As realtors and long-time Phoenix residents, we know that light rail has helped improve neighborhoods, attract business and transport many people who would otherwise contribute to daily traffic jams.
So, it is alarming that Dark Money groups from out of state, backed by the Koch brothers, are putting money in to an effort to effectively shut down light rail growth in Phoenix.
Further, they are attempting to place arbitrary caps on the city’s ability to spend money on our priorities or recover from massive cuts made during the Great Recession.
City leaders such as Mayor Gallego, a majority of city council members and many non-profit and trade organizations have created a campaign to ask city voters to vote NO on Prop 105 and Prop 106.
See the website with information here.
Prop 105 would:
- Create a prohibition agains further rail projects in Phoenix;
- Redirect billions of dollars of federal support away from Phoenix infrastructure;
- Threaten our ability to plan for population growth;
- Increase crowding on our streets.
Prop 106 would make permanent any cuts that leaders will be forced to make during tough times. To put that another way, if we make cuts during an up-coming recession or economic downturn as we did in the Great Recession, those cuts would be permanent.
So, where the city has been restoring services and making the pension program stable again since the recession, Prop 106 would make those cuts permanent and would force drastic cuts to the services that our citizens and neighborhoods rely on. This is simply reckless.
IMPORTANT: This election has been forced on the ballot on August 27th, when many people are on vacation. Early ballots go out on July 29th. So, be certain to get request yours by calling 602-261-VOTE (8683). See the city website for more.
