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Home Resource Center In the News Home Greenbelt Alliance in the News |
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Greenbelt Alliance In the News
March 10, 2004 Making a transit wish list Subheading By Barry EberlingFAIRFIELD -- The congested Interstates 80 and 680 interchange is likely to be the star project for a possible half-cent county transportation sales tax measure on the November ballot. But what else? Trains from the Vallejo ferry to Napa? More express buses? More road construction? Transportation leaders want help deciding. They want some citizen opinions on creating the perfect projects list that might get the needed two-thirds majority vote to pass. The Solano Transportation Improvement Authority Board tonight could create a citizens advisory committee. It could also approve holding community meetings at each of the county's seven cities. The board meets at about 7 p.m. or immediately following a 6 p.m. Solano Transportation Authority meeting. The meeting is at 701 Civic Center Dr. About 50 people could sit on the citizens advisory committee, an STIA memo said. Members could include representatives from such diverse groups as police, taxpayers groups, the Greenbelt Alliance, unions, teachers, chambers of commerce, farmers and bus riders. That's the same approach tried two years ago to draw up a projects list for another sales tax attempt. That tax measure - called Measure E - failed. Measure E tried to balance road and transit projects. Its list included $200 million to help fix the interchange, a project that could cost an estimated $740 million to more than $1 billion. It included an array of other projects, ranging from bike trails to commuter rail to park-and-ride lots. "I think the public was lost in what we were trying to do," said Dixon Mayor Mary Ann Courville, who is vice chairwoman of the board. She hopes most people realize that fixing the interchange must be the focus of a new sales tax measure, Courville said. A citizens advisory committee could meet three times during April and early May, an STIA memo said. The deadline to put a tax measure on the November ballot is Aug. 6. The proposed half-cent tax would raise about $1.43 billion over 30 years. The average family would pay about $195 annually, a Solano Transportation Improvement Authority memo estimated. Reach Barry Eberling at 425-4646 Ext. 232 or at beberling@dailyrepublic.net. Who: Solano Transportation Improvement Authority What: Create citizens committee to help with projects list for possible transportation sales tax measure When: 7 p.m. or immediately following the 6 p.m. Solano Transportation Authority meeting Where: Suisun City Hall, 701 Civic Center Blvd. Info: 424-6075 ### |
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