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• COVERAGE OF THE 2018 APTA ANNUAL MEETING

COVERAGE OF THE 2018 APTA ANNUAL MEETING

Transit Ballot Measures: Positioning for Future Success

What does it take to win the voters’ approval of a public transit ballot initiative? That’s a question being asked within many agencies as the November elections approach and communities begin to plan for 2020.

Three APTA member panelists shared their perspectives based on different experiences in different cities at a session sponsored by HNTB Corporation.

Ralph Schulz, president and chief executive officer of the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce; Pauletta Tonilas, chief communications officer for Los Angeles Metro; and Tina Quigley, general manager of the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas, participated in the discussion. Josh Cohen, a principal at New Heights Communications, a Washington-based public relations firm, served as moderator.

Tonilas showed a video that described five key elements of LA Metro’s successful 2016 ballot campaign: foster bipartisanship; partner with regional leaders; conduct public opinion research and focus groups to test what resonates with voters; use social media to test words, phrases and images and reach out to influential partners, such as local faith leaders and organizations like AARP; and make use of their networks.

From left, panelists Tina Quigley, Pauletta Tonilas, Ralph Schulz and moderator Josh Cohen.

She noted that LA Metro also learned, after the defeat of an earlier ballot measure, that it needed to rank proposed projects by five measures: ­economic development, ease of movement, congestion relief, safety and ­quality of life.

“Words that communicate trust and transparency are critical to create a connect to voters,” Tonilas said. For that reason, she recommended that communications experts, not lawyers, should draft ballot language: “You need to tell people simply and directly what you will do, whether it’s fix potholes or ease traffic congestion, and that you have a defined plan to spend the money the way they want it spent.”

In Las Vegas, the outreach process to gain a better understanding of what the public wanted produced an unexpected reaction. Given taxpayer backing for earlier road projects, Quigley said, she had expected to hear support for specific transportation enhancements and new options.

“Instead, people wanted to know what we were going to do to advance ‘integrated mobility’ and how did autonomous vehicles factor into our plans,” she said. “The public wanted assurances that the proposed investment—and the cost and disruption associated with it—would be relevant into the future as part of a carefully considered, long-term transportation plan.”

Southern Nevada is considering the public’s challenge and thinking about the use of advanced technology to create a new, integrated mobility landscape.

Panelists noted that this year’s defeat at the polls of Nashville’s transportation initiative offered some important lessons about earning and maintaining the public’s trust. The city had done a lot of things right, Schulz noted: engaging community groups early in the process; creating a large, broad-based coalition; raising adequate funds for a professional campaign and a popular mayor leading the effort.

According to Schulz, however, post-election research showed that of the people who voted against the ballot measure, only 21 percent opposed the tax increase while 49 percent believed there was a high risk that the project’s promises would not be fulfilled.

“Doubt is the ally of the opposition,” said Schulz. “At the time, Nashville’s popular mayor was the face of the campaign,” he explained, “but when a scandal forced her to resign, the public began to lose trust that the project would be built, and we didn’t have a clear, convincing response.”

Schulz noted that Nashville is currently developing a revised, more limited initiative that it hopes to put before the voters soon.

Several audience members offered additional views based on their local experiences. Some reported that the opposition to public transit funding being generated by the Koch Brothers-supported Americans for Prosperity Foundation was a serious threat to particular ballot initiatives.

Others emphasized the importance of equity and access for all members of the community, saying that BRT routes are sometimes proposed for poorer neighborhoods while light rail projects are targeted to more affluent areas. There was also a caution about not “overreaching on tax increases.”

Still, Tonilas recommended going as big and as bold as possible. “It’s important to show the voters how tax dollars were used in the past and how previous ballot initiatives benefited the community,” she said.

“And to use the right language,” she continued. When LA Metro was drafting its 2016 ballot measure, it considered including a 50-year sunset of the proposed tax increase but then decided to test the idea of no sunset using the phrase “until voters decide to end it.” That language was favored over the “50 years” by 72 percent of the people surveyed. “On election day, the ballot initiative won by more than 71 percent,” she said to underscore her point.

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