Dush responds to local petition, says not in favor of cuts to transportation
Sen. Cris Dush has voiced his concerns about problems at the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA), but does that mean this region’s state senator is asking to cut transportation funding?
No, the Republican senator from Brookville told The Era on Wednesday.
“I in no way am advocating for cuts in funding to our local ATAs,” Dush said. “In fact if we had more money, I might even consider expanding those services.”
Bradford resident Alex Casper had reached out to The Era, and had circulated a petition, stating Dush advocated cuts to area transportation authorities.
In an email to Dush, Casper said he cannot drive and asked Dush “to fully fund transit in all 67 counties of Pennsylvania.” He said he took four buses to submit the petition with “nearly 200 signatures from McKean and Potter counties” to Dush’s office.
“Public transit is a popular issue,” Casper said, “because many working people cannot afford to drive, people with disabilities like mine legally cannot drive and we need to move people to work, healthcare, retailers and their social needs.”
Dush said, “I think he’s conflating things,” Dush said. The senator explained his problems with transportation rest with what he called a “staggering … amount of money SEPTA has been drawing from the highway dollars” in a letter he made available for those with questions on his view of the agency.
While speaking to The Era, the senator said, “The problems that SEPTA is having go beyond just the fiscal issues.” He mentioned the agency is still paying a six-figure salary to former director Leslie Richards, who is no longer employed there.
He went on to explain a structural deficit in the state budget.
“Quite honestly right now if we flat fund everything and have to deal only with the increases in health and human services that are mandated, we will end the year next June a billion dollars in the hole,” Dush said. ” If we don’t do the things to fix what is going wrong, we’ll be borrowing next year and the year after that and the year after that.
“We don’t have money for increasing anything,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us, that’s for sure. I don’t foresee any cuts to transportation.”
