Phoenix voters dismiss Koch-backed proposal killing future public transportation expansions

Phoenix voters rejected an initiative Tuesday which would have stifled any future expansions to the city’s public transportation network.

Proposition 105 — which gained national attention for being partially funded by the Koch-network — was defeated in a proposition only special election with 112,056 out of roughly 180,000 votes, according to Phoenix New Times.

“We’re the fifth-largest city. Let’s start acting like it, right? We need a transportation system. Not just roads, not just light rails, buses, everything. We gotta grow up and be the big city we are,” City Council member Debra Stark said during a watch party opposing the motion.

Proposition 105 was created after local business owners opposed a plan to extend the light rail into South Phoenix, bringing a main thoroughfare down from four lanes for motor vehicle traffic down to two. 

The group soon expanded to target all future rail construction and collected enough signatures to put the initiative to a vote — which would move the funds away from light rail projects and into road repairs and other infrastructure needs.

The proposition gained national attention after reporting found the small business owners started an unlikely alliance with the Arizona Free Enterprise Club, which receives funding from billionaire Charles Koch’s political nonprofit.

Groups backed by Charles and his late brother-David Koch have opposed several public transportation projects across the country, and the Free Enterprise Club donated over $40,000 for the campaign.

The opposition was funded by the political committee Invest in PHX, who has taken almost $1 million from labor groups and Arizona State University.

The opposition was also backed by Mayor Kate Gallego, who won her election in March campaigning on light rail expansion and telling people who voted against the initiative: “You make me so proud of the City of Phoenix.” 

Salvador Reza, a community activist who opposes the light rail’s expansion, seemed undeterred as he spoke to a separate watch party for those supporting the proposal.

“The fight is not over. We have to keep fighting so the city will compensate all the businesses that will be destroyed by the extension of this route,” he said. “We have to put City Hall against the wall.”