ALLIANCE ACTION WITH STA BOARD

Spokane public bus service faces a 45-50% reduction in service again this year.  The only way to maintain service at present levels is for Spokane County voters to pass the ballot decided on by the STA Board February 21, a renewal of the revenue support the Alliance campaigned hard to pass 4 years ago.
 
Twenty Spokane Alliance leaders took action with the Spokane Transit Board.   Four leaders, John Lemus from The Arc of Spokane,  Jim Dunn from St. Joseph's Catholic Church, Cathy Gunderson from Highland Park United Methodist Church, and Austin DePaolo from St. Aloysius Catholic Church, pressed the Board on the following points:

• to set a May election date;
• to maintain the .3% sales tax with no requirement to re-vote again in 4 years;
• to continue all the accountability measures that the Alliance persuaded STA to put into place 4 years ago.

The Alliance leaders added an additional point consistent with the stand taken by Alliance institutions on the environment.  That is, that the Board would continue to aggressively pursue the purchase of hybrid buses while lowering carbon and sulfur emissions of the present diesel fleet.

The Spokane Transit Authority Board welcomed the Alliance testimony and voted unanimously to the full slate of Alliance requests.

After the meeting when asked by the Alliance, several Board members responded with a strong commitment to the accountability measures.  Mr. Dick Denenny wrote, “I can’t imagine changing what we’ve done to gain public trust and the two specifics related to the meetings are part of that on going effort.  I believe the evening time and the tv is now ingrained into the Board.”  County Commissioner and STA Board member, Mark Richard, responded, “(the STA Board members) are looking to expedite the purchase of hybrids in our replacement schedule provided the funds are there.”
After expressing his commitment to the accountability measures and the campaign, Spokane City Councilman, Al French, wrote, “Thank you for all that you do for this community and for this (STA) agency.”

Almost all of the STA Board members have indicated their interest in personally participating in the campaign.  Alliance leaders of the STA Campaign have contacted each STA Board members about speaking to Alliance institutions to encourage “Yes” vote.

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