"You shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in." (Isaiah 58:12)

Public Transportation

Today, as people of faith, we are sharing our hopes for the promise of our democracy.  This renewed vision acknowledges that our fates are intertwined with the fate of others across our region.  Every day, Minnesotans choose jobs, homes, schools, places of worship and community activities by asking the question “Can I get there?  Can I assure that I can get there every day, at the time I need to be there?”  Every day, many find that the answer is ‘no.’ 

ISAIAH’s Dedicated Funding for Public Transportation campaign is about making the answer ‘Yes, I can get there.’  We want to use public investment to ensure that we can build and operate the transit service that we need.  Today, transit in the Twin Cities metro region falls far short of that mark.  In providing a stable, adequate source of funding for transit, we would move toward fulfilling the promise of a region that works for all its residents.  When Minnesotans dedicate funding for transit we will remove a major barrier—the inability to reliably get from place to place—that prevents too many from accessing opportunity and participating fully in the life of our region.

ISAIAH believes Minnesota should build and maintain a transit system that connects our communities and ensures access to opportunity for all. Building a high quality transit system is a crucial investment in our common future. One initiative for the 2007 State Legislature is to create dedicated funding through a ˝ cent sales tax in the seven-county metro area for construction and operation of metro area transit.

The goal of the campaign is for MN DOT to agree to allocate up to 1/2% of Federal Highway Funds coming into Minnesota to workforce development, including recruitment, pre-employment and employment programs and contractor incentives to bring new workers into highway construction jobs in Minnesota. Rep. Hausman and Sen. Moua introduced legislation to direct MN DOT to set-aside the ˝% funds for workforce development (HF1767, SF1296).

Many of the upcoming transportation construction projects are near low income neighborhoods. This set-aside would enable residents of these neighborhoods to benefit by qualifying them for local job opportunities. In addition, over 35 percent of MN transportation construction workers will be eligible to retire in 5 years and MNDOT has reported that there are not enough trained workers to fill these vacancies. Our program would help replace retiring workers.

For additional information on the Workforce Development Campaign, contact Tim Farrell at 651-402-4701 or Sarah Mullins at 651-442-6724.

More information on this issue at www.gamaliel.org/ISAIAH, click on Issues. An additional resource is Transit for Livable Communities at www.tlcminnesota.org.