C-U MTD board willing to talk with Southwest MTD board
CHAMPAIGN — The chairman of the Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District board said he is willing to meet with officials from the upstart Champaign Southwest Mass Transit District board about possible intergovernmental cooperation.
The Champaign Southwest MTD has extended an olive branch to the larger transit district after the Illinois Supreme Court last month refused to get involved in a 6-year-long dispute between the two agencies over their overlapping boundaries. The Champaign Southwest board voted unanimously Thursday night to request a meeting with Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District officials so they can discuss possible cooperative efforts, although no specific ideas were suggested.
"We'd certainly be willing to talk to anybody regarding services of the MTD or any other issues any group might have. We'll certainly talk with them," said Ron Peters of Champaign, who chairs the seven-member C-U MTD board.
But Peters said he also would want city of Champaign officials to be involved in any meeting with the Champaign Southwest group.
"They were part of the lawsuit all along as well," he said. "We can't go deciding everything independently. The whole thing of annexation and the issues with that is certainly something (the city government) is interested in."
The city and the C-U MTD have their own intergovernmental agreement that requires the MTD to extend its services to areas annexed by the city.
Some residents of southwest Champaign are in both transit districts and pay property taxes to both entities.
The Champaign Southwest district includes about 5,430 acres in Champaign and outside the city, 1,178 acres of which also are in the Champaign-Urbana district. Its boundaries are generally Interstate 72 on the north, Curtis Road on the south, Interstate 57 on the east and Barker Road on the west. Subdivisions in both transit districts include Lincolnshire Fields West, Copper Ridge, Glenshire, Ironwood, Trails at Brittany and Turnberry Ridge.
The Champaign Southwest MTD, which has no buses and has never provided any service, was established as a way of blocking the MTD's growth into neighborhoods in southwest Champaign and beyond. Its creation was approved by voters in March 2006.
At Thursday night's meeting, Champaign Southwest board members were clearly split on their next course, particularly whether to continue operating.
"I think that it's fair to say that people who are in both (districts) don't want to be double taxed. Even though (the Champaign Southwest is) a low tax, I don't think most people would say, 'Gosh, I'm going to give you money just so you can stay in existence,'" said board member Michael Sutter. "Why would I want to pay you guys $10,000 for what? Tell me, what I'm getting out of it?"
Board member David Short agreed.
"We can go to those board meetings and address these issues without double taxing the people on the west side of Champaign," said Short. "I think there are avenues to approach the situation without double taxation."
But Champaign Southwest board chair Edward Vaughan Jr. said that by continuing to operate, "there's a possibility that the board can become a vehicle for increasing accountability by the C-U MTD to taxpayers in a much larger tax base. In other words we can be a major thorn in their side.
"Are you willing to pay four dollars a year (in property taxes) to have somebody go oversee and raise Cain with the C-U MTD?"
Sutter responded that anyone can do that now for free.
"All I'm saying is that for this board to remain in existence, somebody's going to want to know why is the board in existence. It's not because you're looking at providing public transportation. You're not going to do that," he said. "The only reason you'd be annexing more land is to block the MTD."
But board member Steven Holland said the Champaign Southwest MTD can "make sure that the services provided are halfway rational. It's what the people on their board now should be doing. It's called citizen oversight. But they're not. They're a rubber stamp. It's Urbana elitist, liberal ideology."
Some members of Champaign Southwest board expressed interest in getting a seat on the seven-member C-U MTD board.
But Peters said the MTD board doesn't appoint its own members.
"That kind of thing is up to the county board," he said. "We're all appointed by the county board. We have no control over that."
Of course they want to keep bilking taxpayers to keep their jobs as "significant watchdogs and guardians" over the MTD. Collecting tax money with no responsibility to anyone is a nice gig. Time to end this double taxation on residents in SW Champaign. They get nothing for their taxes except ridiculed by the SWMTD Board members if they voice a different opinion than the board. SWMTD sure likes sucking down tax money without providing services, and I can see why they want to keep their free ride at taxpayer expense. Maybe we can even find other useless ways of bloating government.
"SWMTD sure likes sucking down tax money without providing services"
That's pretty much what C-U MTD is doing for parts of southwest Champaign.
As an example, I live in Turnberry Ridge. We have been paying C-U MTD taxes in the same proportions (based on property value) that everyone else in town pays. But we have no regular bus route. Instead, we have what amounts to a taxi service, with very limited times in which we can call for service. (http://www.cumtd.com/maps-and-schedules/route/334-west-direct/weekday/da... for full details.) On weekdays, we get shuttle service to and from Country Fair: 5 shuttles from 6:57A - 8:45A in the morning (but the shuttle will not take calls from 7:24A to 7:50A), and 5 shuttles from 4:00P - 6:10P in the evening. Each day, you have to call ahead and arrange a pickup time from home.
I've tried to take the bus home from work (U of I campus), and the total commute time was over an hour, on three separate buses. There is a regular bus line (Navy, I think) that comes very close to us on Kirby, but it doesn't stop anywhere near our subdivision. Sometimes I think that we're being punished in our neighborhood for being a part of the CUSWMTD. Some of us over here just want the same service we're entitled to, and that we're already paying for. I don't care what the CUSWMTD does or if they continue to exist... I just want what I've been funding for years from the C-U MTD!
Welcome to the plight of urban sprawl. Because it lessens population density, choosing to move out to the suburbs results in inferior public transit service. Public transit is rarely dollar-for-dollar cost-effective, and even less so in suburbia.
Options include "Park and Ride" such as driving to Hessel Park, and hopping a bus to campus from there or a similar free public parking lot next to frequent bus service. It may be seen as a hassle, but beats paying your salary to the only employer in C-U that charges their employees to go to work.
Mode shifting, such as taking a folding foot scooter or a folding bicycle that can be carried aboard the bus and into your office (or regular bicycle that you can rack on the front of the bus) can help speed you along the way to your bus stop. There's also the concept of accepting the walk as part of your physical fitness regimen -- it's like eating your peas as a little kid: you don't like it, but you learn to do it as you learn it's good for you.
The University itself is an excellent laboratory in which to solve urban sprawl: walking from the extreme SW corner of contiguous campus (not including south farms) to the north east corner would take well over an hour (research park on S. First street to University and Lincoln). Once you're on campus, the bicycle (or electrified, folding bicycle) is the easiest vehicle to get around campus on -- especially lately as the streets are under much-needed and appreciated repair (but it makes getting to work and around campus a pain in a car!)
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