Recently I and a couple of hundred other concerned citizens met with federal, regional and state transportation officials in the Wyndham Hotel. More than 90 percent in attendance spoke against light rail.
Two speakers pointed out that the evaluation studies were done by the same company that builds light rail. One cited specific lies in the evaluation documentation. Another said his friends in the media had admitted they could not report honestly about Utah transportation issues for fear of losing UTA advertising.Another speaker said UTA owns considerable property along the light-rail route and is planning to develop it for the profit of its friends. Several business owners along the proposed west-east route worried that they would suffer the same fate of those in the Main Street ghost town.
Virtually everyone at the meeting agreed that light rail is a sham. The reason legislators gave for allocating $50 million was to get $480 million into Utah!
This is outrageous. Those federal dollars are our dollars. Light rail and the 2002 Olympics are the excuse. Greed is the reason.
Clean air and traffic congestion are admittedly NOT the excuse or reason. What do you think will happen to the profits from this $480 million? Some will go to continue the bribery of useful politicians. Some will go to continue the bribery of our media. Most will go to fatten the wallets of our transportation-industrial-complex.
Transportation is a legitimate concern. It's time we returned legitimacy to our public transportation process.
Ken Larsen
Salt Lake mayoral candidate