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Whether it’s global warming, unemployment, social equality or dependence on foreign oil, prominent Democrats and labor leaders hailed investments in mass transit as the solution Tuesday and touted a proposed federal law they said would improve public transportation nationwide.
Joined by Rev. Jesse Jackson, U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano highlighted a proposal he’s cosponsoring that would permit public transportation systems in urban regions with more than 200,000 residents to use federal dollars for operating costs. Under current laws enacted in 1997, only transit systems with fewer than 200,000 residents in the surrounding communities are permitted to do so.
The proposal, backed by Capuano and more than 100 other U.S. House members, is intended to encourage state and local governments to invest in their transportation systems and forestall service cuts and fare increases that often accompany shortfalls in operating revenue.
“Access to schools, access to health care, access to jobs, access to recreation keeps our quality of life,” Jackson told the News Service, speaking in favor of the proposal. “Given the oil drifting toward our shores today, it’s environmentally an asset. More mass transportation, buses and train, less toxic footprints.”
Jackson was referring to a major oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that is suffocating marshlands on the Louisiana coast.
Jackson decried the “highway lobby,” which he said pushes for “more highway, more cars.” Asked whether highway construction was also a job creator, Jackson said, “Not compared to mass transit.” He also said the 1997 proposal to limit transit systems’ use of federal funds, sponsored by then-Rep. Newt Gingrich, was a “scheme to choke our cities.”
Capuano said mass transportation is a “classic Democratic principle,” and he said the state’s efforts to fund mass transit – a major portion of last summer’s sales tax hike was dedicated to transportation - should only be graded after the economy stabilizes. Speaking on the federal proposal, Capuano said it would help support existing transportation infrastructure and service.
“It doesn’t make sense to build a shiny new Green Line extension if the rest of the Green Line falls apart,” he said.
Joining Jackson and Capuano on a makeshift stage, Massachusetts labor leaders – AFL-CIO head Robert Haynes and Greater Boston Labor Council president Rich Rogers – touted mass transit as a job creator. Democratic treasurer candidate Steve Grossman also attended and embraced Jackson after the reverend finished his remarks.
Whether it’s global warming, unemployment, social equality or dependence on foreign oil, prominent Democrats and labor leaders hailed investments in mass transit as the solution Tuesday and touted a proposed federal law they said would improve public transportation nationwide.
Joined by Rev. Jesse Jackson, U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano highlighted a proposal he’s cosponsoring that would permit public transportation systems in urban regions with more than 200,000 residents to use federal dollars for operating costs. Under current laws enacted in 1997, only transit systems with fewer than 200,000 residents in the surrounding communities are permitted to do so.
The proposal, backed by Capuano and more than 100 other U.S. House members, is intended to encourage state and local governments to invest in their transportation systems and forestall service cuts and fare increases that often accompany shortfalls in operating revenue.
“Access to schools, access to health care, access to jobs, access to recreation keeps our quality of life,” Jackson told the News Service, speaking in favor of the proposal. “Given the oil drifting toward our shores today, it’s environmentally an asset. More mass transportation, buses and train, less toxic footprints.”
Jackson was referring to a major oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that is suffocating marshlands on the Louisiana coast.
Jackson decried the “highway lobby,” which he said pushes for “more highway, more cars.” Asked whether highway construction was also a job creator, Jackson said, “Not compared to mass transit.” He also said the 1997 proposal to limit transit systems’ use of federal funds, sponsored by then-Rep. Newt Gingrich, was a “scheme to choke our cities.”
Capuano said mass transportation is a “classic Democratic principle,” and he said the state’s efforts to fund mass transit – a major portion of last summer’s sales tax hike was dedicated to transportation - should only be graded after the economy stabilizes. Speaking on the federal proposal, Capuano said it would help support existing transportation infrastructure and service.
“It doesn’t make sense to build a shiny new Green Line extension if the rest of the Green Line falls apart,” he said.
Joining Jackson and Capuano on a makeshift stage, Massachusetts labor leaders – AFL-CIO head Robert Haynes and Greater Boston Labor Council president Rich Rogers – touted mass transit as a job creator. Democratic treasurer candidate Steve Grossman also attended and embraced Jackson after the reverend finished his remarks.
