RTA RAILROADING PUBLIC SUPPORT, WHICH IS NOT THERE

(Last month, the NFH featured an article on the Regional Transportation Authority – the article covered the reasons to vote yes on the ballot issue asking for a 1-percent sales tax increase to cover roadwork throughout El Paso County. If anyone would like a copy of the September NFH to reference the article, please call 683-7292. Here’s the other side.)The growth industry is pulling all the stops to continue piling as much of the burden of growth costs on current residents in order to keep the cost of new houses artificially low.Well organized and well funded, they have formed a speaker’s bureau to spread their propaganda quickly across the county. They are racing to get endorsements from every group in town. Our interpretation of this strategy: They hope a long list of groups endorsing this growth tax will sway any uninformed voters to follow, much like sheep.Last month, City Fathers turned over council chambers to the Greater Colorado Springs Economic Development President Rocky Scott for a one-hour infomercial on the city government’s television channel, deceptively labeled an “e-Town Hall on transportation.”Recently, two members of the pro-RTA group made their case before CONO (Council of Neighbors and Organizations) for more than 30 minutes. CONO President Jan Doran did not respond last week to a request by SaveTheSprings for an equal time on the agenda to balance the presentation. CONO officers Jan Doran and Sallie Clark, both members of the Pikes Peak Transportation Coalition, made what they called a personal appeal to CONO members to endorse the RTA.Though some members expressed discomfort with voting on the issue without first consulting the boards of the homeowners’ associations that they represent, the group voted. The support was weak. From a quorum of 17 voting members who were present, only eight voted to endorse the RTA. However, a large number of abstentions meant the ayes outweighed the nays and the endorsement passed.SaveTheSprings remains steadfast in its opposition to the RTA, which we would support if it was part of a comprehensive growth plan that includes fair and smart sharing of costs with new developments. Alone, we know the RTA is a “growth tax,” shifting the burden of paying for new development transportation impacts away from developers and onto the backs of the citizens. Our agenda is not against growth. It is against growth that doesn’t pay its way and protect our quality of life.SaveTheSprings conducted a survey of registered voters in early August about growth issues. Among the 168 registered voters surveyed countywide, only 30.4 percent supported the RTA tax. However, we need to make sure the voters are well informed on this issue and not misled by the rhetoric and spin of the growth industry.Citizens could be tempted to approve the RTA and its 1-percent sales tax out of frustration with traffic congestion. But it’s the city and county’s lack of comprehensive growth management that has led to this traffic nightmare. They are asking us for this tax increase because they refuse to implement a “pay-as-you-grow” policy.SaveTheSprings Director Dick Anson said, “We’re willing to pay our fair share of the costs of the infrastructure we need, but it’s not fair and not wise for us to subsidize new development.”The True Causes of Our Traffic Situation: Lousy Growth Policies

• Cities and counties create greater backlogs with each new annexation or development
• Springs fiscal impact analyses routinely ignore the costs incurred to improve our road network to keep up with the demand of the additional population
• Little or no off-site transportation impact assessments

This July, the City Council approved the annexation and development plan for Woodmen Heights, knowing that city traffic planners projected this would result in F level of service at Woodmen and Powers and Woodmen and Black Forest Road. With this kind of planning, we can’t win. We can’t throw enough money at the problem to fix it.RTA’s big-business proponents continue to spin the tax as a correction to taxpayer stinginess. They assert it is not to fix problems created by growth. Yet a glance at the list of projects to be funded reveals it is largely to extend and add capacity to roads serving the growing areas of town. A few examples:

• Baptist Road in Gleneagle – perfectly adequate in 1995
• Meridian Road widening and extension – on city outskirts
• Widen/Extend Marksheffel Road – on outskirts, not needed ten years ago
• Austin Bluffs corridor, intersection and bridge improvements – all capacity-driven
• Woodmen widening – due to growth to the east
• Hodgen, Struthers – fine a decade ago before rampant development in Black Forest

We’re asked to fund these because the development that necessitated them did not pay.CONO members from Colorado Springs’ Westside asked why there were no RTA projects listed in their neighborhood. The honest answer, of course, is that the Westside is not growing.Contrary to growth industry rhetoric about citizen stinginess, a University of Colorado at Colorado Springs Center for Colorado Policy Studies report shows real per-capita Colorado Springs tax revenue increased 13 percent from 1991 to 2000. (“Does Growth Pay for Itself Through Increased Revenues or Decreased Costs per Person?” 9/2003)The City Council and county commissioners routinely ignore the wishes of the majority in their blind quest for another house to pay taxes. They take away our choice. We won’t forget that on June 22, the City Council ignored the wishes of 51 percent of utility customers and voted to ignore the recommendations of the Utility Policies Advisory Committee to move toward assessing new customers more of the cost of utility extensions. When the Woodmen Heights annexation was up for discussion, we pointed out that the development plan would outpace the transportation network. The City Council felt no need even to explain their rationale. They ignored the traffic issue in their haste to fast track another real estate deal.On the RTA, we have a choice and a voice. If we pass the RTA, the growth industry, the City Council and El Paso County Commissioners will determine that we are happy to bear the brunt of the costs. If we defeat it, we put them on notice that they need to get serious about true, fair and smart fixes to the policies that created this mess.SaveTheSprings is committed to rational, informed decision-making about quality of life in the Pikes Peak Region. Honest accounting of all costs and benefits of growth is a necessary component of enlightened stewardship of what makes this a great place to live. Successful businesses and quality cities do not hide the facts as they evaluate their strategies and policies. Contact Dave Gardner at dave@savethesprings.org, or Dick Anson at d.o.anson@datawest.net.