Editor,
I am writing to encourage everyone in Albuquerque to vote for the extension of the Transportation Infrastructure Gross Receipts Tax on Oct. 6. This tax has been in place for 10 years now and has paid for our roads, our buses and our pedestrian and bicycle system. It has provided a crucial piece of funding for our infrastructure system, and to lose it now would be a terrible thing.
Here’s what to expect should the tax fail:
Cracks and potholes in our streets will take much longer to repair.
New expansions of our road system won’t happen for a long time.
Desperately needed new bike trails won’t be built.
Bus services will be cut — service hours will be reduced and routes will be eliminated altogether. Across the country, mass transit systems facing budget cuts have been forced to raise fares, and the same could happen here.
Albuquerque is still a growing city and we need these improvements, which
benefit everyone in this city (unless you stay at home all day) more than ever. And for those who remember the streetcar fiasco of 2006, the language of the bill specifically bans the funds from being used on a rail system, unless the people approve doing so later on.
So if you drive, bike, walk, or take the bus within city limits, you have every reason to vote for this tax. A quarter of a cent — that’s $0.0025 — for every dollar spent is a small price to pay for a healthy transportation system.
John Perry
UNM student
