Cullen Claims Victory on New Tax Hike

In the press release below Alex Cullen decides it would be a good idea to claim victory over a 3.8% tax hike for the people of Ottawa. These tax increases will surely place a higher burden on the people of Ottawa during an already difficult economic climate. This is no time for tax increases, in fact, there should be either a tax freeze or tax reduction to promote economic activity in the city.

Bus service is already terrible and I don't see how the city could reduce service without just resorting to having main routes only. I mean there currently exist some brain-dead routes. For example, check out route 159. This route was designed so that people don't bitch that service between Carlingwood and Westboro was eliminated when the 18 was cancelled. This route comes once every never and only between 9:30 and 2:30 which is asinine.

The U-pass idea, which has been around for along time, is one of the stupidest ideas I've ever seen. The idea, generally, is that schools levy money from students to pay for bus passes they may or may not use. This penalizes every student that lives on campus or doesn't take the bus and INCREASES COSTS FOR STUDENTS. Cullen is blatantly LYING when he claims this will bring 50 000 students into the public transit system because many of those 50 000 students don't use transit or use it infrequently enough that the 125$ / semester levy isn't justified for their needs. Universities are full of this 'everyone pays for services only a few use' model but this U-pass idea goes too far. It essentially doubles the current student union fees.


A press release from Thursday:

From: Cullen, Alex
To: Media Only
Cc: info@wwwebworks.ca
Sent: Thu Jan 28 16:22:16 2010
Subject: Transit Committee Chair Cullen claims victory as Transit budget approved with no service cuts and a new U-Pass program

Media Release:
Transit Committee Chair Cullen claims victory as Transit budget approved with no service cuts and a new U-Pass program
Councillor Alex Cullen, Chair of the City's Transit Committee, claimed victory as a result of City Council's budget decisions today (January 28, 2010) as City Council restored cuts to 53 bus routes and approved a pilot U-Pass program for university students at Carleton and Ottawa Universities. Said Councillor Cullen: "This is a victory for transit today - the public spoke loud and clear that they didn't want to see their bus service cut to achieve a tax increase target and City Council listened." On the U-Pass, which City Council adopted on a 22-2 vote after three previous tries, Councillor Cullen said: "The U-Pass will bring some 50,000 students onto our public transit system at a rate they can afford - congratulations to the student federations of both universities for their work in campaigning for this initiative."
Last November during the development of the draft 2010 budget the City's Transit Committee recommended a $364 million budget for public transit, but the Audit, Budget & Finance Committee (chaired by Mayor O'Brien) proposed to cut $3 million in cuts to public transit, affecting 53 bus routes and 597,000 passenger rides. Public reaction to these proposed cuts was strong and negative, both at individual ward meetings and at the City Council public hearings. As a result, during the budget debate an omnibus motion was moved that adopted a number of measures that kept the tax increase near its 3.9% target while re-instating the ABF Committee's proposed transit cuts.
The U-Pass success came about after 2 previous tries at City Council where Transit Committee had endorsed this proposal but had been rejected by City Council over funding concerns. U-Pass programs are currently found in 18 cities across Canada.


Alex Cullen
Councillor, Bay Ward
City of Ottawa
110 Laurier Ave. W.
Ottawa K1P 1J1
(613) 580-2477 fax: (613) 580-2517
e-mail: alex.cullen@ottawa.ca
www.alexcullen.ca
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