On Wednesday, in a 5-3, the Phoenix City Council voted in favor of delaying the West Phoenix light rail alignment project. Interim Mayor Thelda Williams and Councilmembers Jim Waring, Michael Nowakowski, and Felicita Mendoza voted in support of Councilman Sal DiCiccio’s proposal to use money to fund badly road repairs instead.
“Just a few months after the council voted to stop the Paradise Valley line, another piece of my plan to stop light rail expansion and use that money to fund road repairs throughout our city was approved by the council yesterday,” said DiCiccio in a Facbook post. “By stopping the planned “Light Rail to Nowhere” line on Camelback, the council was able to re-allocate hundreds of millions of dollars to the road repairs that Phoenix desperately needs.”
“Although this move gets us another step closer to having the infrastructure our city deserves, we still need another $1.25 billion to bring our roads up to par,” continued DiCiccio. “Fortunately, voters will have a chance to do just that this summer. The Building a Better Phoenix Initiative would complete the rest of my plan by stopping all light rail expansion and directing that money to repair all of our roads and infrastructure, as well as improve bus service.”
Council members Deb Stark, Vania Guevara and Laura Pastor voted against road repairs.
The council had voted to postpone a northeast extension from downtown to Paradise Valley Mall in October.
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The grassroots group, Building a Better Phoenix, is a coalition of South Phoenix residents and small business owners that are attempting to put light rail expansion along S. Central Avenue on the ballot.
In January, a lawsuit was filed to keep the Building a Better Phoenix initiative from appearing on the ballot.
As DiCiccio’s Chief of Staff Sam Stone noted in his article, Railroaded: A Phoenix Christmas Story, “the City of Phoenix is doing everything possible to thwart their aims.”
The lawsuit will be considered by the court in April.
If Building a Better Phoenix prevails in court, the initiative will be on the ballot in August’s special election.