2-18.08
Akron rocker Chrissie Hynde is scheduled to hop on a bus on West Market Street in Akron this morning in support of the proposed sales tax increase for Metro Regional Transit Authority.
Hynde is to ride with members of the recently formed Greater Akron Partnership for Sustainability, said Lisa Bostwick, who founded the group.
The group is slated to get on a bus at 11 a.m. in Highland Square in West Akron and ride east on West Market to a stop by the Federal Building on South Main Street in downtown.
The group wants ''to raise awareness about the important role public transportation plays for revitalizing downtown Akron,'' Bostwick said.
Hynde recently opened her new restaurant, VegiTerranean at Northside, on the north edge of downtown.
Metro RTA is asking for a permanent 0.25 percentage-point sales tax increase that would raise about $18 million a year.
The proposal would double Metro's tax to 0.5 percent and would raise the total sales tax in Summit County to 6.5 percent.
The agency's current annual budget is $29 million, meaning that if the tax issue passes, Metro's budget would jump 62 percent. The agency hasn't received an increase in local tax revenue since 1990.
Bus officials have said they may have to cut service and eliminate all weekend buses this year if the issue doesn't pass. Cuts planned for next year include the elimination of a curb-to-curb service, SCAT, which serves people with disabilities and anyone 62 and older.
If the tax issue passes, Metro officials have said, the additional money would prevent the cuts, help reverse service cuts made over the last several years and create routes although they couldn't be more specific.
By Katie Byard
Beacon Journal staff writer
