This article is just LOL (laugh out loud) hilarious.
http://www.kmov.com/story/30689292/metro-considers-creating-own-police-force
CEO John Nations, who gave himself a 75k a year raise, likes to tell his drivers that as soon as he elected Governor of Missouri will install "right to work" legislation and eliminate unions, and uses public money for $5 million in "contributions to outside entities" (typically political campaign donations, although Metro's fiscal reports don't say where they money went), wants his own police force.
Transportation Districts are a nice chunk of public money and power over the public. Don't kid yourself that the Loop Trolley is anything more than Joe Edwards war with Metro over having city buses (and bus stops) in his domain. Mr. Edwards wants to be sure that no one will have to set on a city bus to get to Blueberry Hill from the DeBaliviere Metro stop.
And John Nations just wants a bigger piece of the St. Louis pie for himself. There are a lot of things that would reduce crime in St. Louis, including on public transit, but more cops is not one of them.
John Nations and a good number of the current executive staff of Metro needs to be removed. Metro and Bi-State Development Agency need to be separated.
Don't believe the hype. It's just a way for Metro to get more public money.
Posted recently on other OPTINSTL blogs:
http://fergusonthemovement.blogspot.com/2015/12/it-is-time-to-take-it-to-courts.html
OPTINSTL
OCCUPY! PUBLIC TRANSIT Image by Eric Drooker for Occupy Wall Street, click on image for Drooker's website
Showing posts with label Loop Trolley Transportation District. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Loop Trolley Transportation District. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 8, 2015
Monday, March 31, 2014
LOOP TROLLEY POLICE STATE
More musings on
http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-loop-trolley-is-about-getting.html
and
http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-loop-trolley-sucking-up-more.html
It occurred to me this afternoon that a transportation district can have it's own security, and the police are heavily involved in Metro's honor system. Instead of having turnstiles and tokens, they let the police write tickets when the honor system is checked. (In my experience, the more black men on the Metrolink, the more likely it is to get inspected for ticket dodgers.)
It seems pretty likely that the Loop Transportation District Security and local police will be used to eject anyone "undesirable" from the Loop.
It's not about a trolley, it's about control for profit. Profit for the "Local 1%"
http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-loop-trolley-is-about-getting.html
and
http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-loop-trolley-sucking-up-more.html
It occurred to me this afternoon that a transportation district can have it's own security, and the police are heavily involved in Metro's honor system. Instead of having turnstiles and tokens, they let the police write tickets when the honor system is checked. (In my experience, the more black men on the Metrolink, the more likely it is to get inspected for ticket dodgers.)
It seems pretty likely that the Loop Transportation District Security and local police will be used to eject anyone "undesirable" from the Loop.
It's not about a trolley, it's about control for profit. Profit for the "Local 1%"
Sunday, March 30, 2014
DEAR METRO: SOME QUESTIONS FOR YOU
Dear Metro (in particular, Chief of Planning and System Development):
1) What funds are going into developing sanitation facilities (toilets) at Metro bus transfer centers and Metrolink stations? What consideration is being given to this most basic of human needs?
http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/03/metro-bus-and-train-stations-need-more.html
2) You say that one million people ride public transit every year. How do you count the number of individual people that ride? I can see where it would be easy to count your 55 million boardings, but how are you counting individuals? Do you do surveys? Do you know what neighborhoods use your services the most? What are your busiest buses? What are your busiest transfer centers? What are your least-used bus and train lines?
http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/03/how-much-does-metro-know-about-its-most.html
3) You say that you are connecting people with jobs, yet your own maps (actually the East West Gateway Council of Governments' maps) of areas with the lowest ownership of cars are underserved, as are many of the areas with the most jobs. The connectivity between the areas is also badly served in all but a few places (Central West End, Downtown). Shouldn't that be your highest priority? What are you doing to change that?
4) When will more Metrolink service be available in north Saint Louis, and south city areas such as South Grand and Dutchtown? Can you provide the public and OPTINSTL with maps of existing tracks, development plans, and feasibility studies? If so, how do we access them?
5) You allow universities and employers to subsidize transit passes for employees, seemingly at their discretion. You also sell "semester passes" to college students. Do you have any plans in development to offer passes at a discount to low-income people on welfare, and the unemployed? Have you reached out to these agencies to look for ways to provide low cost passes to the disadvantaged-- which would seem to be your largest rider base?
6) Can you point me to the official story of how the proposed St. Charles Metrolink was rejected? What lessons did Metro learn from this? Also, why was a train put into Shrewsbury when north Saint Louis has the greatest need? Can you offer any assistance to the public and OPTINSTL on how to make sure future trains are not blocked?
http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-apalling-racist-fiasco-of-2005-and.html
7) Many of your bus stops are badly placed and many are not marked with the identifying information for the bus lines that stop there. None of them have schedules, routes, or fares posted. There seems to be a lack of coordination and planning with the cities (who decide where the bus stops can be placed) on trash cans, lighting, sidewalk repair and so forth. Especially in low-income areas where families with young children ride the bus, this seems like it should be an obvious priority. What plans are in place to create better bus stops?
In particular, to post route, schedule and fares? I have suggested two sheets of acrylic, three sided (the top would be sealed to prevent moisture from precipitation) with holes at the top and bottom, to be bolted to the metal poles that the bus stops signs are mounted on. I was told it was too expensive. Can you direct me to the feasibility study that was done that determined this cost was too high?
EDIT: http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/03/what-should-be-metros-new-bus-stop-plan.html
8) Are there any plans to extend the Customer service information? It is nice that you started the phone and email alerts, but many low-income people do not have data service on their phones. When people need to reach Metro the most, it is usually late at night and on weekends.
9) You are raising fares by 5%, but offer no explanation of how the three fare options all will equal the same amount of money -- 2.5 million dollars per year. Can you direct me to the studies that were done, and how each of the three options totals up?
10) You also own Downtown St. Louis Airport, and the Arch and Riverboat Trams. How much of the revenues generated from those entities are used for public transportation? Have you investigated selling these entities to private companies? If so, have you done any discovery of what impact this would have on the public transit system? Would sale of these entities provided you with needed funds to improve existing services?
11) Can you explain why there is not more outreach work done-- such as rider surveys, and having Metro officials available on buses and Metrolink to make feedback more convenient to the riders? To come to your hearings, those of us that don't have the money to buy bus passes have to pay to come, in addition to having our day disrupted. And you would reach a much greater portion of customers by coming to them.
EDIT: http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/03/todays-hearing-on-fare-increase-at.html
12) Why doesn't Metro require employees that are not drivers or train operators to ride public transportation from the closest park and ride location from their homes, at least once a week?
13) In 2009, a year after the economic collapse in the U.S., and after four years- by your own statistics-- of increasing ridership, you had to severely cut services. Do more riders equal more revenue? And how so? Can you direct me to the mathematical algorithms and statistical models (excuse me if my terminology is wrong) that you use to determine how many riders and at what fare structure you need to increase services?
http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/03/why-were-so-many-bus-lines-shut-down-in.html
14) Your website says that for every $1 a community invests in public transit, it receives $4 in federal money via Metro/Bi-State. Can you explain to me exactly how that works? Where does the $1 come from, and who gets paid the $4 in return? Also, is this true equally, for all communities? And if so, does that mean that lower-income areas are lower served, because they have fewer dollars to contribute?
14) The Loop Trolley Transportation District was just awarded $25 million from an Urban Circulator Grant. The reasons for the Public Transit riders to oppose the proposed Trolley are numerous. What partnerships are Metro building with local communities to put Urban Circulators in areas that really need them? How much exploration has been done on Urban Circulators?
http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-loop-trolley-is-about-getting.html
EDIT: http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-loop-trolley-sucking-up-more.html
That is all for now. If you can respond to these questions by email, please do. If I need to come to Metro and pick up the hard copy print outs, please let me know. If there is another agency or person I need to address, please let me know who they are.
Thank you.
EDIT: This was emailed to the Chief of Planning and System Development.
1) What funds are going into developing sanitation facilities (toilets) at Metro bus transfer centers and Metrolink stations? What consideration is being given to this most basic of human needs?
http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/03/metro-bus-and-train-stations-need-more.html
2) You say that one million people ride public transit every year. How do you count the number of individual people that ride? I can see where it would be easy to count your 55 million boardings, but how are you counting individuals? Do you do surveys? Do you know what neighborhoods use your services the most? What are your busiest buses? What are your busiest transfer centers? What are your least-used bus and train lines?
http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/03/how-much-does-metro-know-about-its-most.html
3) You say that you are connecting people with jobs, yet your own maps (actually the East West Gateway Council of Governments' maps) of areas with the lowest ownership of cars are underserved, as are many of the areas with the most jobs. The connectivity between the areas is also badly served in all but a few places (Central West End, Downtown). Shouldn't that be your highest priority? What are you doing to change that?
4) When will more Metrolink service be available in north Saint Louis, and south city areas such as South Grand and Dutchtown? Can you provide the public and OPTINSTL with maps of existing tracks, development plans, and feasibility studies? If so, how do we access them?
5) You allow universities and employers to subsidize transit passes for employees, seemingly at their discretion. You also sell "semester passes" to college students. Do you have any plans in development to offer passes at a discount to low-income people on welfare, and the unemployed? Have you reached out to these agencies to look for ways to provide low cost passes to the disadvantaged-- which would seem to be your largest rider base?
6) Can you point me to the official story of how the proposed St. Charles Metrolink was rejected? What lessons did Metro learn from this? Also, why was a train put into Shrewsbury when north Saint Louis has the greatest need? Can you offer any assistance to the public and OPTINSTL on how to make sure future trains are not blocked?
http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-apalling-racist-fiasco-of-2005-and.html
7) Many of your bus stops are badly placed and many are not marked with the identifying information for the bus lines that stop there. None of them have schedules, routes, or fares posted. There seems to be a lack of coordination and planning with the cities (who decide where the bus stops can be placed) on trash cans, lighting, sidewalk repair and so forth. Especially in low-income areas where families with young children ride the bus, this seems like it should be an obvious priority. What plans are in place to create better bus stops?
In particular, to post route, schedule and fares? I have suggested two sheets of acrylic, three sided (the top would be sealed to prevent moisture from precipitation) with holes at the top and bottom, to be bolted to the metal poles that the bus stops signs are mounted on. I was told it was too expensive. Can you direct me to the feasibility study that was done that determined this cost was too high?
EDIT: http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/03/what-should-be-metros-new-bus-stop-plan.html
8) Are there any plans to extend the Customer service information? It is nice that you started the phone and email alerts, but many low-income people do not have data service on their phones. When people need to reach Metro the most, it is usually late at night and on weekends.
9) You are raising fares by 5%, but offer no explanation of how the three fare options all will equal the same amount of money -- 2.5 million dollars per year. Can you direct me to the studies that were done, and how each of the three options totals up?
10) You also own Downtown St. Louis Airport, and the Arch and Riverboat Trams. How much of the revenues generated from those entities are used for public transportation? Have you investigated selling these entities to private companies? If so, have you done any discovery of what impact this would have on the public transit system? Would sale of these entities provided you with needed funds to improve existing services?
11) Can you explain why there is not more outreach work done-- such as rider surveys, and having Metro officials available on buses and Metrolink to make feedback more convenient to the riders? To come to your hearings, those of us that don't have the money to buy bus passes have to pay to come, in addition to having our day disrupted. And you would reach a much greater portion of customers by coming to them.
EDIT: http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/03/todays-hearing-on-fare-increase-at.html
12) Why doesn't Metro require employees that are not drivers or train operators to ride public transportation from the closest park and ride location from their homes, at least once a week?
13) In 2009, a year after the economic collapse in the U.S., and after four years- by your own statistics-- of increasing ridership, you had to severely cut services. Do more riders equal more revenue? And how so? Can you direct me to the mathematical algorithms and statistical models (excuse me if my terminology is wrong) that you use to determine how many riders and at what fare structure you need to increase services?
http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/03/why-were-so-many-bus-lines-shut-down-in.html
14) Your website says that for every $1 a community invests in public transit, it receives $4 in federal money via Metro/Bi-State. Can you explain to me exactly how that works? Where does the $1 come from, and who gets paid the $4 in return? Also, is this true equally, for all communities? And if so, does that mean that lower-income areas are lower served, because they have fewer dollars to contribute?
14) The Loop Trolley Transportation District was just awarded $25 million from an Urban Circulator Grant. The reasons for the Public Transit riders to oppose the proposed Trolley are numerous. What partnerships are Metro building with local communities to put Urban Circulators in areas that really need them? How much exploration has been done on Urban Circulators?
http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-loop-trolley-is-about-getting.html
EDIT: http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-loop-trolley-sucking-up-more.html
That is all for now. If you can respond to these questions by email, please do. If I need to come to Metro and pick up the hard copy print outs, please let me know. If there is another agency or person I need to address, please let me know who they are.
Thank you.
EDIT: This was emailed to the Chief of Planning and System Development.
THE LOOP TROLLEY: SUCKING UP MORE GOVERNMENT FUNDING IT DOESN'T DESERVE
The Loop Trolley got $25 million from the Department of Transportation Urban Circulator Grants,
http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/blog/2014/03/loop-trolley-project-lands-25-million-grant.html
despite the fact that it barely meets the requirements for the funds.
http://www.fta.dot.gov/about/about_FTA_11006.html#exempt_projects
More interesting is that a lawsuit was filed against it in November, and the news articles about the grant money, do not mention this.
https://www.stlbeacon.org/#!/content/33497/loop_trolley_status_update?coverpage=4259
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/lawsuit-seeks-to-put-the-brakes-on-loop-trolley/article_66e1a5cb-3184-5d06-85cd-52473b4c13d0.html
The lawsuit is very enlightening. You get one vote per acre of land owned, even if you are a non-resident. Guess who owns most of property in the Loop, and guess who had the most votes?
Property owners got to cast one vote per acre of land they owned -- giving Joe Edwards, the suit said, the most votes. Quoted from the Beacon article, linked above.
That $25 million would have been much better for an DOT Urban Circulator in Grand Center, from the Metrolink to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. BLVD., or as I suggested before, downtown or South Grand/ Cherokee.
The Loop Trolley, the "Folly Trolley", needs to be shutdown.
Let Saint Louis City Mayor Francis Slay, and University City Mayor Shelley Welsch, know how you feel:
https://www.mayorslay.com/
Mayor
Shelley Welsch
7141 Delmar Blvd.
(314)505-8606 (ofc.)
(314)727-6852 (hm.)
mayor@ucitymo.org
http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/blog/2014/03/loop-trolley-project-lands-25-million-grant.html
despite the fact that it barely meets the requirements for the funds.
http://www.fta.dot.gov/about/about_FTA_11006.html#exempt_projects
More interesting is that a lawsuit was filed against it in November, and the news articles about the grant money, do not mention this.
https://www.stlbeacon.org/#!/content/33497/loop_trolley_status_update?coverpage=4259
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/lawsuit-seeks-to-put-the-brakes-on-loop-trolley/article_66e1a5cb-3184-5d06-85cd-52473b4c13d0.html
The lawsuit is very enlightening. You get one vote per acre of land owned, even if you are a non-resident. Guess who owns most of property in the Loop, and guess who had the most votes?
Property owners got to cast one vote per acre of land they owned -- giving Joe Edwards, the suit said, the most votes. Quoted from the Beacon article, linked above.
That $25 million would have been much better for an DOT Urban Circulator in Grand Center, from the Metrolink to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. BLVD., or as I suggested before, downtown or South Grand/ Cherokee.
The Loop Trolley, the "Folly Trolley", needs to be shutdown.
Let Saint Louis City Mayor Francis Slay, and University City Mayor Shelley Welsch, know how you feel:
https://www.mayorslay.com/
Mayor
Shelley Welsch
7141 Delmar Blvd.
(314)505-8606 (ofc.)
(314)727-6852 (hm.)
mayor@ucitymo.org
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