(The following article by Jere Downs was posted on the Philadelphia Inquirer website on February 15.)
HARRISBURG, Pa. — Leading 2,000 union, environmental, civic and religious activists on a rally to save mass transit, Mayor Street and a powerhouse of Philadelphia labor leaders walked the halls of the state Capitol yesterday demanding transit-funding reform.
On his first visit to Harrisburg in more than a year, Street met with House Speaker John M. Perzel (R., Phila.), as well as House Democratic leaders H. William DeWeese (D., Greene) and Michael R. Veon (D., Beaver).
Expecting to talk with House and Senate leaders, the labor delegation found instead only one Democrat waiting for them, Rep. Keith R. McCall (D., Carbon), and staff from Veon and Senate Minority Leader Robert J. Mellow (D., Lackawanna).
McCall outlined for them a proposal to fund both roads and mass transit – a combination the legislature has long called for.
Scheduled to be introduced today, McCall’s bill would raise $200 million annually for two years for transit agencies across the state by increasing the realty-transfer tax. It also would provide $330 million annually for two years for road and bridge repairs by freezing a recent increase in the wholesale gasoline tax and by raising certain motor vehicle fees.
The bill would require “operational audits” of both SEPTA and the Port Authority of Allegheny County, Pittsburgh’s transit authority. And the entire funding package would expire in two years, giving time to review those audits.
McCall said that a dozen Democrats are cosponsoring the measure but that no Republicans have voiced support for it.
“Yours is the only plan that really deals with the problem,” said Patrick B. Gillespie, business agent for the Building and Construction Trades Council of the AFL-CIO.
Perzel said he “had not seen McCall’s bill yet.” Gov. Rendell “likes a lot of things,” Perzel said in an interview yesterday. “We need to know the governor is behind something 100 percent.”
“It is a good vehicle. We are still waiting for what the governor is going to get behind,” said Rick Geist (R., Blair), chairman of the House Transportation Committee.
Kate Philips, the governor’s spokeswoman, said that Rendell “likes” McCall’s bill. “It has a lot of what legislative leaders have said they would like to see.”
As McCall spoke about his legislation, some union leaders in the room voiced agitation about the turnout.
“It is a disgrace that [lawmakers] are not here,” said Patrick Eiding, head of the Philadelphia AFL-CIO council that organized yesterday’s rally. The event was the culmination of a $50,000 effort so far by the Pennsylvania Transit Coalition, a group the AFL-CIO formed late last year.
“What do we tell all the working people who came here today to do?” asked Tom Cronin, head of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees District Council 47.
“Believe in God,” Gillespie remarked from the back of the room.
SEPTA has threatened to cut service 20 percent and raise fares 25 percent effective Feb. 27. Last week, Rendell said he would ask regional transportation-planning agencies to transfer enough federal highway funds to see transit agencies through June.
As of yesterday, Rendell had not made that request.
About 2,000 people endured steady sleet and rain outside the Capitol for the noon pro-transit rally. Six buses from Harrisburg, one from York, one from Wilkes-Barre, one from Reading, and others from across the state joined 12 buses and a chartered SEPTA train that carried about 1,000 Philadelphia riders.
Jennie Goode-Parks, a retired social worker from Philadelphia, was soaked and shivering as she sat listening on a bench.
“I just had to come out,” she said.
Street adviser Shawn Fordham said after the rally: “We did not come up here with the expectation of walking away and SEPTA is fixed.” Of the meeting with Perzel, he said: “This was about us telling him what our concerns were, and he listened.”