Reacting to the announcement of the anticipated change in status of the Texarkana Amtrak train station, an advocacy organization called the Texas Eagle Marketing and Performance Organization has formed to contest Amtrak's plan to unstaff 15 stations, replacing their ticket agents with custodians, who open, close and clean the unstaffed stations.
TEMPO put out a press release that went into more detail about their objectives and plans.
Larry White, the Main Street Texarkana board president, announced this at Main Street's May meeting, passing the press release around.
"This year, Amtrak received a record amount of federal funding, the largest ever received by America's passenger railroad. Amtrak received this historic level of funding because of the bipartisan support of Congress for a nationwide passenger train system. Given that support, it is not appropriate for Amtrak to implement cuts affecting only national network stations without first making an effort to improve ridership at those stations," the press release stated.
"TEMPO calls on Amtrak to postpone these station cutbacks until adequate efforts have been made to increase ridership, in partnership with affected cities."
Imagine the Possibilities takes place this weekend, highlighting 12 different downtown properties available for visitors to check out.
"We will be kicking things off at 10 a.m. this Saturday, where the tour starts at the Museum of Regional History," said Ina McDowell, Main Street executive director. "Downtown is full of potential for entrepreneurs, investors and others. This Saturday, we encourage everyone to come down and imagine the possibilities."
The Main Street Contest continues, with the competition narrowed down to 25 Main Street organizations. Within this national competition, two Texas Main Street organizations have made it to the top 25, those being Texarkana and Hillsboro.
"We thank everyone who has supported us and gotten us this far," McDowell said. "If you want to vote, go to Mainstreetcontest.com. The contest ends May 28. We are almost there."