Budget Hearing Part 2: Everybody (?) Loves GEORGE

Everybody loves GEORGE — except Mayor Robin Gardner and Vice Mayor Hal Lippman. That was the sense coming out of the April 13 City Council budget hearing on ending the City’s commuter bus service.

 Of the other five Council members, even those who came to bury GEORGE left with praise:

 Councilman Dan Sze: I was under the assumption we could make a clean break [from GEORGE]. Now I’m conflicted. I support finding a way to buy time until we know what our bus service needs to be.

Councilman Lawrence Webb:  I was a proponent of de-funding GEORGE. Tonight makes me think there may be other options.

Three other Council members had always hoped to somehow keep GEORGE running.

Councilman Dave Snyder: The $8 [City cost] per fare is an “urban myth.” For every dollar the City invests [in GEORGE] it gets 50 cents from the state. Compare that to schools, where we get 10 cents on our dollar.

Councilman Nader Baroukh: It’s been claimed that I’m willing to do whatever it takes to keep GEORGE operating at its current level. That’s not true. But killing GEORGE would be a mistake. I like the idea of having [Arlington's ART bus] service the City. But there are lots of missing pieces to the puzzle, and we have only two weeks to figure it out.

Councilman Dan Maller:  I’m disappointed at [the City Manager's] range of options. What is the minimum level the City can operate the bus? Shame on us for running a relatively inefficient system — it does not compare favorably with other systems. . . . I believe we could draw from the [state] trust fund to support a transitional plan. [Congressman Jim] Moran will go above and beyond what we ask for. But so far, we haven’t asked the people who gave us the bus to help us keep it.

The Mayor and her deputy did not seem convinced.

Mayor Gardner: GEORGE could make the tax rate rise from $1.07 to $1.08 or $1.09. Not that I don’t like public transit, but I’m confused why we need GEORGE when we also have MetroBus. It’s curious — people who live a block away will take GEORGE over MetroBus. Why? Is it the 50 cent fare? Fewer riders?

She did, however, concede that Maller had “a great idea on how to bring service down and not add tax.”

Vice Mayor Hal Lippman: I have trouble with “business as usual.” And I’m not satisfied that GEORGE is “a need, not a want.”

Next: Part 3: The “common man” speaks on GEORGE.