Bob Cook (Q1)
Submitted by:
Bob Cook, 45 year resident of Greater Tucson
The time has come for Greater Tucson residents to stop fighting bad transportation plans and Vote YES on a good one–Questions 1 and 2–on May 16th.
Our failure to pay for growth during the past three decades has resulted in $4 billion in unfunded infrastructure needs and an unbalanced transportation system.
Every year that we do not diversify our system of mobility, the situation only grows worse. In addition to rapidly increasing road construction costs, fuel to power our cars and trucks is taking an ever greater toll on our economy.
Past transportation elections pitted the local growth industry against community activists who have fought for appropriate growth management and fair impact fees. Consensus on a multi-modal plan has consistently been blocked by those who benefit from growth and road-based sprawl as well as by those who oppose any new taxes for anything.
This election is our community’s turning point.
The majority of voters understand that we need to invest now in a better, multi-modal transportation system.
The age of cheap oil is over. People and governments are beginning to respond by adopting energy-efficient strategies for transportation. When the former head of exploration and production for the Saudi petroleum industry concluded in 2005 that world oil production will likely peak by 2015, many people woke up to the emerging reality. Our local congressman, Raúl Grijalva, co-sponsored a bi-partisan resolution just last October calling on the United States to plan for “Peak Oil.”
Voting YES on Questions 1 and 2 is the first step in redirecting Greater Tucson toward a more sustainable future.
Forty percent of the plan will immediately fund multi-modal mobility and safety improvements so that we can be prepared for the coming decade of unprecedented economic challenges and thrive as a community.
