urbanMSP

How long do we have to wait for the sleight of hand trick revealing SWLRT will be funded through this or that?

Is it likely to happen at the last minute on the last day possible?

Yep.

Haven't we already got an indication of how that will work? Certificates of participation.

How long do we have to wait for the sleight of hand trick revealing SWLRT will be funded through this or that?

I hear that electronic pull tabs have huge upside.

After this election, I think Minneapolis, Saint Paul and any other city that wants good transit should start thinking about coming up with some funding themselves.

The chances of getting state or federal funding to even expand regular bus service aren't looking so good.

Can Hennepin and Ramsey enact the 0.5% "Greater Minnesota Transit Sales and Use Tax" to fund transit initiatives? Or does the law not allow for that?

If Dakota County can pull out of the CTIB to use the .5% tax, Hennepin and Ramsey can.

I don't know, I think making the trains run on time may be one of the priorities of the new national government.


(I'll give you a minute to look up that reference)


I think Trump's election is one of the greater dangers to emerge against our democracy, but on the specific issue of transportation funding it may not be so bad. He specifically mentioned rebuilding infrastructure *first* in his victory ramble, and remember that despite his base's working class rust belt sensibilities, he's lived a pampered life in America's largest, greatest city. Infrastructure, in his mind, must automatically mean roads and bridges, but also almost certainly means transit as well. And he's setting up Chris Christie and Rudy Giuliani - both of whom also getting all their notions of what infrastructure means from New York City - to be leading advisers. It's a scary, fascist world we're staring down at, but a scary, fascist northeast-metropolitan world, which likely means good transit.

If you think Chris Christie is going to help us get good transit, remember that it's his fault there isn't a second tunnel under the Hudson being built right now.

Exactly. And Congress will be in no mood to continue current transit funding levels, much less increase them. Trump's transition team already has a bunch of oil & gas men.

If Dakota County can pull out of the CTIB to use the .5% tax, Hennepin and Ramsey can.

If they can, and I'm not sure they can, this may very well happen. I don't know if that's a good thing or not. There's nothing that says that money has to go to transit. It could just as well go to local roads and then we have nothing for transit.

What does this do for projects like SWLRT, that are already well underway? Are they going to drop their shovels come January 2017, or whenever Mark Dayton's tenure ends in 2 years? I wouldn't put it past any of these people or their constituents.

Local funding is committed. It's all about the FFGA.

This seems relevant to the question around federal funding: https://transportist.org/2016/11/10/on- ... istration/ (though it's not much more than conjecture).

As I've said before, and I think it's even more true now... If we (Minneapolis, Hennepin County, whatever) want to build transit, we're gonna have to pony up. Other than CTIB and a pretty brief blip of federal programs for transit projects under Obama, the directional arrow for funding pots from higher government agencies has generally pointed downward. I'd rather pay more on my property taxes now (or, a worse option, a higher, regressive sales tax) than hold out hope that 2018 midterms will see a flip of one (or both, lololol) MN chambers back to DFL *and* that they'll even do anything with that majority anyway. It's just as likely (perhaps moreso given typical midterm turnout) that the governor is GOP in January 2019. And it's just as likely that in the meantime, Dayton will compromise on transit (whether ops or capital or both) funding as he and the DFL caucus try to make themselves look good enough for the next election. Yes, transit is expensive, and no my position isn't coming from some ideological "local first" Strong Towns perspective. I want shit built and it's the right thing to do given the reality of other sources drying up.

than hold out hope that 2018 midterms will see a flip of one (or both, lololol)

Only House is up for election in 2018. Senate stays GOP thru 2020 at least.

I agree with RBY. If we did a property tax, is it legal to make it progressive based on the value of the property and/or income?

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

Property tax is defined pretty firmly in state law, the only lever a municipality has is to determine how much they want to collect.

than hold out hope that 2018 midterms will see a flip of one (or both, lololol)

Only House is up for election in 2018. Senate stays GOP thru 2020 at least.

1/3rd of the Senate is up for re-election every two years, however Democrats are defending more seats in 2018 than Republicans are which will make picking up seats very difficult (unless we're talking MN senate then nevermind).

1/3rd of the Senate is up for re-election every two years, however Democrats are defending more seats in 2018 than Republicans are which will make picking up seats very difficult (unless we're talking MN senate then nevermind).

What you describe is true of the US Senate, but they're talking about the MN Senate. MN house seats come up every two years, while MN senate seats are on a two - four - four year cycle. This is so that the last election of a given apportionment (the one that occurs the year of the new census, the decade year) is less relevant. But it means there's no staggering.

Apologies for the mistake on the MN senate reelection.