Transit rally on tap tonight

Together Baton Rouge says it expects around 1,000 people to turn out for a 6:30 rally tonight aimed at drumming up support for transit reform and a forthcoming tax initiative. The rally, to be held at Mt. Pilgrim Baptist Church, 9700 Scenic Hwy., is billed as the culmination of a 14-month campaign by several local entities to create an action plan for transit reform. “The event has two purposes: to kick off an unprecedented grassroots organizing drive leading up to the transit election on April 21, and to win public commitments from the [Capital Area Transit System] board and management to implement the transit reform plan as advertised and meet with Together Baton Rouge quarterly to be held accountable for results,” the group says in a release. A dedicated funding source for CATS in the form of a property tax increase will be on the April 21 ballot. Meanwhile, several bills being considered in the current legislative session would restructure aspects of CATS administrative operations and board membership. See an informative slide show Together Baton Rouge has created on the proposed transit tax and the need for transit reform here; read a recent Business Report article by David Jacobs on the proposed tax and the future of public transit in Baton Rouge here; and get Business Report Executive Editor JR Ball’s take on the transit tax in a recent column here.