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PRESS RELEASE
Sierra Club, Washington Regional Network,
the Coalition for Smarter Growth
and the Audubon Naturalist Society

For Immediate Release:	Contact:
September 30, 2005	Chris Carney, Sierra Club, 202-237-0754 (office)
	202-281-9565

October 3 Summit on Metro Funding

Statement of Regional Smart Growth and Environmental Organizations on Metro Funding

On Monday, October 3, regional public officials will gather in Washington, DC to discuss solutions to Metro’s long-term funding shortfalls. Representatives from the Washington Regional Network for Livable Communities, Sierra Club, and the Coalition for Smarter Growth will be at the Summit and available for comment.

Recently, legislation was introduced in Congress to authorize $1.5 billion in federal funds for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, pending action and new funding by local Metro-served jurisdictions. All agree there is a need for new, reliable funding sources to sustain our public transportation, but our organizations suggest the following principles to guide us to solutions.

• We must ensure that our state and local jurisdictions match the federal commitment to guarantee full funding for Metro, but without imposing limits on which revenue sources are chosen, and without prompting a reduction in other state and local commitments to WMATA.

• To improve service at Metro and strengthen public confidence in the system, we should enhance accountability by creating the position of an independent Inspector General, who would report directly to the WMATA Board, and by adding both a non-voting federal and a rider representative on the WMATA Board of Directors.

• We must support transit-oriented development to generate increased revenues and ridership for the system, and accomplish local and regional land use and transportation goals.

• We recognize that the WMATA compact has served the region well, and that commitments and reforms can be made without the political complexity of amending the compact.

We are committed to working with public officials, Metro, and other supporters of Metro toward providing the revenues that will enable our regional transit system to fulfill its critical mission.

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