Letter of Support for Trinity Metro FY'22 Budget Request

On August 30, 2021, the Tarrant Transit Alliance issued the following letter to City of Fort Worth Manager David Cooke.

The letter reads:

August 30, 2021

City Manager David Cooke

City of Fort Worth

200 Texas Street

Fort Worth, TX 76102

Re: Support for the Trinity Metro FY’22 Budget Request

Dear Mr. Cooke,

The Tarrant Transit Alliance would like to thank you, David Cooke, Jay Chapa, Dana Burgdoff, and Mark McAvoy, for taking time out of your busy schedules to meet with us a few weeks back to discuss strategic partnerships and alignment. We truly appreciated the discussion and look forward to establishing a newfound partnership with the City of Fort Worth.

The Tarrant Transit Alliance had the opportunity to review the Trinity Metro FY'22 Budget request and is in support of the projects that enhance access and mobility for our riders. We understand that Trinity Metro provided a FY '21 budget request last year, and a few projects were funded. We hope that the City of Fort Worth can provide greater funding support to the projects that Trinity Metro has requested this year.

Beyond economic recovery, transit projects such as the items proposed have considerable economic development potential. In 2020, the University of North Texas conducted a study on the Dallas Area Rapid Transit's economic and fiscal impacts of development near DART Light-Rail Stations. This study determined that the 81 development projects identified generated $10.27 billion for the DFW economy, created 61,017 construction jobs, and $286.4 million in state and local tax revenue. We believe these are the sorts of investments we need to be making for Fort Worth's future. But these sorts of economic returns require brave leadership and smart investment.

On August 10th, 2021, the $1T Infrastructure bill passed the Senate and provided an opportunity for major infrastructure development to further improve the nation's infrastructure. With $39B set aside for public transit, Fort Worth has an opportunity to develop and support projects that can provide greater mobility options to our growing city.

We look forward to hearing more from you about the Trinity Metro request and understanding more about the selection process to improve the selection of projects.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Andre McEwing Chair Tarrant Transit Alliance

Onyinye Akujuo

Vice-Chair Tarrant Transit Alliance

Rachel Albright

President Tarrant Transit Alliance