Mayor Rybak Urges More Transportation Funding
Rybak’s Congressional Testimony Shows Need for State, Federal Investments
Sept. 5, 2007 (MINNEAPOLIS) – In his testimony today before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak issued a strong appeal for increased state and federal investments in transportation.
“We are the stewards of the common ground,” Mayor Rybak said in his testimony. “We should take this core lesson from the tragedy of the I-35W Bridge collapse: When you invest in quality government, you get quality results. When you don’t invest, there are consequences.”
Speaking on behalf of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Mayor Rybak said that while Minneapolis and cites across the nation have invested in public safety and emergency preparedness, much of the nation has underinvested in roads, bridges and transit.
“Our city, our state and our nation have not invested as we must in roads, bridges and transit – and our lack of investment has serious consequences,” Rybak added. “I say this as the Mayor of a city recovering from a tragedy that was not an act of God, but a failure of Man. For some time we have known that our investment has not kept pace with maintenance and rehabilitation needs.”
“We mayors know that there is no free lunch when it comes to basic infrastructure,” Rybak said. “Every day we are required to keep a relentless focus on results, because every day our citizens see at the grassroots whether we are providing the basic services they expect, and whether they are getting good value for their tax dollars. We need to be honest about our need to improve mobility – and what it will cost to get there.”
“In Minnesota, people are driving more, putting more pressure on our road capacity,” Rybak said. “Our roads are dramatically more congested than they were five years ago. We have a plan that would increase mobility and create better transportation choices. The problem is that we have dramatically under-funded this plan. The difference between what we have and what we need is about $19 billion every year over the next 20 years. And every year we wait, this gap grows.”
“For these reasons, I strongly endorse increases to the state gas tax to fund road and bridge improvements and strongly support regional sales taxes dedicated to transit. It is also why I personally endorse the proposal by Chairman Jim Oberstar for a temporary increase in the federal gas tax to repair or replace bridges nationwide,” Rybak said.
“We know that when we make these investments in transportation infrastructure, we get results. Having lived through the tragedies that I have seen in these past few weeks, those of us who are stewards of the common ground should vow to never again have the kind of consequences we saw in Minneapolis,” Rybak concluded.
To view this news release and Mayor Rybak’s speech text online, visit www.mayrorybak.us.
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