Secular Thinking leads to: Mark Sharp Sinkhole

Mark Sharpe's Sinkhole of Light Rail Means

More Tax & Federal Control & Less Personal Freedom

Light Rail Is Big Government Control---It Makes Back Yards A Family Sinkhole

When urban planning organizations work together with transit planners, single family home owners with back yards are the losers. The planners use coercion and incentives to strongly urge people to give up their single family homes with back yards and to live in crowded multifamily apartments, condos, and small homes with no yards. The end result is that with this dense population, the cost of land goes up and back yards essentially become so over regulated they are literally illegal. We might come to the conclusion that these "planners" (who call the land-use rules that help promote mass transit "smart growth") are actually trying to take away our freedom by controlling our land and our money which goes into their big government sink holes.

Light Rail Means:

1. People are forced to live in homes they really don't like. 2. The population in a small area becomes congested. 3. Because of the high demand of the increased population, housing becomes unaffordable for most. 4. People lose their individual property rights. 5. All of this results in higher taxes and/or reductions in fire, police, and schools just to support the sinkholes of rail lines, transit-oriented housing and subsidized business developments.

Light Rail Only Helps The Elites & Political Climbers, Not Public Servants

A few powerful groups, notably rail contractors, downtown property owners, downtown bars, restaurants, and other businesses, down town news media, make enormous profits while everyone else pays the large tax bills to fund the system. Central city political climbers get memorials built to them just like the pharaohs of Egypt. If rail transit is so successful, then why doesn't private business build it?

Light Rail is Not Earth Friendly, It Creates Environmental Sinkholes

The "green" movement likes to state that it is better for everyone to ride together on commuter trains rather than drive individual vehicles. But using the Dallas-Ft. Worth commuter trains as an example, they consumed 50% more energy and emitted 40% more carbon dioxide per passenger mile than the average passenger car.

Light Rail Creates No Growth, Just The Sinkholes of Growth Redistribution

Even the FTA did a study that found that the building of rail transit systems rarely creates new growth. At the very best some growth is seen that would have happened anyway with time. The biggest growth was seen by downtown property owners who used light rail subsidies (redistribution of wealth) to force people to go to their areas. Maybe this is the reason they seem to strongly be in favor of rail transit projects. So instead of causing growth throughout the whole county, it causes undo stress on those areas by redistributing the wealth to the "downtown" businesses and communities.

Light Rail Sinks Local Government Control And Gives It To The Feds & Unions

When a state, county, or city accepts Federal funds for a building project, Federal law requires that they must return any monies spent if they cancel the transit project. This makes it less expensive to claim a project is a success than to admit it is a failure and have to return the funds. When using Federal funds, once again Federal law reigns. The law states that the unions must approve any grant applications submitted to the Federal Government . They prefer trains over cars for moving people because it gives the unions transportation jobs and control over vast sums of wealth. These new rail lines almost always waste taxpayer dollars. Instead of providing cost-effective transportation like buses and cars that go where people want to go, the rails seem to just transfer wealth from taxpayers to government bureaucrats, unions, rail contractors, downtown property and business owners, and favors a few riders who would rather ride a train than a bus.

Light Rail Is a $$$ Sinkhole

The Tampa light rail will cost

$21 for each rider. $20 will be paid by you, the Tax Payer.

Light Rail Does Not Serve All The People; It Is a Government Sinkhole That Controls Us

Transportation systems work when they go where people want to go; for example, roads with cars and buses, not where planners would like people to go. But these central city and big government planners want everyone in the county to live our lives for their greed and profits, not the needs of all the people. Light rail is not even going to come near most of our neighborhoods for at least 20 to 30 years or maybe never. But roads, cars and buses can come right to my house. It seems clear that the Washington Planners and Unions want us to serve them through higher taxes and lower property values so that they can party in Washington and Downtown Tampa.

For detailed information, go to: http://www.ntrc.info/uploads/3/0/5/0/3050327/cato_light_rail.pdf

Written and compiled by Dan and Lee Rodden (813) 719-5826 leeleespages@gmail.com

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Dan Rodden
Christian Concierge
813.719.5826
www.christianconcierge.com
dan@christianconcierge.com