Dear Corporate Leader,
Imagine greater access to the growing regional labor pool, safe and reliable transportation for our employees, improved transport of goods, and streamlined transportation between O'Hare, DuPage and Midway airports. These benefits and more are the promise of the STAR Line.
Rarely do we, as corporations large and small, have an opportunity to partner on a project that will improve the quality of life for our entire region. Metra's proposed STAR Line will initiate our nation's first suburb-to-suburb commuter rail system. The STAR Line is part of Metra's New Start program which received approval for funding consideration in August of 2005 through federal passage of the SAFETEA-LU transit funding bill.
One out of five people in this region live within five miles of the proposed STAR Line and one-fourth of the region's jobs are in this area as well. The STAR Line is critical to the future of our region and to keeping our business environment strong.
The STAR Line offers our region an opportunity to lead the way with a new vision for transportation planning. As business leaders in the proposed STAR Line corridor, we are uniquely positioned to help Metra make the STAR Line a reality. In order to secure the necessary funding to begin construction of the STAR Line, Metra must follow a multi-year federal process that requires reporting to various local, state and federal agencies including the Federal Transit Administration and Congress.
As Co-Chairs of the STAR Line Business Alliance, we ask you to join us in our commitment to assist Metra throughout the federal approval process. We'd like to provide a brief outline of what this commitment would entail:- State & Federal Legislative Support: Beginning in 2006, As theprocess moves forward, Metra will request letters of support from Business Alliance members who see great value in the STAR Line's benefits to our region's economic engine. Your voice as a local business leader will resonate loudly in Washington and Springfield, helping Metra secure the support it needs from your legislators. There will also be an opportunity for highly-engaged business leaders to join Metra in providing testimony before appropriation- and transit-focused legislative panels.
- Linkage Coordination: As early as 2007, Metra will need towork hand-in-hand with employers and bus service providers to modify internal transportation networks to allow for the transport of commuters from a STAR Line station to their ultimate destination. This will entail a commitment by businesses and property managers to consider transit-oriented development for their campuses as they plan future improvements and rehabilitate existing facilities.
Your involvement in this endeavor is crucial, and we ask you to click on the link below in order to fill out a form if your company is willing to become part of our STAR Line Business Alliance.
Best to you,
STAR Line Business Alliance Co-Chair
STAR Line Business Alliance Co-Chair
