An organization formed to support a 0.25 percent increase in the Pulaski County sales tax to fund transit improvements formally kicked off its campaign Thursday.

Campaign to Connect is headed by Jimmy Moses, the Little Rock developer who is a member of the Rock Region Metro board of directors and helped craft the proposal. Little Rock City Director Kathy Webb and Pulaski County Justice of the Peace Donna Massey serve as co-chairs.

They used a news conference at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock to press their case for a tax dedicated to transit, saying the continued growth of Little Rock and the rest of central Arkansas depends on it.

"This is the launch of our quarter-cent sales tax that will fuel the redevelopment and continued growth of central Arkansas,"Moses said before a crowd of supporters at UALR's district building on Asher Avenue.

He said transit is vital for many of the region's citizens and investing it in would help foster economic development and make Little Rock a "vibrant and dynamic" city.

"Three million people use our transit system every year to go to work, to play, to health care, to school and many other trips back and forth," he said. "What would the city be without that? It would be a lot less, I think."

Webb said the leaders of other cities of Little Rock's size with whom she speaks say the "key to being a great 21st Century city is to have a great transit system."

Massey said improved bus service with more frequent service would help "people wanting