Is this the first real step towards a light-rail initiative??
~~~~
Task force appointed to tackle transportation puzzle
Web Posted: 06/26/2008 11:47 PM CDT
By Patrick Driscoll
With gas prices nudging to $4 a gallon, the economy snoozing and transportation funds on a long vacation, the city's leaders decided to take a serious look at a potpourri of solutions.
Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff and Mayor Phil Hardberger on Thursday announced formation of the Transportation Task Force to come up with a plan to take to state and federal lawmakers next year.
Everything from light rail to more highway lanes — yes, toll roads, too — is on the table for the 11-member task force.
“We just kind of left it up to them to set the agenda,” Wolff said. “We've got a pretty knowledgeable group of people.”
The task force includes familiar faces in the business community, and four were tapped from the VIA Metropolitan Transit board.
Two members, Terrell McCombs of the San Antonio Mobility Coalition and Bill Barker of the Sierra Club and Green Space Alliance, stood on different sides of a light-rail plan that voters shot down in 2000 and, more recently, on plans to build 70-plus miles of toll roads.
McCombs, a staunch toll-road advocate, said he and others have since softened on light rail even though such systems require heavy subsidies.
“We're going to look hard at rail, light rail,” he said. “It's expensive.”
Barker, who helped draw up the 2000 rail plan when he was VIA's planner, still shuns big highways as the answer, especially since he believes oil is growing scarcer.
“I see a difficult time for transportation ahead,” he said. “I remain optimistic that this group will be able to plan accordingly.”
Figuring out what the city's transportation system should offer is just part of the task force's job. Members will also tackle funding.
Gurgling up in recent government and road-industry discussions are ideas such as indexing the state gas tax, adding a sales tax on gas, raising vehicle registration fees or implementing a transportation property tax. A menu of options could eventually be placed before local voters.
“Frankly, the well's dry, we have to do something,” McCombs said. “I don't think there's any one single bullet that'll solve our transportation problems.”
Task Force members
Hope Andrade, former chairwoman of the Texas Transportation Commission
Bill Barker, Sierra Club and Green Space Alliance member
Mary Briseno, VIA board member
Jack Leonhardt, mayor of Windcrest, board member of the Alamo Area Council of Governments
James Lifshutz, VIA board member
Terrell McCombs, chairman of the San Antonio Mobility Coalition
Richard Perez, president of the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce
Rick Pych, VIA board member
Jim Reed, Regional Mobility Authority board member
Linda Chavez-Thompson, VIA board member
Derrick Howard, CPS Energy board member
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/met...N.3e348a5.html