WHY YOU SHOULD VOTE NO ON THE PROPOSED STATE WIDE SALES TAX INCREASE

OPTINSTL'S previous posts on Amendment 7, the proposed statewide sales tax increase of 3/4 of a cent, on the ballot in August.

http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/05/sales-tax-is-new-cash-cow.html

http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/06/vote-no-on-amendment-7-proposed.html

http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/07/more-on-amendment-7-highway-robbery.html

Today, MO DOT listed the approved projects.  Look no further for proof that this is a huge waste of taxpayer money.

http://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/8/47/84795b7f-b8a5-5bbc-9f7b-97b3292ef291/53bb17bf2521f.pdf.pdf

St. Louis starts on about page 14, depending on what you consider St. Louis.

I suggest ever single person--whether you are a registered voter, whether you ride public transit--  reads this very carefully.

First of all, there isn't a lot of public transit on this list. (Only 18% is Public Transit related, according to a NextSTL tweet.)

"Public Transportation" does not always mean buses and Metrolink, or even para-transit.  It includes walking and bike paths, and A LOT of support services.

Below are some OPTINSTL highlights:

St Louis / St Louis City

Fixed funding contribution to Metro for bus rapid transit route

from downtown St Louis to Chesterfield along I-64. Project

delivery is contingent upon $20 million contribution from

Metro.

Public Transportation

$18.00

$20 Million contribution from Metro!!! HAHAHA!  Oh wait, a minute, this is in Chesterfield, so they will rob some other fund to pay for this.

This is Metro CEO John Nations doing his job to make sure no convenient Metrolink service is available to his hometown.  It's okay if "people" ride buses for two or three hours to come from "urban" neighborhoods to bus tables and clean houses. But he doesn't want to many "people" coming from "urban" neighborhoods quickly and easily, for entertainment and shopping, because, you know how those "people" are.

Nations is pretty open about only getting involved with Metro to resolve the "maid crisis" of the 2009 bus lines cuts.  His unemployed, wealthy constituents were suddenly faced with the prospect of cleaning their own houses, because the maids couldn't get to Chesterfield.

(There are LOTS of unemployed people in Chesterfield, but they are called "stay at home mom's" and "investors".  Being unemployed is only bad if you don't have money.  Being poor is the only true crime in the "Land of the Free", the richest country in the world.)

Of course, it is unlikely that a similar Florissant project will get funded. Metro will have to come up with ANOTHER $20 million.   (Again, once MO DOT has the money, they will do whatever they want with it.)

St Louis / St Louis City

Fixed funding contribution to Metro for the bus rapid transit

route from downtown St Louis to I-270 along West Florissant

Ave and Natural Bridge Road. Project delivery is contingent

upon Metro providing $20 million to complete the

improvement.

Public Transportation

$18.00

Yes, you read that right.  They allocate the same amount to West Florissant as Chesterfield.  They have, at least, twice, and probably three times, the amount of riders waiting along West Florissant as Chesterfield.

Even if MO DOT and Metro and our other brilliant leaders were aware of this, and they should be, their own statistics prove it, I doubt Florissant would get the play it deserves.

And with both of these: NO MORE BUSES! These should be Metrolinks.  This is ridiculous.  Really.  These two projects alone should be enough for public transit riders to vote no!

St Louis / St Louis City

Future light rail station

Public Transportation

$8.90

$8.9 Million.  Why yes, that would be the exact amount of money Cortex needs to rip down the old Central West End Metrolink station and move it a few blocks, so they can "realize their business ideal." Cortex is actually a consortium corporation formed by Barnes Jewish, SLU Medical, Washington University and MOBOT/Monsanto.  (Barnes Jewish is tired of transit riders using their bathrooms and cafeterias.) And this will satisfy the other Cortex proponents that Barnes Jewish isn't unfairly served by Metrolink. 

Cortex won't have to pay one red cent to put their big corporate name on the new Metrolink station stop.

 http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/04/citizens-for-modern-transit-more-rich.html 

St Louis / St Louis City

Studies for light rail expansion and funding scenarios for next

phase

Public Transportation

$2.00

$2 million dollars FOR STUDIES.  They did all these same tired studies for the Madison County and St. Charles Proposed Metrolink expansion and what did it get us?  Nothing.  They don't do the right kind of studies, and they don't make public transit for the people that use it most.  Public transit is developed where corporate and construction developers can make the most money, and Metro executives can keep the biggest slush funds for their bonuses. 

We don't need anymore expensive studies.  It is obvious where the light rail needs to go, and we need a plan.  They keep wasting our money with these feasibility and funding scenarios.  They are inept or corrupt or both.

And this NEW streetcar plan! What a joke!  It mostly runs parallel to the Metrolink, and only adds 2 miles of North/South transit, from downtown to Old North.  And who are these people?  Mostly SLU folk, the same lot that is in on Citizens for Modern Transit and part of the Cortex scam, and they are hungry to suck up federal funds:

St Louis City
Provide fixed funding contribution toward phase I of the St Louis Streetcar system. Project delivery is contingent upon St Louis Streetcar Company providing $271.5 million contribution from other sources, including federal funds and rider fees.
Public Transportation
$25.02

I'd love a streetcar in Old North, but the rest of the plan is just crap.  And that $271.5 million that they are going to contribute is all federal funds.  RIDICULOUS!  This is just robbery that should go to a North South Metrolink.  in fact, that is about third of the money needed to complete a light rail system from the tip of North county to the bottom of South County!!

But too many of these people sit on the East West Gateway Council.  They don't care about making public transit better for people that actually ride it the most.  It's all Shoemal, he's not mayor anymore but he is still running public transit into the ground.

More on St. Louis Streetcar:

http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/dailyrft/2014/01/st_louis_streetcar_proposed_tr.php

http://www.downtownstl.org/docs/StLouisStreetcarFeasibilityStudy-Final.pdf

https://www.facebook.com/stlstreetcar/info

What do we have next? Here is a cleverly disguised $18 million grant to the Loop "Folley Trolley":

St Louis City
Funding for Delmar/Forest Park-DeBaliviere Metrolink station improvements, sidewalk/non-motorized improvements along Hodiamont Ave, Delmar Blvd, De Giverville Ave and Des Peres Ave, and connect Ruth Porter Trail to Forest Park
Sidewalk / Non-Motorized
$18.77

http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-loop-trolley-is-about-getting.html

http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-loop-trolley-sucking-up-more.html

http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/03/loop-trolley-police-state.html

There is so much more to get into on this list, and I will add to it as I have the time and investigate, but this should be enough for any voter, particularly transit riders, to vote no on Amendment 7.

You will see more crap like this, as the governments local, state and national try to get support for their insolvency and mismanagement of funds:

http://www.stltoday.com/news/traffic/along-for-the-ride/report-america-s-rural-roads-see-too-many-deadly-crashes/article_36dd7c6f-33ad-5e58-b3d9-c88e772323d4.html

Don't believe the hype.

And, seriously, MO DOT is lame.  This is just one example:

http://www.kmov.com/news/local/MoDOT-has-no-solution-for-asphalt-rising-on-Poplar-Street-Bridge-266838601.html

So is the street services department.  And the coordination with utilities and contractors is beyond lame.  It is downright dangerous!  (Again, this is just one example.)

http://www.kmov.com/news/mobile/Hanley-Hills-residents-concerned-about-dozens-of-deep-trenches-in-city-266822951.html

The people in charge are running our city and state into the ground.  TIME FOR CHANGE!

Start by voting NO on AMENDMENT 7!
 

53,767,000 PUBLIC TRANSIT BOARDINGS IN 2008

According to page 18 of this document on the Metro Website, "ridership" in 2008, was 53,767,000.

http://metrostlouis.org/Libraries/MTF_documents/Moving_Transit_Forward_plan_document.pdf

Ridership increased steadily, according to the Metro chart, from 2004-2008.  Yet, even with the every-2-year-fare increase,** and their 20 year "plan" from 1989, 24 bus lines were shut down in 2009.

(** CORRECTION/EDIT: in the past, according to a Metro representative, fares were raised sporadically and for more than 5%.  And they still couldn't manage.  So now we get an automatic increase every 2 years, and still no guarantees that service will remain stable.)

Was there any change, with the increased riders, in types of fares used to board? (More two hour transfers? more weekly passes? more one-way Metrolink cash fares?)

In what geographical locations did the ridership increase the most?

Were they suburban, park and ride, train commuters? Or was there an overall increase in people using the buses and trains more after the economy crashed and the price of gas got to high?

Did the steady increase in riders (from 2005-2008) result in more revenue or less?  Because if more riders means more revenue (and it may not), why did the system fail so badly in 2009?

Sorry, no information to be found.

It seems like it would be pretty easy to count the number of people that boarded a bus, but our Metrolink system uses the "Honor System".  (That means that randomly security and police officers board the trains.  This is an easy way for the police to legitimately harass people.)

Hard to know just how many people actually ride the trains, though.  You can count ticket and pass sales at the stations, but not much else. **

EDIT/CORRECTION:  I have been informed by Metro representatives that there are heat sensors that count -- as far as I could understand-- humans by their body heat, over the train doors when they open and close.  They assured me they were accurate.  I suppose they are.  

Metro operates with 160 million a year budget.  Yet they offer no coherent, understandable breakdown on where that money goes.  Or where it comes from.

WHY WERE SO MANY BUS LINES SHUT DOWN IN 2009?

According to page 16 of this document (see link below) on the Metro Website:

http://metrostlouis.org/Libraries/MTF_documents/Moving_Transit_Forward_plan_document.pdf 

Throughout 2009, the Metro Transit System faced several major challenges in maintaining consistent quality and levels of service. Escalating budget constraints forced Metro to make severe reductions:

32 percent of MetroBus, 23 percent of MetroLink, and 30 percent of Call-A-Ride service was cut throughout the entire St. Louis area. In August 2009, a $12 million special appropriation by the State of Missouri partially restored bus service to the Metro Transit System.  These reductions have negatively impacted ridership and the system’s overall geographic coverage.

WHY?  As with all their "statements" this one is not backed by any substantial information on what caused this crisis.  WHAT ARE THEY DOING WITH THEIR MONEY?

In 1989 they did a big government survey and came up with a "20 year Plan".  The document the above information comes from is part of their NEW 30 YEAR PLAN.

Since they failed to do what they said they would do in 20 years (and failed to predict or foresee how the 2008 economic "crash" in U.S. would effect them-- because a 20 year plan is rarely flexible and only updated when crisis) they now want us to back a new plan?  That runs for 30 years?

Have all the people that were involved in the 1989 plan fired?  Because that was former Mayor Vince Schoemehl's watch, and he is still on the Metro Board.  The 1989-2009 crew has proved their ineptitude and/or corruption.  They need to be removed from Metro.

Wouldn't inflation and an economic crisis result in MORE riders?  

From 2004-2008 Metro's own website claims that there were consistent increases in ridership.  So why didn't that make up for lost revenue?  Why did they need that 12 Million grant from the government?

And if bus service is supposedly restored, why isn't it better?