City officials: Students can vote on local initiatives

Yes, let's discuss the local issues! There are three ballot measures in the City of Lawrence that, if all are passed, will RAISE our sales tax from 7.3% to 7.85%. If you spend $10,000 in the City, this represents $55 more of your money going to taxes.

Guess where the bargains will be if these hikes pass: Topeka, Olathe, Overland Park, KCK, some parts of KCMO etc. There couldn't be any better way to discourage local shopping (and to head to the mall in Topeka and the greater variety of shopping in the KC metro) than this!

But then again, Lawrence might be encouraging family togetherness for many students, as a great deal of students come from Topeka and Johnson County. Hey...while you're hanging with Mom and Dad, might as well go shopping since it's cheaper with them than it is in Lawrence!

Who ever came up with the idea of raising taxes when the economy is garbage? There's no way faster for Lawrence to become Hooverville than to kick the economy while it's down.

Besides, why sales tax? If our local economy starts to feel the recession we're in, and people start spending less and less, guess what: the raise in rate might not even bring in enough money to cover the shortfall! The forecasts that proponents use won't cut it!

Also...why does the T have to die if the sales tax isn't passed? Why doesn't it live within its current means? With competent management, its routes could be optimized - I've driven past almost empty buses many times! Use shorter buses or even vans to save fuel! Determine the most and least ridden routes and make changes and cuts based on that.

I suppose that the T's managers hate math...if they only took a few courses from our beloved math department, they could do wonders! (And you business students wonder why they make you take business stats and calculus...pay attention in those courses...think outside the box with what you've learned...you'll be indispensable!)

Finally, the T could charge riders more.

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• Posted by ebenavid on October 21, 2008 at 2:09 a.m.
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City officials: Students can vote on local initiatives

Sounds like someone's been hanging out in the LJ World Forums.

The T has to die because our great city commissioners decided not to fund it with property tax money. We are left with a vote to decide its survival because the city decided to take money from the property taxes that were supposed to fund the T and move it to other areas of the city budget. Every year it seems they threaten to cut the T, every year they give it just enough money to scrape by, and every year it is left unchanged.

There are several reasons that smaller vehicles aren't run on routes- the number one reason being that heavy duty transit vehicles tend to stay running alot longer than vans, paratransit buses, and other light duty vehicles. The average heavy duty bus can log in over a million miles, serving for 20 years, while you are lucky if you can get two out of a smaller vehicle. I agree that we should cut the least ridden routes, but believe me, if you tried that people from the neighborhoods would show up and complain. Don't forget Uncle Sam either- half of the money to fund the T comes from him. The FTA and ADA have alot to do with how we run the service as well.

If you vote "no" on the transit sales tax, we will lose our federal grants for operations and vehicle replacement. There is a possibility that KU would lose all 5 park and ride buses, which were purchased with federal money by the City of Lawrence. There will be no T, no fixed route service, no paratransit service for the disabled, nothing. And don't count on a re-design of the system overnight either- if we vote to kill the T, we'll be sent to the back of a long line of other communities (cities like Manhattan, Salina, Garden City, Hutchinson, to name a few) who are competing for federal dollars to start up new public transit systems.

I really don't like the idea of a regressive sales tax funding our transit system, but it's the only option we have right now. It's a very real and scary possibility that the revenue projections will not be met, but keep in mind that our continued athletic success draws many people in from out of town. Also keep in mind that many places in Kansas City, such as The Legends, levy a special sales tax, usually an additional 1%, and many people still shop there.

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• Posted by sjschlag on October 21, 2008 at 7:51 p.m.
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