
The fliers also urged people to attend and speak at a Feb. 29 Port Authority public hearing on a plan to cut bus and light-rail service by about 35 percent in September.
"We have to tell the governor that it is important to fix transit," Jim Bonner, a laid-off bus driver from Highland Park, said. Stranding bus riders by cutting their routes also will hurt their employers and reduce the region's future economic growth, he said.
About 50 percent of the people who work Downtown are transit riders, county Executive Rich Fitzgerald told the crowd. Drivers, Port Authority managers and riders all were making sacrifices to bring down costs, he said, and the state needed to step up to do its part, he said.
Public transit was the original "green industry," said Hillary Bright, Pittsburgh organizer for the BlueGreen Alliance. "Fifty-four on a bus is better than 54 cars on the road," she said. Providing bus and light-rail service reduces pollution and grows middle-class jobs, she said.
Most Sunday bus service would be eliminated under the proposed cuts, Carol Ballance of the Pennsylvania Interfaith Impact Network told the crowd. That would make it impossible for many people to get to their worship services, she said.
Her organization had collected 1,300 postcards from people opposed to the planned transit cuts and planned to deliver them to Mr. Corbett's office.
First Published February 7, 2012 12:00 am
