April 9, 2011. Evansville Courier & Press.
EVANSVILLE — On Monday, activists from the 20 church groups of the Congregations Acting for Justice and Empowerment coalition plan to ask local government officials to commit to three initiatives.
Among them will be an already rejected proposal to extend Metropolitan Evansville Transist System bus service along U.S. 41 North nearly to Interstate 64.
The requests will be presented during the annual Nehemiah Action Assembly at 7 p.m. at Crossroads Christian Church on Lincoln Avenue just east of Interstate 164. The assembly is expected to attract more than 1,500 people from 20 area congregations.
The Vanderburgh County Council has already rejected funding the expanded METS route, at least for now. CAJE on Wednesday had asked the council to commit to funding the project before August. Council members rejected the request unanimously.
Despite several council members expressing support for the expansion of the bus route, committing a large amount of money to the project while the county faces less revenue just isn’t possible, they agreed.
“While I can see some very, very good things occurring by having a transportation system up North 41, I also maintain that from today’s discussion and all our previous discussions that right now we just don’t have the money available,” Council President Joe Kiefer said during Wednesday’s meeting.
Elliott Kavanaugh, co-chairman of CAJE’s transportation committee, said the group has studied the need for the route for two years. He said the group realizes officials face tough decisions in the near future because of less income coming in, but he urged the council not to look at a potential new route just as an expense.
“Our message has been that this has been an investment. “This is not a one-time cost,” he said. “This is not money that is lost, this is money that can go back into the economy.”
Since the vote Wednesday, Kavanaugh said, the committee has been negotiating with Kiefer on working out a commitment that might be more acceptable to council members.
Kavanaugh said the group recognizes the county is facing “dire” times and is open to nontraditional funding sources such as partnering with the private sector for funding, but those businesses want a commitment from public officials as well.
According to cost analysis by METS, the new route would have cost $150,000 last year. With the recent spike in fuel costs, Kavanaugh estimated the cost would rise to about $179,000 annually. He said the group has suggested implementing a trial route to prove to the community how valuable a route would be.
“We really don’t care how it’s done,” he said. “We just want it done.”
While the new route would be invaluable to many of the estimated 7,000 who are “locked in” the city because they lack access to a car, Kavanaugh said the hope is some people would choose to use the service to make it more viable.
He said his committee’s survey found that 44 percent of people employed on the proposed route said they would be at least somewhat likely to use the bus to get to work
“We really want it to be something that people with vehicles use, too. Obviously, there are not enough people who lack access to a vehicle to make it a good investment,” he said.
Other issues members of CAJE plan to ask local officials during the assembly are youth homelessness and re-entry programs for ex-offenders. CAJE members chose the three issues last November for the coalition to focus on this year.
