Koch-Funded Group Helped Develop Plan to Kill Future of Phoenix Light Rail
Much of the plot to kill the future of light rail in Phoenix was hatched in a window-tinting shop on South Central Avenue. At first, the plot was narrow.
Celia Contreras, owner of Tony’s Window Tinting, sought only to halt or alter Valley Metro Rail’s plan to build a six-mile track connecting south Phoenix to its 26-mile rail system.
Opponents of the rail extension held meetings in Contreras' shop — a nondescript garage bounded by a Mexican restaurant and a dollar store — where they worked on raising awareness for their cause. Organized under the name 4 Lanes or No Train, business owners said they were blindsided by the city's plans to reduce traffic to two lanes along the South Central corridor. Construction of new rail would mean fewer customers for the restaurants, stores, and auto shops in south Phoenix's minority communities, activists claimed.
By summer 2018, however, the plot to stop light rail in south Phoenix transformed into a plan to stop light rail in Phoenix, period. As they broadened their mission, light rail opponents using the new name Building a Better Phoenix also started receiving assistance from an Arizona nonprofit associated with oil barons Charles and David Koch.
Read more: https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/koch-group-behind-anti-light-rail-campaign-in-phoenix-11336419
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