From SLR81.org:  Should you choose to make a contribution or get on our mailing list - please do this at our website.  However, your petition signature here is appeciated!

The opinions of the citizens of Brooklyn Park, Brooklyn Center, Crystal, Robbinsdale, Golden Valley and North Minneapolis are being ignored by municipal government and by the MetCouncil, who continue to forge ahead with plans to construct the Blue Line Extension - a light rail project connecting Brooklyn Park with downtown Minneapolis.  A significant portion of the planned route would travel on County Road 81, also known as Bottineau Blvd and West Broadway Ave. There are many significant concerns about the needs, costs, benefits and risks of light rail itself, which are amplified as a result of the currently planned route, including:

1. Pedestrian safety
2. Vehicle and emergency vehicle safety
3. Rider safety
4. Vehicle traffic disruption
5. Housing displacement
6. Local business disruption
7. Local business displacement
8. Loss of taxable residential/commercial property
9. Construction of unsightly parking ramps
10. Destruction of good quality road and infrastructure with excellent serviceability
11. Extensive public costs without established need
12. Repeated evidence of poor project management relative to the construction and operation of other light rail corridors

As evidenced in the media, given the lack of accountability of the Met Council with regard to the construction and operation of rail/light-rail transit projects throughout the area, the risks to residents, businesses, and taxpayers at all levels far outweigh any purported benefit. Complicating things further is the lack of an established need relative to the enormous costs/risks, based on past and current ridership data, as well as future ridership projections. Intentional disregard of better, lower-cost, environmentally sound, and scalable public transit alternatives to light rail is detrimental to all, especially those residents serviced by County Road 81, Bottineau Blvd and West Broadway Avenue.  

Construction of the Blue Line extension is slated to begin soon.  We demand that the Minnesota State Legislature, the municipal governments of Brooklyn Park, Brooklyn Center, Crystal, Robbinsdale, Golden Valley and Minneapolis, and the Met Council to:

• Stop Light Rail on CR 81
• Embrace viable public transit alternatives to light rail
• Impose a moratorium on all light rail initiaves in the metro area, due to the the Met Council's bullying tactics, waste, and mismanagement.  Hold the Met Council legislatively accountable for their mismanagement.
• Replace the Met Council leadership with elected, rather than appointed members.