Why are Koch-funded activists trying to derail a US city's public transit? [View all]

Source: The Guardian

Why are Koch-funded activists trying to derail a US city's public transit?

Phoenix will vote Tuesday on a light rail system expansion. It faces opposition from business owners backed by activists affiliated with the Koch network

Evan Wyloge in Phoenix
Tue 27 Aug 2019 06.00 BST

For years, Phoenix’s public transportation plans have included a network of light rail lines connecting downtown to the suburbs, cutting air pollution and carbon emissions in a city dubbed the least sustainable in the US.

But as the city prepares to vote Tuesday on an expansion of its light rail system into a poorer, and more black and Hispanic, part of the city, the train is facing opposition from a group of business owners who fear they will lose customers. And they are receiving help from some eye-catching backers: activists affiliated with the Koch conservative network.

According to the language of the referendum, which the director of a Koch-funded political organization helped draft, not only will a vote against the expansion result in the cancellation of this particular line. It will also prohibit all future light rail construction in the city.

“Obviously we’re concerned with the impacts of the construction, but I’ve never seen this kind of outside group come in and write an initiative,” said Kate Gallego, the Phoenix mayor.

Koch brother groups have tried to derail public transit plans in other cities around the country, from Little Rock, Arkansas and central Utah, to Nashville, Tennessee and south-east Michigan. They have frequently called such projects “wasteful spending”. The Koch organization is also heavily invested in fossil fuels.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/aug/26/koch-activists-phoenix-ban-light-rail