April 22, 2010. Evansville Courier & Press.
EVANSVILLE — Local government officials were pressed Thursday on transportation and housing issues at a meeting hosted by Congregations Acting for Justice and Empowerment (CAJE). The group focuses on social justice issues and hosts an annual meeting at which it asks local leaders to commit resources toward those issues.
To a packed house of nearly 1,000 in St. Benedict Cathedral, CAJE leaders asked representatives of county and city governments to increase affordable public housing units and to add bus routes to those areas.
Over the past two years, Mark Rigney, co-chairman of the CAJE Transportation Research Committee, has spoken with public officials and compiled surveys and statistics arguing that a majority of residents — especially low-income families — would benefit from expanded services.
The current problem, Rigney said, is that residents who do not have their own vehicles can take jobs only near their homes, ruling out employment opportunities on Evansville’s North Side.
Rigney said CAJE has told local officials that “this is the proof; now go get it done.”
“In terms of surviving a bad economy and keeping an older city vital, public transportation is the name of the game.”
Research also found that 10,000 people in Evansville need of more affordable housing, according to CAJE.
All three Vanderburgh County Commissioners on Thursday agreed to support a new METS expansion route that would serve the U.S. 41 corridor as far north as AmeriQual, to introduce funding for the plan in the commissioners’ 2011 budget and to advocate the passage of such a plan.
Evansville Department of Metropolitan Development Director Tom Barnett, who was sent to the meeting as a proxy for Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel, committed to ensure at least $500,000 of unrestricted money in the Evansville Affordable Housing Trust Fund by June 30 and another $500,000 for the 2011 fiscal year.
“What a great victory for our community,” said Jane Leingang of St. Benedict Cathedral. “This is the first time the Affordable Housing Trust Fund will be funded with local money providing better opportunities for families. Tonight is the beginning of our community placing a priority upon the housing needs of low to very low-income families in our area.”
Established in 2004, CAJE is made up of 14 congregations representing Catholic, Protestant, Unitarian Universalist and Jewish faiths.
