From: "Friends of Transit" To: Subject: Here is what Tibune has to say about Proposition 400 Date: Wednesday, October 27, 2004 9:32 PM The risks of rejection Defeat of transportation plan would sour spirit of regional cooperation, yield endless squabbles Jim Ripley is executive editor of the Tribune. It's Saturday in the barber shop and after a couple of snips Alfred Fiore, my barber, stops to talk politics. "How are you going to vote on Proposition 400?" he asks. "For it," I reply. Fiore offers that he probably will, too, but he explains that all the "garbage" (meaning mixed campaign messages) has given him pause. A million-dollar campaign to defeat the transportation tax renewal must be giving a lot of voters pause - so much so that Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon last Friday ventured east of the city limits to pay his first visit to the East Valley's newspaper in the company of Mesa Mayor Keno Hawker. As a result of that meeting, we did a story on the front page of Saturday's paper on the two mayors' plea for voter support for 400. And opinion page editor Bob Schuster reiterated the Tribune's backing of 400 in an editorial in Monday's paper. What's left to be said? Here's what: I like David Thompson, the entrepreneur who sold his Gilbert-based space satellite assembly and testing plant and is using a large chunk of the proceeds to kneecap 400. He's a contrarian and adventurous free spirit who sold his business, in part, because he couldn't get Pentagon contracts for his satellite business. He was on the outside and couldn't get in. So he sold out to an inside player - General Dynamics - and refocused on Valley politics and infrastructure. Once again he's the outsider, and now he has the money to buy his way in. But while I like this outspoken and quotable East Valley Don Quixote and admire his achievements in the satellite business, I'm not about to follow him on this quest to destroy the two-and-halfyears of work that went into Proposition 400. I respect the work that our region's elected leaders put into forging a plan that is fair and that addresses transportation needs on our side of the Valley as well as regionally. I know that some of you have such a dim view of politicians and the politics of compromise that, if they're for it, you are going to be against it. You're easy pickings for Thompson and a few mossback state legislators from the East Valley who didn't get their way on the issue in the Legislature. This column is not for you. For the Alfred Fiores of the Valley, please consider the East Valley gets its due in Proposition 400. It wasn't always that way. Early on, the Tribune and some East Valley leaders felt the East Valley was getting short-changed in part because of money going into light rail. Valley transportation negotiators listened to the squawking and went back to the table in search of a compromise. When they had completed their dealing, not a single East Valley mayor had anything to complain about. Light rail funding had been cut back. Tax money had been allocated to widen stressed-out East Valley freeways; to create more carpool lanes; to upgrade streets and intersections, including the north-south corridors in Scottsdale; to build a freeway to make Williams Gateway Airport more accessible to a growing work force in the San Tan corridor; and to build a more robust regional bus system aimed at getting employees to work in employment centers throughout the Valley, not just in downtown Phoenix. What emerged was a balancing act that created a transportation system that serves both the sprawl that continues while we grow out and the higher urban density already emerging in such places as Tempe, south Scottsdale and west Mesa. For more details on what the East Valley gets in Proposition 400, I urge you to read an excellent series of stories by Tribune transportation reporter Garin Groff. Those who missed it in the paper can find the series by clicking the Proposition 400 tab right below "Arizona Election 2004" on our Web site: eastvalleytribune.com. Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon was in a dark mood during his Tribune visit. He pointed out that Proposition 400 already leaves Phoenix taxpayers on the short end of the stick. More money raised from Phoenix taxpayers would be distributed to fund projects outside of the city than inside. He also made it clear that Phoenix leaders see light rail as critical to their transportation needs and that he would not be a part of any plan that excludes it, should 400 fail. The accord that yielded Proposition 400 blows against the wind. We're familiar with regional battles over the number of runways at Sky Harbor, over the location of stadiums, over tax revenues from auto malls and shopping centers and over highway money. For once Valley leaders were able to work together and agree on something. Now Dave Thompson and company want to throw it all away - in favor of political chaos for who knows how long. Proposition 400 "is a model for future cooperation," said Gordon. "If we fail, what can we work on on a regional basis?" _____ To unsubscribe, please Click Here