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More cuts to bus service might be in store
Orange County Register
Deeper cuts to Orange County bus service might be forthcoming if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed budget goes through, according to Orange County transportation officials. "If it (governor's proposal) does go through it would have a devastating effect on transit operations," said Orange County Transportation Authority Chief Executive Officer Will Kempton today. In approving the smaller cut, OCTA officials were acting on the assumption that state transit funding would be returned within two years. OCTA faces a more than $330 million shortfall over the next five years. "Once again, the Governor offers shell games instead of solutions, and transit riders in California again suffer the consequences," said Joshua Shaw, the [California Transit Association’s] executive director, in a statement. "The Governor wants to disguise this as some sort of tax relief for families."
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Ballot initiative barring state from taking local funds gains steam
Daily Breeze
A proposed ballot initiative aimed at barring the state from raiding local government coffers to balance its budget gained steam Monday in Los Angeles. In a rally at City Hall, Controller Wendy Greuel and Councilwoman Janice Hahn endorsed a statewide signature-gathering campaign to qualify the measure for the November 2010 ballot. Californians to Protect Local Taxpayers and Vital Services, the coalition sponsoring the ballot measure, hopes to collect 1.1 million signatures - 400,000 more than the minimum required to qualify a constitutional amendment for the statewide ballot.
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Those without cars hit hardest by Bay Area transit crisis
Inside Bay Area
... Because they can't simply hop in a car to cope, transit-dependent riders may be hit hardest by the trouble facing local transit. Some low-income riders may have little recourse but to purchase cheap cars, keep them uninsured and hope they don't break down, said Guillermo Mayer, staff attorney for San Francisco-based civil rights law firm Public Advocates. "It pushes people deeper into poverty," Mayer said. "People are becoming, I think, desperate. This is an immediate impact that they see every single day. They don't have the option of not sending their kids to school; they don't have the option of not showing up at work."
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Biggest loser in Bay Area transit debacle may be the environment
San Jose Mercury News
In the war over the future of public transit in the eco-obsessed Bay Area, the biggest casualty could prove to be the environment. Without a doubt, air quality inventories show that the best way to cut greenhouse gases in the region is by removing cars from the road. However, with the cost to drive plummeting and fare increases and service cuts making transit less practical, transit agencies are having problems retaining their old passengers, let alone attracting new ones. If that continues, the effects could be dramatic — more cars on the road could endanger human health, produce hazier air and contribute to rising sea levels.
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Schwarzenegger plan for gasoline taxes slammed as 'bait and switch'
Sacramento Bee
...the governor wants to reduce the sales tax motorists pay on gas purchases while increasing the gas excise tax, also paid at the pump...Administration officials say the switch would help California close a $19.9 billion budget gap by nullifying laws that reserve most of the gas-pump sales tax for transit agencies...Elimination of transit funding would further hamstring bus and light-rail providers, including Sacramento's Regional Transit, when services are needed most, transit advocates say. "Apparently, when you have the power to get laws changed, you don't have any obligation to follow the ones already on the books," said Josh Shaw, head of the California Transit Association.
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