These sometime rivals united Tuesday on the steps of the Capitol to implore lawmakers to reach a deal on state transportation funding that will keep public transit systems like SEPTA from deep service cuts.“Everyone is coming together because we understand what infrastructure means to the commonwealth,” said Anselm Sauter, vice president of regional advocacy at the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia, which has made securing transit funding a top lobbying priority.
SEPTA entered this year with a $240 million operating budget deficit as federal American Rescue Plan pandemic funds run out. Representatives of smaller transit agencies based in Northwest Pennsylvania and York testified earlier in the day before the state Senate Transportation Committee that they are experiencing their own financial challenges in recovering from the pandemic.The House, which Democrats control by a one-vote majority, passed Gov.
Transport Workers Local 234 of Philadelphia, SEPTA’s largest labor union, organized the rally, timed for the first day of the General Assembly’s abbreviated pre-election session. It drew building trades unions from across the state whose members would get work from increased bridge and road spending, the Amalgamated Transit Union from Pittsburgh, and lawmakers from both parties.
. SEPTA got $46 million, plus $6.9 million in local matching funds from Philadelphia and the four suburban counties. Skill games are slot machine look-alikes, which have popped up in bars, taverns, convenience stores and corner bodegas. They exist in a legal gray area, and how many of the games are operating is unknown.