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Editorial: Balance state budget using innovative ideas, not illegal raids
Oakland Tribune
The lawsuit seeking return of the transit funds was filed two years ago, when only $1.2 billion had been diverted to the general fund. The suit should have given the state reason to at least stop raiding designated funds. Instead, it continued to divert another $2.2 billion. Now the question of how the state will repay the money is in the hands of a lower court. The impact of that decision could deliver a $1 billion-plus blow to the current budget, which will be reviewed in January.
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VTA board approves plan to cut service to Campbell area bus and light rail lines, raise fares
San Jose Mercury News
Faced with declining revenues, the Valley Transportation Authority will reduce service along its bus routes and light rail lines starting Jan. 11, 2010. The initial service reduction plan saw several changes as it went through public meetings and advisory committees before being approved by the VTA's board of directors on Oct. 1. The approved plan calls for almost an 8 percent reduction in bus service and a 6.5 percent reduction in light rail service, which VTA officials expect will save close to $6.4 million.
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California Supreme Court: "Spillover" Transportation Funds Can't Be Diverted!"
The Strategy Center
n June 30th, the California Court of Appeal, Third District, held that $1 billion in "spillover" gas tax revenues dedicated to public transportation by Proposition 116 may not be diverted by the California Legislature to the General Fund. That decision became final when the California Supreme Court refused to review it on September 29. Public Advocates represented the amici curiae in this case, Shaw v. Chiang, arguing on the side of the plaintiffs that the Legislature's transfer of the "spillover" gas tax revenues was both illegal and bad public policy. The amici curiae are Urban Habitat, TransForm, the Los Angeles Bus Riders Union, the California Public Interest Research Group, the Planning and Conservation League, California Rural Legal Assistance, Inc., and Legal Services of Northern California.
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Do You Ride the OCTA Night OWL? Your Bus Could be Eliminated
Pacific Progressive
OCTA is facing a very tough budget situation because transit funds from the State have been cut, leaving OCTA without a large chunk of money needed to fund the actual day to day operation of buses. OCTA staff is studying how to make cuts in the bus system and has held a series of public meetings, bought ads, and put service change info on buses. OCTA really needs to hear from more riders about what the specific service needs are so the cuts cause the least harm.
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Conservatives and Mass Transit: All Aboard?
Politics Daily
Effete liberals love mass transit and red-blooded American conservatives disdain it, right? That's the stereotype, all right. Libs love their commuter trains, while we conservatives dig our pickup trucks. There's surely something to those images, but a new book titled, "Moving Minds; Conservatives and Public Transportation," seeks to lead some 21st century conservatives to rethink their view of riding the subway. For starters, their book seeks to shape conservatives' views on mass transit by pointing out that our current system is anything but the product of free market forces. Since the invention of the Model T, the U.S. government has poured hundreds of billions of dollars into the highway system, while mass transit (which historically had been privately owned) received vastly smaller infrastructure benefits -- while being taxed heavily to boot. What's more, the government simultaneously prohibited these mass transit companies from raising fares.
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