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36 CITY OF ST. ANTHONY VILLAGE RESOLUTION 11-031 A RESOLUTION SUPPORTING TRANSPORTATION FUNDING Whereas, the Regional Council of Mayors ("RCM"), is composed of the mayors of Minneapolis, St. Paul and approximately 45 municipalities in the developed and developing suburbs. The collaborative partnership provides a non-partisan platform focused on building action strategies to raise overall economic competitiveness, accelerate innovation and improve the quality of life in the MSP region; and Whereas, our present levels of congestion and our unsafe roads hinder our economic prosperity, erode our quality of life, and complicate numerous aspects of living and doing business in Minnesota; and Whereas, one million additional people are expected to move to the MSP metropolitan region in the next two decades, further exacerbating our already unacceptable traffic congestion; and Whereas, solving our region's transportation problem is a complex and long-term challenge that will require various strategies; and Whereas, Minnesota needs to adequately and strategically expand both its transit and road systems with predictable, adequate, and long-term sources of funding; and Whereas, transportation funding must prioritize public transit within a comprehensive, multi -modal, interconnected transportation system that serves the 11 -county metro area; and that our planned light rail and commuter rail lines, along with expanded bus service, both regular route and BRT, must be expanded to support the population and businesses in our fast-growing region; and Whereas, courageous and visionary legislative leadership is vital to forging a sustainable, long-term transportation plan for our state and region. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that as elected leaders representing cities in Minnesota's fast-growing 11 -county metropolitan region, we hereby declare our belief that transportation has become one of the most vexing problems facing our communities and state. We call upon the leaders in the legislature to create a long- term solution to our transportation needs and, in the short-term, in order to keep our metropolitan area economy vital and flourishing, we call upon the legislature to exercise good judgment and provide adequate funding for Metro Transit so as not to adversely affect the ability of Metro Transit to move workers, students and the thousands of other residents who use those services on a daily basis to get to their jobs, to school or otherwise engage in important economic activity that benefits the region and the State of Minnesota; to not halt or otherwise defer or delay progress on transit projects, including the Central Corridor and the Southwest LRT; to do nothing legislatively that will impede planning for other rail and bus rapid transit projects presently underway; to be mindful that adequately funding our existing transportation system and having the foresight to continue the commitment to both plan and build out our future transit system is critical to the well being of our state and we urge the legislature to provide the kind of leadership and stewardship necessary to accomplish those goals.