Phoenix: Will America's 'Least Sustainable City' vote to kill rail transit?

[Eugene]

Source: Washington Post

Will America’s ‘Least Sustainable City’ vote to kill rail transit?

By Katherine Davis-Young August 24 at 4:53 PM

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Most major U.S. cities view transit as key to serving their growing populations, reducing congestion and improving air quality by taking vehicles off the road. In the Washington region, where the Metro subway system is expanding into the outer suburbs and the light-rail Purple Line is under construction in suburban Maryland, officials are looking for ways to expand transit options for the same reasons.

But the future of rail transit in Phoenix is in jeopardy, as voters head to the polls Tuesday for a special election to decide whether to allow the city to spend any more money on rail development or instead invest in more auto infrastructure.

-snip-

Skepticism over the South Phoenix extension swelled into the Proposition 105 ballot measure, which would halt not only the South Phoenix line, but any future rail development in the city. If passed, the city would turn away billions in federal transit grants and redirect previously approved sales tax funding to road improvements. In a car-centric city where many roads are in disrepair, those funds could have a more immediate effect, rail opponents say.

Such organized opposition has killed transit projects elsewhere. Donors to Building a Better Phoenix include the Arizona Free Enterprise Club, a group with ties to Americans for Prosperity, an influential political advocacy organization funded by oil industry billionaires Charles and David Koch. David Koch died Friday. Americans for Prosperity has campaigned against transit in Arkansas and Utah, and in 2018 the group led a successful door-knocking campaign to defeat a light-rail project on the ballot in Nashville.

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Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/will-americas-least-sustainable-city-vote-to-kill-rail-transit/2019/08/24/6a66a912-c455-11e9-b72f-b31dfaa77212_story.html

[delisen]

1. Why is there Phoenix?

Apologies to residents of Phoenix but I do not understand why it was built, why it was planned as it is, and whether it should continue to exist.

What is its future in a climate-changing world?

[not fooled]

2. The reason is for the checks to clear now

for developers, GOPee politicians facilitating all of this, etc.

Screw the future, say AZ pukes (many LDS), who run things.

[TreasonousBastard]

4. I visited Phoenix some time in the 80's and my first thought was...

why does a city in the middle of the desert have so many lawns and golf courses?

I spent some time actually in the desert and found old-timers in houses with no lawns, but the sand raked in patterns and desert flora. And no AC, just swamp coolers. There was the Desert Botanical Gardens where we were told to stay on the sidewalks because the rattlesnakes didn't like the hot concrete.

I forget what colors the hotel carpets were, but when I mentioned them, I was told that they were chosen because it was easier to see scorpions on them.

Yes, it did seem a bit fragile. Why people retire there I just don't get. At least it doesn't have alligators, I suppose.

[abqtommy]

3. I used to live in Phoenix, AZ, and left in 1973. It was a mess then, too.