Sunday, October 9, 2011

Public #transit is a tax cut

The Urbanophile » Blog Archive » The Cost of Congestion, The Value of Transit: "To further show the value of transit to New Yorkers, let’s do a quick back of the envelope type calculation for illustrative purposes. The median household income in metro New York is $61,927. If each home with an auto commuter in it has one and only one commuter who obtains the average benefit, and incomes of auto commuters follow the overall, then this auto benefit is equivalent to 1.66% of income. You can think of it as sort of like a 1.5 percentage point cut in the income tax rate for those households, just based on the value delivered to them."

'via Blog this'

Monday, October 3, 2011

Kokomo, Indiana, free trolleys help attract $1.3B in new investment

Kokomo Named Indiana Chamber’s 2011 Community of the Year


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· Working closely with business leaders to create new and creative economic development programs that have led to new jobs and more than $1.3 billion of new investment in Kokomo.

· An expanding alternative transportation network that now includes free public transportation via City-Line trolleys.

· An improvement in the city's bond rating to a state-best AA+.

All of these initiatives were accomplished without raising taxes or adding fees.

"Kokomo is a resilient and determined community. We all work together to improve our neighborhoods and create an attractive environment for businesses and their employees. Our investments in infrastructure and quality of life amenities across the board have been very successful," said Kokomo Mayor Greg Goodnight. "The Community of the Year Award validates the hard work of dozens of organizations and hundreds of community advocates. Receiving this distinguished honor sends the message that Kokomo is a progressive city with a pro-business environment that welcomes employers and employees."
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Read the rest at http://www.kokomoperspective.com/news/local_news/kokomo-named-indiana-chamber-s-community-of-the-year/article_676dc174-edcf-11e0-972f-001cc4c03286.html