From: "Webmaster Friends Of Transit" To: "Friends of Transit NEWS" Subject: Glendale closer to vote on transit Date: Monday, June 18, 2001 9:43 AM For those of you who did not see this article last week in the Arizona Republic: Glendale closer to vote on transit Council to decide on transportation plan in 2 weeks By Dennis Godfrey The Arizona Republic June 13, 2001 Glendale took another step toward asking its voters to approve a half-cent sales tax increase for transportation improvements. The City Council got a report Tuesday on a plan in the works since November. A formal decision on setting the Nov. 6 election for the $1 billion package is scheduled for June 26. Glendale now collects 1.2 cents for each retail dollar spent in the city. The tax is projected to bring in $42.3 million in the fiscal year that begins July 1. The sales tax increase would provide an estimated $600 million more over 25 years. Most of the other money needed for the transportation plan would come from federal, state and regional grants. Light rail is the glamour item in the proposal. Council members spent much of a three-hour meeting discussing a proposed two-mile corridor to be built in the city. They concluded that no specific route should be identified but that the line should run either along Bethany Home Road or Northern Avenue. "I don't think we are going to get into buying people's homes or their front yards," Mayor Elaine Scruggs said. She was seeking to allay fears that neighborhoods would be damaged by the light-rail service. The proposal also calls for Glendale to pay up to half of Phoenix's costs for extending the light-rail system from Chris-Town Mall to Glendale's border. Allan Grover, city transportation planner, said it will likely be 2010 before Glendale would see light rail. The total cost to the city is expected to be $170 million. The proposal does provide for increased bus service, improved Dial-A-Ride and street improvements that residents would see quicker. Glendale must improve its bus service if it is to keep pace with Phoenix, which passed a half-cent tax increase for transportation in 1999. Voter approval would mean increased weekend and night bus service almost immediately, said James Book, Glendale's transportation manager. Reach the reporter at dennis.godfrey@arizonarepublic.com or (602) 444-6921.