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Pretenders leader joins transit system backers in support of sales tax hike on March 4 ballot
By Katie Byard
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Tuesday, Feb 19, 2008
Akron rocker Chrissie Hynde rode a bus to add some star power to the campaign for a sales tax increase for Metro Regional Transit Authority.
Public transportation is ''what makes a city a city,'' Hynde said shortly after she arrived Monday morning in downtown Akron with other tax supporters, carrying a mix of homemade and official Metro RTA signs promoting the tax issue on the March 4 ballot.
''If you feel you have to have a car (to get around), you feel trapped,'' she said.
People who use cars to get everywhere ''forget what it is to walk and enjoy the city.''
Hynde, who is rail thin, said other countries have lower obesity rates, in part because of their high-quality public transportation systems.
Hynde rode the bus Monday with about 15 members of the recently formed Greater Akron Partnership for Sustainability (GAPS).
Hynde and group members want ''to raise awareness about the important role public transportation plays for revitalizing downtown Akron,'' GAPS founding member Lisa Bostwick said before the bus trip. Hynde's new restaurant, VegiTerranean at Northside, is on the north edge of downtown.
Some group members said they see public transportation as a key way to cut down on greenhouse gases.
Hynde also sought to bring attention to how riders would be affected by the cuts that have been threatened if the tax increase is defeated.
Standing inside a bus shelter, Hynde began interviewing riders for the benefit of the media.
Bus officials have said they will reduce service and eliminate all weekend buses, effective April 6, if the issue doesn't pass.
The group got on the bus at Highland Square in West Akron and rode on West Market to a stop by the Federal Building on South Main Street
in downtown.
After talking with a few riders who were not part of the GAPS group, Hynde joined a brief demonstration near the bus stop that included chants about the demise of free bus transfers a few years ago.
Metro Planning Director Kirt Conrad said earlier that cutbacks included doing away with the transfers.
Now, riders must pay $1.25 each time they get on the bus, or pay $3 to ride all day. Previously, riders could transfer to a connecting bus for free.
Metro RTA is asking for a permanent 0.25 percentage-point sales tax increase that would raise about $18 million a year.
The proposal would double Metro's tax to 0.5 percent and would raise the total sales tax in Summit County to 6.5 percent.
The agency's annual budget is $29 million, meaning that if the tax issue passes, Metro's budget would jump 62 percent. The agency hasn't received an increase in local tax revenue since 1990.
Cuts planned for next year include the elimination of late-night service and curb-to-curb service (SCAT) for older riders and the disabled.
If the tax issue passes, Metro officials have said, the additional money would prevent the cuts and help reverse some of the service cuts made over the last several years in northern Summit County, Cuyahoga Falls, Stow, Barberton, Norton and southern Summit County.
For information about the tax issue, visit the campaign Web site at http://www.voteformetroscat.org.
Katie Byard can be reached at 330-996-3781 or kbyard@thebeaconjournal.com.
Akron rocker Chrissie Hynde rode a bus to add some star power to the campaign for a sales tax increase for Metro Regional Transit Authority.
Get the full article here.
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