Arizona group files suit to keep light rail opponents’ initiative off ballot
Jan 4, 2019, 4:42 AM | Updated: 4:40 pm
(Facebook Photo)
(Facebook Photo)
PHOENIX — The Arizona chapter of the Associated General Contractors of America filed a lawsuit Wednesday in an effort to bar an initiative written by light rail opponents from appearing on the ballot.
The Building a Better Phoenix initiative would allow voters to decide the fate of a planned light rail expansion.
If approved, the city would be forced to stop all future light rail spending and place those funds into other South Phoenix transit projects.
In September, the Phoenix City Council voted to move forward with a controversial plan for a two-lane light rail extension on South Central Avenue.
The vote was held during a special meeting and was preceded by around 2½ hours of public comments.
The contracting group alleged in the suit that Building a Better Phoenix illegally obtained the 40,000 signatures it needed to get the initiative on the ballot, and it alleges its description of the initiative misled voters.
“The statute does not allow for circulators to be paid by signature, and in this case the committee actually paid the circulators per signature,” David Martin, president of the Arizona chapter of the Associated General Contractors of America, told KTAR News 92.3 FM on Thursday.
“The petition gatherers (did) not properly, adequately inform the signers of the extent of their initiative, specifically whether or not the initiative affects the current light rail system, and it does. … The 100-word description also left that out,” he said.
Susan Gudino, Building a Better Phoenix treasurer, called the lawsuit “frivolous.”
“We didn’t mislead anybody. It’s pretty clear to me, I think they’re just reaching and grabbing,” she told KTAR News 92.3 FM on Thursday.
“Why would we throw so much money away for it to be thrown out?”
Gudino said she opposed the extension for multiple reasons, including the possibility of construction delaying residents’ access to emergency services and concern that it would increase crime in the area.
She said she expects to find out if the initiative, which was submitted to the City Clerk’s Office on Nov. 28, will be on the August special election ballot by Jan. 18.
“The light rail costs too much, it gives too little. It’s not good for everybody,” she said.
“If we don’t win come August, it’s like, ‘OK, fine, the voters have spoken.’ But let the voters be well informed when they go to vote in August this time, unlike they did in August 2015.”
KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Griselda Zetino contributed to this report.
