Dear Editor:
If you believe that:
Money collected by the state from transportation-related sources should be spent only for transportation improvements; in other words, “Transportation Dollars for Transportation.”
Preserving, improving and enhancing our transportation system is essential to our economy, environment and quality-of-life, whether your drive on the roads, take public transit, ride a bicycle or walk.
A “fix-it first” program is important to assure that money is spent on repairing and improving existing roads and transportation infrastructure before new projects are started.
Funds provided by the New Jersey Transportation Trust Fund should be used to fight traffic congestion, make roads and bridges safer, and improve bus and train service.
That this comprehensive program should and will be accomplished without new or higher taxes because it is based on using existing state revenues.
Then you should vote Yes on Public Question No. 1 on the November 7 general election ballot. Public Question #1 simply calls for amending the State Constitution to guarantee that the state must spend transportation-related revenues on roads, bridges and transit improvements and not divert those dollars to other uses. It would be the final step in renewal for four years of New Jersey’s vital Transportation Trust Fund.
By voting Yes for dedication, you would be part of one of the broadest based coalitions for any ballot issue that has come together under a non-partisan, non-profit organization known appropriately as Keep New Jersey Moving. The campaign has attracted very diverse groups to work together, Democrats and Republicans, local and county governments, business and labor, environmentalists and developers, as well as consumer advocates like the AAA Clubs and the New Jersey State Safety Council.
The danger is that voter awareness and understanding of Public Question #1 could be threatened by the clamor and millions of dollars in campiagn spending of the races for President, U.S. Senator, Congress and county and municipal contests.
Keep New Jersey Moving is committed to a public educaiton campaign (visit our web site at www.keepnewjerseymoving.com) to assure that this does not happen. We need your support and your Yes vote.
Thomas A. Bracken
Chairman of the Keep New Jersey Moving Coalition