urbanSTL

I did my part. I voted yes. However, my wife went with me and voted No. So, I guess we could have stayed home.

My faith in our region has been restored tonight with the passage of Prop A. Glad that we can show to the world that we are not a bunch of backward-thinking hicks living here in Missourah!

YES! The John Burns and the old "tea bagger" guard lost! Urbanist and progressives won!
Thank God for Metro, Wash U, UMSL, Black Churches, small business, big business, all the sports teams, John Nations, and everyone else that voted YES!
Metro now has a viable future in St. Louis. We made the right choice today.

So without jumping the gun too much, when do monies begin to be collected from this tax?

ricke002 wrote:So without jumping the gun too much, when do monies begin to be collected from this tax?

I guess the other question is, do they start restoring service immediately or will they wait until they start collecting funds?

Awesome! My summer was just made easier.
Also, St. Louis will be better off for it.

Thank you, St. Louis County.

St. Louis County came through!

so glad that this passed, but i feel a little bad for failing to vote because i wasn't registered...

anyway, don't beat up on the right-wing too much on this, a lot of them actually supported prop A and still support metro in general (Bob Baer lives on my street, and believe me, he's quite the conservative). while we are generally libertarian, a lot of us will do anything to help businesses succeed and promote job growth, and metro certainly does that!

another cheer for metro!

bchao524 wrote:

ricke002 wrote:So without jumping the gun too much, when do monies begin to be collected from this tax?

I guess the other question is, do they start restoring service immediately or will they wait until they start collecting funds?

http://interact.stltoday.com/blogzone/p ... maybe-not/
"Regardless of the outcome of Tuesday’s election, transit service will not likely be cut or added immediately, Metro officials say. No service changes are expected before summer."

Thank freaking god. I'm on vacation, but I've been checking the internet every half hour today for updates, while I'm not sending out ads for Viagra. Sorry about that, Dave.

And this is huge. Considering the financial state of things, it's a testament not only to the great 60-whatever percent of voters that voted yes on a tax increase in the current climate, but as well to the group of folks that helped convince them it was a good thing.

I live in liberal-ass Marin County, where we barely scraped off a tax increase for commuter trains last year. So as I see it, getting this done in St. Louis county is nothing short of a miracle. I look forward to the national press this gets.

captainjackass wrote:I live in liberal-ass Marin County, where we barely scraped off a tax increase for commuter trains last year. So as I see it, getting this done in St. Louis county is nothing short of a miracle. I look forward to the national press this gets.

I'm not sure that there is as much of a correlation between transit support and politics as there is made out to be. Marin, specifically, struck down BART many moons ago. While I'm sure many wealthy suburbanites wanted to keep "those people from SF/Oakland/Richmond" (we don't bite, I promise), I've talked to Marin residents who would never want BART in the North Bay because of the development it would bring with it. I've read arguments by urbanists against rail transit through exurbs because of the sprawl it might bring. If Marin voters had not shot down BART, one of SF's most crowded corridors would have heavy rail (it's currently only served by buses).

Earlier in this thread someone implied that senior citizens are more likely to be against Metro because of conservative politics. But Metro has the ability to give them independence when they can no longer drive. Think of the impact made on the region by the reduction in Call-a-Ride service. I don't know of any statistics to back this up, but I think there exists a surprising number of elderly conservatives who supported Metro in this election.

Wow, I am so happy to see this pass. Yay.

Someone online was complaining about paying an extra $.03 on the dollar.

I know the phrase is, "it's always easy to spend someone else's money." and it's not my money. But, really, $.03?

As far as those who complain about it, only 150,000 St. Louis Countians even voted, so if they hate the idea so much, they should have voted.

I know a lot of them don't want to fund something they don't use. But we they pay taxes for schools, the St. Louis Zoo, and dozens of other things they don't use. I don't see why this is any different.

True. It just annoys me that people complain about stupid little things.

Way to go St. Louis County--woo hoo

I expected it to pass, but by a much slimmer margin.

Check out the STLToday comments on the story. Quite a few had to be deleted by the moderator, something tells me a lot of sour grapes in teabagger land today!

Itis my understanding that if PROP A passed, the funds would be used to restore service to areas where deep cuts took place last year. Somebody educate me. Will this restore all cuts made before the voters shot it down in 2008 or just some of the cuts? Also, what % of this new revenue will be used to expand MetroLink, if any. Does this new revenue really jumpstart talk of Metrolink expansion into the County? How serious is the talk of the County starting their own transit program?
Thanks in advance.

I can hardly believe it! Huge victory for the St. Louis region. Thank you, St. Louis County!

I hope the (apparently) bipartisan support for Prop A means mass transit is no longer just a pet liberal cause. It never should have been. Both working-class riders and business owners benefit from a strong transit system.

On the radio this morning, McGraw Milhaven had the tea bag lady trying to explain what happened. Why didn't the anti-tax tea baggers turn out and defeat this. McGraw seemed baffled and referred to the picture on the front of the Post Dispatch showing Wash U students celebrating. He implied it was passed by students whose parents can easily pay the 50K tuition at Wash U., or something like that.

The tea party lady guessed that her people didn't turn turn out because of soccer games. They went to soccer game instead of voting. I was thinking to myself -- I guess they thought it was more important to go to a venue where they could yell at officials, rather than vote.

Yeah the commenters on STL Today also made a point of saying the young people in the Post picture were college kids who don't have to pay taxes yet. It was pointed out by the rational minority on that board that several of these young people actually had start up businesses. Of course with this being a sales tax even college students would have to pay the whopping extra half a penny on the dollar. Just a lot of misguided dittoheads on that comment board who can't believe they lost again.

gary kreie wrote:The tea party lady guessed that her people didn't turn turn out because of soccer games.

Wha?