PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH CENTER, UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI–ST. LOUIS
On April 6, 2010 the voters of St. Louis County approved a tax increase for transit with a surprising 63 percent majority. The 1⁄2 cent sales tax now raises about $75 million a year to maintain the bus system and expand light rail. Seventeen months earlier a similar initiative had lost with 48 percent of the vote. With the economy in a recession in 2010, unemployment high, and the anti- tax Tea Party movement rising around the nation, the huge majority for Prop A was startling. In this paper we try to explain the success of Prop A and tease out the lessons for future tax initiative campaigns and civic coalitions.
Posts Tagged ‘St. Louis’
From Checkbook Campaigns to Civic Coalitions: Lessons from the Passage of Prop A
Monday, April 4th, 2011The Uncertain Future of the High-Speed Rail Program
Tuesday, January 4th, 2011The Illinois Department of Transportation has reached a cooperative agreement with Union Pacific and Amtrak that will permit the release of a $1.1 billion federal high-speed rail grant to the state of Illinois to fund passenger rail improvements between Chicago and St. Louis. The agreement was proclaimed by state and federal officials as “historic” and hailed as “one giant step closer to achieving high-speed passenger service between Chicago and St. Louis.” But stripped of its rhetoric, the announcement only reveals how inadequate and cost-ineffective the Administration’s “high–speed” program is turning out to be.
View this complete post...Chicago-St. Louis 220-mph trains would create more than 40,000 jobs, reduce harmful CO2 emissions by nearly 200 million pounds: new study
Monday, March 8th, 2010MIDWEST HIGH-SPEED RAIL ASSOCIATION
CHICAGO, Ill. – Proposed 220-mph high speed rail to cut the Chicago-St. Louis trip to less than two hours would also provide a major boost to the economy and efforts to reduce harmful emissions
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