Troy Transit Facility Part 2

It looks like the proposed Troy Transit facility is back on the agenda for the 1/9/12 Troy City Council meeting.

As reported in the TroyPatch...

Troy City Council is expected to vote Monday on a revised and less costly transit center design proposal for the federally funded multi-modal transit center after voting 4-3 last month not to approve a design subcontract in the amount of $8.4 million. The revised proposal, submitted by Councilman Dane Slater, caps the transit center project at $6.27 million. The reduced cost is meant to entice a "yes" vote from a majority of City Council members, including Councilman Wade Fleming, who voted against the project Dec. 19 but indicated he would be willing to vote for a less costly version of the project.

Click here for more information on this latest proposal from the City's website.

After reading the proposed resolution, it appears that Councilman Wade Fleming is willing to consider changing his vote to a "Yes" as result of project savings that have been "uncovered."

If Councilman Fleming is still undecided, he might want to consider the following:

1. Some opponents have stated that our Federal Government should not be spending funds on this type of a project when it's facing such huge deficits. On the other hand, going in to debt to finance infrastructure projects is completely legitimate. These types of projects have benefits that extend into the future. For example, local governments sell municipal bonds to finance roads and sewers.
2. Presidential candidate Ron Paul has supported many Federal earmarks for transit projects in his Texas Congressional District. For example, he requested an earmark for $2 million to renovate a transit maintenance facility in Galveston and $3.6 million to construct an inter-modal transit facility in Victoria.
3. In defending a national endowment of the railroads on June 14, 2002, conservative commentator William F. Buckley wrote, "the urbanization of America and the volatility of American travel need to be accepted as a part of the American culture that shouldn't be constrained, let alone aborted, by dogmatic enforcements of otherwise useful rules of procedure."

Now, I'm not sitting in their seats, and Troy City Council members may have other objections to this project. If the Mayor and Councilmembers are uncomfortable with the potential operating and depreciation costs of the proposed transit facility, that is a legitimate reason to vote "No."  However, I would encourage each of them to carefully consider how this proposed project might benefit the City of Troy.  Don't make this into an issue about national politics.