Transit needs high-profile, strong leader (Alabama)

(From the Birmingham News [Alabama], column by Eddie Lard)
Wednesday, May 18, 2005

Wanted: Leader. Energetic. Persuasive. Resourceful. Corporate background a plus. Civic-mindedness a must. Needed to lead campaign for better transit.

Last week, a transit advisory group met to discuss "what's next?" The "what's next" being what strategy transit supporters in Jefferson County should pursue in the wake of yet another defeat inthe Legislature of a transit funding bill. If there was any consensus gleaned from the gathering of about 30 citizens, government officials and civic group leaders, it's that the transit movement needs a strong voice to argue transit's case, especially with lawmakers.

State Rep. George Perdue, D-Birmingham, who sponsored the bill calling for a vote on a vehicle registration fee to pay for transit, praised the work of citizens groups and others at the grass roots who pushed lawmakers to get the bill out of local committee and onto the full House, where it died. But he said it's going to take more than grass-roots efforts to move transit to the next step.

"Bottom up got us here. Top down will get us there," said Perdue, who for several years has sponsored transit bills. He has a point. What was sadly missing from this year's effort were strong business leaders and influential elected officials. Even though leaders in the highest positions, both corporate and government, support the idea of better funding for transit, they didn't exactly beat a trail to Montgomery to tell lawmakers that.

Birmingham Mayor Bernard Kincaid, a compelling public speaker, especially on the topic of regional cooperation on such issues as transit, was missing in action. So was the City Council.
The County Commission also supported transit, but except for talking about their own idea of downtown streetcars, commissioners pretty much left the lobbying to others. Most transit funding partner cities such as Homewood, Hoover and Mountain Brook allowed their House representatives to vote against transit with impunity, even though the mayors and city councils of those cities claim to support transit.

The exception was Vestavia Hills, whose mayor, Scotty McCallum, made clear he expected that city's representative to vote for transit. His director of development, Al Folcher, headed the funding partners' effort to get the bill through the Legislature.

The business community, too, was mostly silent. That was a clear departure from several years ago when Alabama Power CEO Charles McCrary, as chairman of the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce, led a spirited campaign that brought transit legislation to the verge of passage. Where was that corporate help this year?

What was most disappointing about the failure of transit bills this year was that too few people in influential positions did anything meaningful to help the cause. What would have happened if McCrary, Kincaid, as well as the mayors of Hoover, Mountain Brook and Homewood, Jefferson County Commission President Larry Langford, Tom Hamby of BellSouth and Mike Warren of Energen had called House members and urged them to vote for the transit bill? What if they had told their lobbyists in Montgomery to put their muscle behind the bill? What if they had gone to Montgomery to show their support?

So, what will it take to get these leaders, all civic-minded individuals, off the sidelines and into the game, transit folks pondered.

The people at the grass roots - transit advisory groups, the League of Women Voters, the Greater Birmingham Ministries, etc. - have to go knocking on more doors and broaden their coalition. "We have to get off transit as a poor people issue," Folcher says. "People in Vestavia need transit. They don't know they need it. "We've got to go the local clubs, the garden clubs and others, and get them aboard. Then we go to the Tom Hambys of the world and say we need them to say transit is important."

Spreading the word:

Sounds like a plan to me.

I'll add one other thing. The media have done a poor job covering this issue. We haven't sufficiently explained why transit is desperately needed by thousands of people in this area, or why it is vital to the region's economy. We also haven't shined the light on transit movements in Mobile and Montgomery.

We must do better. If we can't tell transit's story, who can?

Eddie Lard is an editorial writer with The News. His e-mail address is elard@bhamnews.com.
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Whereas I don't think it's all top down, unlike Rep. George Perdue, there needs to be a greater commitment to the continued extension of transit, but not solely to support sprawl--which will happen from the extension of the subway to Fort Belvoir in Fairfax County ("Planners Pushing Rail to Fort Belvoir") which will allow for the movement of DoD facilities from Arlington and Alexandria, further deconcentrating the metro area.

Speaking of some top down types that don't care too much about the core of the region, check out this article about the Greater Washington Board of Trade and their take on the military base closings....

"In a statement, the Board of Trade says that while certain areas -- including Alexandria, Arlington and D.C. -- will lose jobs, the region as a whole will not. Roughly 20,000 employees may be relocated, primarily to facilities such as Fort Belvoir.

While the relocations, along with the loss of approximately 5,000 jobs in D.C., present challenges to the communities involved, the Board of Trade says that even if all of the recommendations are implemented, the area's economy will continue to be among the nation's strongest.

The down side: Concerns that jobs are moving away from mass transit continue. The Board of Trade says it is urging the federal government to allocate funding for a Metro extension to Fort Belvoir. "
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And yes, the media needs to step up. Compare the Boston Globe's commuter column "Starts and Stops" to Dr. Gridlock... Can you imagine a whole Dr. Gridlock column on biking?