I thought there was already a blog post with this title, and I was looking for it to add a few links.
So here is the gist of what I thought I'd already posted:
Metro and Bi State need to be separated. Metro carries the dinky little Bi-State Development Agency (the airport, arch trams and parking, etc). Metro needs to be run by people that have experience in Metro- in particular former drivers. John Nations has ridden the bus a few times as publicity stunt. A Metro executive told me that it wasn't feasible for someone like John Nations to commute from Chesterfield to Metro (via the Olive bus and the Metrolink). Why? Public transit in St. Louis is too slow.
The CEO appointment is to groom political careers. John Nations wants to be governor. Nations is famous for telling his drivers during negotiations that "As soon as I become Governor I'm changing Missouri to a Right To Work state and elimination the unions."
He gave himself a raise a while back. For $325K a year heading an agency where ALL monies are public- $350 million a year in government subsidies and grants, and rider fares- he can't ride his own transit 4 hours a day to get to and from work?
The people that work in minimum wage job in Chesterfield and live downtown do.
http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2014/08/26/big-raise-for-metro-ceo-angers-union-bus-drivers/
Metro's drivers went 6 years without a contract. If you don't know about this please take a look:
From 2013:
http://labortribune.com/after-18-months-transit-union-talks-with-metro-going-nowhere/
2014 "oreo" incident:
http://fox2now.com/2014/09/12/racial-elements-fuel-dispute-between-metro-and-transit-union/#
"Rally for Respect" 2014
http://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/st-louis-transit-union-approves-first-contract-metro-five-years-protests-oreo-incident
Page 5 of the doc, from the Union's magazine:
http://www.atu.org/atu-pdfs/SO_IT14_USWEB.pdf
Health care and pensions secure:
http://www.atu.org/media/releases/st-louis-metro-workers-declare-victory-secure-agreement-preserving-retirement-security
Don't forget that Metro is raising fares again this July. They need $5 million, the same amount of money they spend every year in "contributions to outside entities". This is usually political campaign contributions. By appointing CEO, the governor guarantees a contribution to his campaign. Call Metro if you think this is wrong. Call them and demand an explanation. Call them and demand the CEO salary be lowered - not to the $250K he received before, but 1/2 that- $125K. Demand the CEO ride public transit at least once a week.
OPTINSTL
OCCUPY! PUBLIC TRANSIT Image by Eric Drooker for Occupy Wall Street, click on image for Drooker's website
Showing posts with label john nations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label john nations. Show all posts
Sunday, March 13, 2016
Tuesday, December 8, 2015
JOHN NATIONS NEW PLAN TO CONTROL MORE OF SAINT LOUIS AND GET MORE PUBLIC MONEY
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
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
Friday, September 12, 2014
UNION PROTESTS METRO CEO: OPTINSTL SAYS "FIRE JOHN NATIONS, GET METRO SEPARATED FROM BI-STATE"
In this news story, Nations actually says Bi-State has 50% African Americans. He's wrong. METRO has 50% African Americans. Bi-state is DBA Metro, but there is a division between the business development of Bi-State-- the Arch trams and parking lot, the St Louis airport in Cahokia, Illinois.
http://fox2now.com/2014/09/12/racial-elements-fuel-dispute-between-metro-and-transit-union/
Without Metro and the $350 million a year in public funding (local, state, and federal funds and rider fares) Bi-State would be nothing. The only part of their enterprise that makes a profit is the parking garage.
Without Metro, Nations would not be able to give $5 million a year in "contributions to outside entities" or groom his own run for senator or governor (depending on who you talk to).
And he makes racist remarks all the time. I hope people start recording him. I hope Anonymous hacks his home computer and finds all his racist memes (and his porn stash).
Nations is a good example of everything that is wrong with St. Louis. I hope he gets fired.
http://fox2now.com/2014/09/12/racial-elements-fuel-dispute-between-metro-and-transit-union/
Without Metro and the $350 million a year in public funding (local, state, and federal funds and rider fares) Bi-State would be nothing. The only part of their enterprise that makes a profit is the parking garage.
Without Metro, Nations would not be able to give $5 million a year in "contributions to outside entities" or groom his own run for senator or governor (depending on who you talk to).
And he makes racist remarks all the time. I hope people start recording him. I hope Anonymous hacks his home computer and finds all his racist memes (and his porn stash).
Nations is a good example of everything that is wrong with St. Louis. I hope he gets fired.
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
JOHN NATIONS NEEDS TO BE FIRED, NOT GIVEN A $75,000 A YEAR RAISE!
On what planet does CEO John Nations think he deserves a $75,000 pay raise? Now he makes $325,000 dollars a year.
http://www.kmov.com/news/local/Metro-CEO-gets-pay-rise-despite-contract-impasse-rate-hikes-272799461.html
And whether you ride public transportation or not, YOU ARE PAYING FOR IT.
If you are one of the many public transit riders that is already calling Governor Nixon (who appointed Nations) about Michael Brown's murder, why not take another minute to demand he fire Nations? Call Illinois Governor Quinn, too!
If this outrageous pay raise weren't enough, have a look at how racist Nations treats his mostly African-American drivers at the bargaining table. He is the modern day equivalent of a slave master.
St. Louis, MO – The Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) has called on Missouri Governor Jay Nixon and Illinois Governor Pat Quinn to remove Metro CEO John Nations for his failure to “correct the outrageous conduct of his staff at the bargaining table” in a letter to the Governors.
In the letter, ATU points to evidence of race baiting by members of Metro’s negotiating committee who offered members of ATU Local 788 a recipe for OREO Cookies at the end of a very heated bargaining session. There have been no contract talks since. Metro workers have gone three years without a new contract and six years without a wage increase.
“While the majority of the bus operators at ATU Local 788 are African-American, most mechanics are White, as is the President,” ATU International President wrote in the letter. “The obvious message to us with the recipe was that our union is white on the inside and black on the outside, like the cookie. This transparent race baiting went well beyond the bounds of human decency.”
The incident occurred as Nations engaged in illegal activity by encouraging mechanics to leave the ATU and form their own union. He has publically dismissed the “OREO” incident as a Metro employee sharing his baking hobby.
What a load of crap. Nations is so firmly entrenched in the St. Louis "Good Ole Boy" Network he think that he answers to no one and can act with impunity! I hope transit riders will join Metro drivers in challenging this, and in getting him fired!
http://www.stltoday.com/news/multimedia/videos/metro-workers-picket-outside-offices/html_2a08c1df-30ce-56b5-9bbb-3f4733fa665a.html
Read the whole report from the Union here:
http://www.atu.org/media/releases/atu-calls-on-govs-nixon-and-quinn-to-remove-metro-ceo-nations
Other posts about Nations:
http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/04/what-metro-is-doing-with-your-money-and.html
http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/03/do-metro-executives-ride-public-transit.html
http://www.kmov.com/news/local/Metro-CEO-gets-pay-rise-despite-contract-impasse-rate-hikes-272799461.html
And whether you ride public transportation or not, YOU ARE PAYING FOR IT.
If you are one of the many public transit riders that is already calling Governor Nixon (who appointed Nations) about Michael Brown's murder, why not take another minute to demand he fire Nations? Call Illinois Governor Quinn, too!
If this outrageous pay raise weren't enough, have a look at how racist Nations treats his mostly African-American drivers at the bargaining table. He is the modern day equivalent of a slave master.
St. Louis, MO – The Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) has called on Missouri Governor Jay Nixon and Illinois Governor Pat Quinn to remove Metro CEO John Nations for his failure to “correct the outrageous conduct of his staff at the bargaining table” in a letter to the Governors.
In the letter, ATU points to evidence of race baiting by members of Metro’s negotiating committee who offered members of ATU Local 788 a recipe for OREO Cookies at the end of a very heated bargaining session. There have been no contract talks since. Metro workers have gone three years without a new contract and six years without a wage increase.
“While the majority of the bus operators at ATU Local 788 are African-American, most mechanics are White, as is the President,” ATU International President wrote in the letter. “The obvious message to us with the recipe was that our union is white on the inside and black on the outside, like the cookie. This transparent race baiting went well beyond the bounds of human decency.”
The incident occurred as Nations engaged in illegal activity by encouraging mechanics to leave the ATU and form their own union. He has publically dismissed the “OREO” incident as a Metro employee sharing his baking hobby.
What a load of crap. Nations is so firmly entrenched in the St. Louis "Good Ole Boy" Network he think that he answers to no one and can act with impunity! I hope transit riders will join Metro drivers in challenging this, and in getting him fired!
http://www.stltoday.com/news/multimedia/videos/metro-workers-picket-outside-offices/html_2a08c1df-30ce-56b5-9bbb-3f4733fa665a.html
Read the whole report from the Union here:
http://www.atu.org/media/releases/atu-calls-on-govs-nixon-and-quinn-to-remove-metro-ceo-nations
Other posts about Nations:
http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/04/what-metro-is-doing-with-your-money-and.html
http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/03/do-metro-executives-ride-public-transit.html
Saturday, July 12, 2014
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:
$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.)
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!
$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
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.
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!
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:
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
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":
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
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
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!
Friday, July 4, 2014
RED WHITE AND BLUE FLU
The news media really downplayed the Metrolink Blue Flu today. That's usually a good sign. It means the union is getting visible public support and the Ole Boy Network has made the proper phone calls to media station managers and senior editors.
http://fox2now.com/2014/07/04/possible-blue-flu-halts-metrolink-fair-st-louis-parking-rates-drop-to-20/
Of course, it appeared that not nearly as many people attended Fare St. Louis in Forest Park than had been anticipated, and also that fewer Fare-goers used Metrolink than expected.
This did force them to lower that $30 parking price tag to $20. Maybe that kept a lot of people away. The local government, in keeping with the state and federal government, has been doing a fine job of making plain that constituents are just cash cows to be milked at every opportunity. Land of the free indeed.
You know, they could have made public transit free today. Even if you don't ride it, you pay for it. That would have been a true gesture of celebration and thanks. And probably attracted a lot of new riders.
The city leaders are walking on eggshells right now. The spike in violence and crime in the poorest areas of the city are always harbingers of larger problems, about to boil over. The government is broke, but they won't raise taxes on corporations, or any of the other necessary changes.
One thing I found myself musing on, as I watched the parade on television, is how lackluster the parade seemed going through the park. Not just the sparse attendance. It just didn't strike the same response as seeing the same marching bands and floats glide down the streets of downtown.
Part of what makes a parade so exciting is the way it takes over and transforms the ordinary streets. I wonder if Saint Louisans won't feel a emptiness, a need to fill the streets?
I think the city leaders, for their own sake, should have kept the parade downtown. Parades, in times of strife, are "demonstrations by proxy".
The Metrolink operators deserve our support. They are fighting for their union, their pensions, and their pay. We should all join them in securing those things for ourselves. We can start by calling Metro and telling them we support the drivers, and demanding they negotiate a new contract.
And we need to demand a few "Fare Free" days a year for the city.
http://fox2now.com/2014/07/04/possible-blue-flu-halts-metrolink-fair-st-louis-parking-rates-drop-to-20/
Of course, it appeared that not nearly as many people attended Fare St. Louis in Forest Park than had been anticipated, and also that fewer Fare-goers used Metrolink than expected.
This did force them to lower that $30 parking price tag to $20. Maybe that kept a lot of people away. The local government, in keeping with the state and federal government, has been doing a fine job of making plain that constituents are just cash cows to be milked at every opportunity. Land of the free indeed.
You know, they could have made public transit free today. Even if you don't ride it, you pay for it. That would have been a true gesture of celebration and thanks. And probably attracted a lot of new riders.
The city leaders are walking on eggshells right now. The spike in violence and crime in the poorest areas of the city are always harbingers of larger problems, about to boil over. The government is broke, but they won't raise taxes on corporations, or any of the other necessary changes.
One thing I found myself musing on, as I watched the parade on television, is how lackluster the parade seemed going through the park. Not just the sparse attendance. It just didn't strike the same response as seeing the same marching bands and floats glide down the streets of downtown.
Part of what makes a parade so exciting is the way it takes over and transforms the ordinary streets. I wonder if Saint Louisans won't feel a emptiness, a need to fill the streets?
I think the city leaders, for their own sake, should have kept the parade downtown. Parades, in times of strife, are "demonstrations by proxy".
The Metrolink operators deserve our support. They are fighting for their union, their pensions, and their pay. We should all join them in securing those things for ourselves. We can start by calling Metro and telling them we support the drivers, and demanding they negotiate a new contract.
And we need to demand a few "Fare Free" days a year for the city.
Friday, June 27, 2014
WHAT THE METRO JOB FAIR ON JUNE 28TH IS REALLY ABOUT
Someone commented to me the other day that Metro must be worried about OPTINSTL's call for a boycott of Metro on July 1st.
"You know that is why they are holding that job fair on the 28th," he said.
http://www.kmov.com/news/local/Metro-hosting-job-fair-on-June-28-264767711.html
I have no idea if my campaign has reached enough people to be producing that kind of results. Are the Metro phone lines flooded? I don't know. I don't work there. I can only do what I can do, and wait to see what happens.
It would be wonderful if Metro was, indeed, trying to make nice with the public to prevent a rider boycott on July 1st. But if they were really worried, they would not have raised fares in the first place.
I think the Metro Job Fair is actually about CEO John Nations, who is publicly opposed to unions and supports the union-busting "right to work" legislation, and a direct threat he is sending his drivers:
"Don't you dare strike the week of the Fourth of July, or we will fire you."
Metro is NOT really hiring. They are barely solvent and have plenty of part-time drivers. They just don't want a repeat of Cardinals Opening Day "Blue Flu".
http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/04/rider-alert-metro-whines-about-one-day.html
They don't want St. Louis to get any ideas from San Francisco or Philadelphia (unlike Pennsylvania, we don't have a Republican Governor, although Nixon often seems like a Republican).
http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/06/san-franciscos-transit-workers-blue-flu.html
http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/06/philadelphia-transit-workers-strike.html
What kind of city do you want to live in, St. Louis? A city where people are paid a livable wage with decent benefits? A city with good jobs and good employers?
A city with a great public transit system?
Or would you prefer a city where officials that receive $250,000 a year salaries (entirely paid for from public funds) rob their employees pensions, refuse to negotiate contracts in good faith, and exchange "business development" for promises of future political campaign contributions? (Nations make no secret of the fact that he is only at Metro to create a platform for his campaign for governor or senator.)
http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/06/vote-no-on-amendment-7-proposed.html
St. Louis, you deserve more from Metro! I hope you will demand it! Don't break the Metro Operators Union. If you get a job with Metro, don't cross the picket lines. Metro wants minimum wage drivers that have no benefits. All the executives care about is there own fat-cat salaries. If they could import bus driver jobs to China and hire children and prisoners for a dollar an hour, they would.
They would say "Oh, we were protecting profits." And pat themselves on the back for doing a great job and give themselves big fat bonuses.
Metro isn't hiring, they are firing.
Remember that.
PS- personally, although a driver strike on July 1st would be fantastic, a driver strike on July 4th would be even better.
PPS- Something else at play here, both with the timing of the fare increase and the hiring fair, is that Metro's fiscal year ends on June 30th. Too long to go into here, but think about it. Even though the financial reports won't be ready for at least a few weeks, they do want to make a nice face to the public. "Hey look, we're hiring, regardless of how obviously failing we look on paper, we are hiring." *cough* "...Not."
"You know that is why they are holding that job fair on the 28th," he said.
http://www.kmov.com/news/local/Metro-hosting-job-fair-on-June-28-264767711.html
I have no idea if my campaign has reached enough people to be producing that kind of results. Are the Metro phone lines flooded? I don't know. I don't work there. I can only do what I can do, and wait to see what happens.
It would be wonderful if Metro was, indeed, trying to make nice with the public to prevent a rider boycott on July 1st. But if they were really worried, they would not have raised fares in the first place.
I think the Metro Job Fair is actually about CEO John Nations, who is publicly opposed to unions and supports the union-busting "right to work" legislation, and a direct threat he is sending his drivers:
"Don't you dare strike the week of the Fourth of July, or we will fire you."
Metro is NOT really hiring. They are barely solvent and have plenty of part-time drivers. They just don't want a repeat of Cardinals Opening Day "Blue Flu".
http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/04/rider-alert-metro-whines-about-one-day.html
They don't want St. Louis to get any ideas from San Francisco or Philadelphia (unlike Pennsylvania, we don't have a Republican Governor, although Nixon often seems like a Republican).
http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/06/san-franciscos-transit-workers-blue-flu.html
http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/06/philadelphia-transit-workers-strike.html
What kind of city do you want to live in, St. Louis? A city where people are paid a livable wage with decent benefits? A city with good jobs and good employers?
A city with a great public transit system?
Or would you prefer a city where officials that receive $250,000 a year salaries (entirely paid for from public funds) rob their employees pensions, refuse to negotiate contracts in good faith, and exchange "business development" for promises of future political campaign contributions? (Nations make no secret of the fact that he is only at Metro to create a platform for his campaign for governor or senator.)
http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/06/vote-no-on-amendment-7-proposed.html
St. Louis, you deserve more from Metro! I hope you will demand it! Don't break the Metro Operators Union. If you get a job with Metro, don't cross the picket lines. Metro wants minimum wage drivers that have no benefits. All the executives care about is there own fat-cat salaries. If they could import bus driver jobs to China and hire children and prisoners for a dollar an hour, they would.
They would say "Oh, we were protecting profits." And pat themselves on the back for doing a great job and give themselves big fat bonuses.
Metro isn't hiring, they are firing.
Remember that.
PS- personally, although a driver strike on July 1st would be fantastic, a driver strike on July 4th would be even better.
PPS- Something else at play here, both with the timing of the fare increase and the hiring fair, is that Metro's fiscal year ends on June 30th. Too long to go into here, but think about it. Even though the financial reports won't be ready for at least a few weeks, they do want to make a nice face to the public. "Hey look, we're hiring, regardless of how obviously failing we look on paper, we are hiring." *cough* "...Not."
Friday, June 20, 2014
BOYCOTT METRO JULY 1ST
On July 1st, the day the new fares go into effect, it is time for transit riders to send Metro a message: WE NEED A BETTER TRANSIT SYSTEM! WE, THE PEOPLE, DEMAND IT!
On July 1st, get a ride if you have to go to work or must travel with in St. Louis.
Don't ride the bus or train.
Call Metro, Governor Nixon,your local representatives (in the City that would be Mayor Slay and your local alderman), and local media of your choice, and tell them that you are not riding in protest of the increased fares, that bring no improvements in service.
Tell them you are boycotting Metro because they are asking riders to pay $5 million more over the next two years, even though Metro spent that same amount in 2013 in political campaign contributions ("contributions to outside entities").
Tell them you want Metro separated from Bi-State Development Agency, and from "business development" altogether! Public transit should be developed where it is needed most, not subsidizing private business interests.
Demand that Metro negotiate a new contract with their drivers! 6 years without a contract is enough! Demand that Metro stopping robbing driver's pension plans and benefits!
Tell them what services you need as public transit rider: public toilets? improved safety, signage, trash cans, and shelters at bus stops? discount passes for low income and unemployed?
MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD!
If you want to publicly demonstrate, make a sign and walk or get a ride to the nearest bus stop or bus and Metrolink transfer center and hold the sign up to passing cars.
JULY 1ST! STRIKE CITYWIDE! DON'T RIDE! BOYCOTT METRO! TRANSIT RIDERS ARE AGAINST THE FARE INCREASE! WE DEMAND BETTER SERVICE!
WE DEMAND A PUBLIC TRANSIT AGENCY THAT SERVES THE PUBLIC- NOT POLITICAL AND PRIVATE BUSINESS INTERESTS!
OPTINSTL will be at Riverview Transfer Center in the afternoon, striking publicly! We hope you will join us. And please email us the details of your protest to share on this blog: optinstl@gmail.com
On July 1st, get a ride if you have to go to work or must travel with in St. Louis.
Don't ride the bus or train.
Call Metro, Governor Nixon,your local representatives (in the City that would be Mayor Slay and your local alderman), and local media of your choice, and tell them that you are not riding in protest of the increased fares, that bring no improvements in service.
Tell them you are boycotting Metro because they are asking riders to pay $5 million more over the next two years, even though Metro spent that same amount in 2013 in political campaign contributions ("contributions to outside entities").
Tell them you want Metro separated from Bi-State Development Agency, and from "business development" altogether! Public transit should be developed where it is needed most, not subsidizing private business interests.
Demand that Metro negotiate a new contract with their drivers! 6 years without a contract is enough! Demand that Metro stopping robbing driver's pension plans and benefits!
Tell them what services you need as public transit rider: public toilets? improved safety, signage, trash cans, and shelters at bus stops? discount passes for low income and unemployed?
MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD!
If you want to publicly demonstrate, make a sign and walk or get a ride to the nearest bus stop or bus and Metrolink transfer center and hold the sign up to passing cars.
JULY 1ST! STRIKE CITYWIDE! DON'T RIDE! BOYCOTT METRO! TRANSIT RIDERS ARE AGAINST THE FARE INCREASE! WE DEMAND BETTER SERVICE!
WE DEMAND A PUBLIC TRANSIT AGENCY THAT SERVES THE PUBLIC- NOT POLITICAL AND PRIVATE BUSINESS INTERESTS!
OPTINSTL will be at Riverview Transfer Center in the afternoon, striking publicly! We hope you will join us. And please email us the details of your protest to share on this blog: optinstl@gmail.com
Sunday, June 15, 2014
BUS STOPS: CHESTERFIELD STEPS IN WHERE METRO HAS FAILED
So Chesterfield is going to pitch in on getting some bus stops with shelters. I am glad that Chesterfield is stepping up to the plate. Metro's
deplorable CEO John Nations is the former Mayor of Chesterfield. It is
good to know that Nations attitude towards public transit riders is not
shared by all of his neighbors.
From:
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/71253dd7-dd14-5589-ab69-cf56542ff0a6.html
Chesterfield’s City Council on Monday night gave initial approval an cooperation agreement between the city, Metro, and the Chesterfield Valley Transportation Development District for of bus stop shelters in Chesterfield valley and in other areas of the city in which there are Metro bus routes. A final vote on the legislation is set for June 16.
The article states that the shelters will be installed in Chesterfield and also in other areas of the city. In Chesterfield the bus stop trashcans will be maintained by the Chesterfield's waste management provider. The trash around bus stops is an issue for everyone.
http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/04/metro-does-not-take-responsibility-for.html
Too bad Metro gave away $5 million in "contributions to outside entities" (political campaign contributions) in 2013. That would surely pay for some new shelters and maintenance. ($5 million is also the exact amount that Metro is demanding riders pay for in the next two years through the fare hikes.)
OPTINSTL thinks it might be a bad idea to leave the planning and construction up to Metro. Mismanagement of funds is systemic at Metro. After the Shrewsbury debacle, and their continued insolvency and inability to complete Metrolink expansion to north Saint Louis and Florissant, they need to be audited and overhauled before they are entrusted with any new projects or public money.
At the very least, I hope that someone from Chesterfield will be appointed to audit the planning and construction very closely.
OPTINSTL would like to suggest that Chesterfield add bus schedules and route information, and perhaps install recycling bins that issue public transit credits for plastic bottles. Also, I hope they will work closely with street services to make sure the new shelters have sufficient lighting and sidewalks in good condition. Not just in Chesterfield, but all over the city.
Bus stops: http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/03/what-should-be-metros-new-bus-stop-plan.html
Recycling: http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/06/metro-could-save-on-trash-cans-with.html
It is a shame that Metro has not placed a greater priority on surveying its' bus riders. (They do a once a year survey, a very incomplete survey, on the Metrolink. But the bus is the biggest portion of their service, and north St. Louis City and county constitute the greatest share of riders. Metro executives and planners know almost nothing about their best customers.)
If Metro did thorough surveys, they could tell the city of Chesterfield the bus routes that were used the most. The #91 and #258 easy guesses, but what about the many riders that make one or more transfers?
http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/04/what-metros-new-survey-should-be.html
OPTINSTL spoke with a rider on the #90 bus that lives in Baden and works in Chesterfield. It is a two hour ride each way. He takes the #90 to the Metrolink, and then the Blue Line to the #258. There are no shelters at either of his bus stops. (And no public bathrooms at all along the way. When will this most basic of human needs be addressed?)
Improved bus stop shelters will help a lot, but Metro still has a long way to go in becoming a truly viable public transit agency.
TIME TO SEND METRO A MESSAGE:
JULY 1ST! BOYCOTT METRO! STRIKE CITYWIDE! DON'T RIDE!
From:
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/71253dd7-dd14-5589-ab69-cf56542ff0a6.html
Chesterfield’s City Council on Monday night gave initial approval an cooperation agreement between the city, Metro, and the Chesterfield Valley Transportation Development District for of bus stop shelters in Chesterfield valley and in other areas of the city in which there are Metro bus routes. A final vote on the legislation is set for June 16.
The article states that the shelters will be installed in Chesterfield and also in other areas of the city. In Chesterfield the bus stop trashcans will be maintained by the Chesterfield's waste management provider. The trash around bus stops is an issue for everyone.
http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/04/metro-does-not-take-responsibility-for.html
Too bad Metro gave away $5 million in "contributions to outside entities" (political campaign contributions) in 2013. That would surely pay for some new shelters and maintenance. ($5 million is also the exact amount that Metro is demanding riders pay for in the next two years through the fare hikes.)
OPTINSTL thinks it might be a bad idea to leave the planning and construction up to Metro. Mismanagement of funds is systemic at Metro. After the Shrewsbury debacle, and their continued insolvency and inability to complete Metrolink expansion to north Saint Louis and Florissant, they need to be audited and overhauled before they are entrusted with any new projects or public money.
At the very least, I hope that someone from Chesterfield will be appointed to audit the planning and construction very closely.
OPTINSTL would like to suggest that Chesterfield add bus schedules and route information, and perhaps install recycling bins that issue public transit credits for plastic bottles. Also, I hope they will work closely with street services to make sure the new shelters have sufficient lighting and sidewalks in good condition. Not just in Chesterfield, but all over the city.
Bus stops: http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/03/what-should-be-metros-new-bus-stop-plan.html
Recycling: http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/06/metro-could-save-on-trash-cans-with.html
It is a shame that Metro has not placed a greater priority on surveying its' bus riders. (They do a once a year survey, a very incomplete survey, on the Metrolink. But the bus is the biggest portion of their service, and north St. Louis City and county constitute the greatest share of riders. Metro executives and planners know almost nothing about their best customers.)
If Metro did thorough surveys, they could tell the city of Chesterfield the bus routes that were used the most. The #91 and #258 easy guesses, but what about the many riders that make one or more transfers?
http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/04/what-metros-new-survey-should-be.html
OPTINSTL spoke with a rider on the #90 bus that lives in Baden and works in Chesterfield. It is a two hour ride each way. He takes the #90 to the Metrolink, and then the Blue Line to the #258. There are no shelters at either of his bus stops. (And no public bathrooms at all along the way. When will this most basic of human needs be addressed?)
Improved bus stop shelters will help a lot, but Metro still has a long way to go in becoming a truly viable public transit agency.
TIME TO SEND METRO A MESSAGE:
JULY 1ST! BOYCOTT METRO! STRIKE CITYWIDE! DON'T RIDE!
Thursday, May 8, 2014
MAY 15TH: OCCUPY A MINIMUM WAGE OF $15 AN HOUR!
On May 15th in 150 cities, including St. Louis and Show Me 15!, fast food workers will be on strike for a higher minimum wage.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/05/07/1297522/-Fast-food-strikes-to-spread-around-the-world
Join the strike: http://lowpayisnotok.org/strike-kit/
Sign the Petition: http://lowpayisnotok.org/mcpriceless-sign/
According to Raise The Minimum Wage website, if minimum wage had risen with inflation, it would be $10.86. (In 2012 I read a study that said $13.38, but I can't find the link.)
http://www.raisetheminimumwage.com/facts/entry/amount-with-inflation/
And according to a study covered by HuffPost, if the wage had increased with worker productivity, it would be $21.72.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/13/minimum-wage-productivity_n_2680639.html
$15 really is the minimum. $10.86 is still too low. $21.72 is very justified though.
Consider this:
Employers have been under-paying their employees for forty years. Productivity is up, so they are paying less for more. Do I need to make the point about where those big executive salaries are coming from?
The ratio of CEO pay to average worker pay is 273-1, down from a high of 383-1 in 2000, but up from 20-1 in 1965.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/06/26/congrats-ceos-youre-making-273-times-the-pay-of-the-average-worker/
At the beginning of Reagan's presidency our country had the least unequal income gap in the world, now we have the greatest income gap.
From the same article:
CEO pay has increased faster than wages to high-skilled workers, suggesting that the salary market isn't very efficient. "Consequently, if CEOs earned less or were taxed more, there would be no adverse impact on output or employment," the report concludes.
We are doing the work- and doing it faster and better- but we are not getting any benefit.
You know what grew instead of worker's earnings? Credit cards and credit card debt. If you are over 50 you probably remember when credit cards were American Express and Diner's Club for rich people and executive expense accounts (back when their salaries were only 20 times bigger than the average worker's).
Unions have been losing strength since Reagan. The "Right To Work" states are union-busting. Right to work means "you have the right to work as a non-union employee at a union shop". For non-union wages, that is. It's not right, it is totally wrong! (Every job should have a union! http://occupyurlife.blogspot.com/2014/04/occupy-right-to-work.html
And now with the economic collapse in 2008, things just keep getting worse. This statistic tells the whole story:
The National Employment Law Project reports that that low wage industries employ 1.85 million MORE workers now than at the start of the recession while mid-and higher-wage industries employ 1.83 million LESS.
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/corporate-profits-bigger-than-ever-so-companies-can-afford-to-raise-the-minimum-wage--henry-blodget-142907469.html
Basically, all of the people that lost their white collar jobs are taking over the low wage jobs. (This explains the 200 applications a week for part-time mall jobs.)
Did you know that wealth grows at a faster rate than economic growth? The rich get richer, no matter what happens to the rest of us.
As a general rule wealth grows faster than economic output, he explains, a concept he captures in the expression r > g (where r is the rate of return to wealth and g is the economic growth rate). Other things being equal, faster economic growth will diminish the importance of wealth in a society, whereas slower growth will increase it (and demographic change that slows global growth will make capital more dominant). But there are no natural forces pushing against the steady concentration of wealth.
http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2014/05/economist-explains
(You might like this, too, on Piketty's book: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/apr/28/thomas-piketty-capital-surprise-bestseller)
There is no shortage of work. There is plenty to do. And there is no shortage of money, either. No executive deserves 273 times the amount of money his employees make. That is ridiculous.
And as for this argument that it will "hurt" small businesses. Well, low wages are already hurting their employees, and a higher minimum wage would actually help in weeding out unprofitable businesses. Too many people with a little inherited wealth start businesses that are really hobbies.
(And then there are places like this: http://www.kmov.com/news/crime/-Metro-East-health-clinic-raided-by-federal-authorities-258572511.html )
The people at the top-- the wealthy people, and job "Creators"-- are not going to give us decent pay of their own accord. Take Metro for example. The CEO of Metro, John Nations, makes 5 times what his drivers do (and while that isn't 273 or even 20 times what they make, this is public transit agency, not a Wall Street brokerage). Metro drivers have been working for 6 years without a new bargaining contract or a raise.
CEO John Nations is fond of reminding everyone that he is only at Metro to prepare his political career as governor or senator. He promises Right To Work will be first on his agenda, I've been told by five or six people that know him personally. Basically, we the people are paying him to advance his own interest.
I don't think these people should be running our society or keeping such big chunks of the money for themselves. I don't think a business of any size, large or small, should ask workers to live below the poverty level.
Do you?
If you agree that things need to change, support the worker's by not eating fast food on May 15th. Call the corporate headquarters of McDonald's, Taco Bell, etc, and tell them you stand with the striking workers. Call Mayor Slay and tell him you support $15 an hour in St. Louis.
Seattle will have a $15 minimum wage in three years. Let's put St. Louis on the map. SHOW ME 15!
OCCUPY $15 AN HOUR MINIMUM WAGE!
More reasons not to eat fast food: http://naturalhealthwarriors.com/chef-jamie-oliver-proves-mcdonalds-burgers-unfit-for-human-consumption/
You might also like this post, on my Occupy Your Life blog:
http://occupyurlife.blogspot.com/2014/04/occupy-work.html
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/05/07/1297522/-Fast-food-strikes-to-spread-around-the-world
Join the strike: http://lowpayisnotok.org/strike-kit/
Sign the Petition: http://lowpayisnotok.org/mcpriceless-sign/
According to Raise The Minimum Wage website, if minimum wage had risen with inflation, it would be $10.86. (In 2012 I read a study that said $13.38, but I can't find the link.)
http://www.raisetheminimumwage.com/facts/entry/amount-with-inflation/
And according to a study covered by HuffPost, if the wage had increased with worker productivity, it would be $21.72.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/13/minimum-wage-productivity_n_2680639.html
$15 really is the minimum. $10.86 is still too low. $21.72 is very justified though.
Consider this:
Employers have been under-paying their employees for forty years. Productivity is up, so they are paying less for more. Do I need to make the point about where those big executive salaries are coming from?
The ratio of CEO pay to average worker pay is 273-1, down from a high of 383-1 in 2000, but up from 20-1 in 1965.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/06/26/congrats-ceos-youre-making-273-times-the-pay-of-the-average-worker/
At the beginning of Reagan's presidency our country had the least unequal income gap in the world, now we have the greatest income gap.
From the same article:
CEO pay has increased faster than wages to high-skilled workers, suggesting that the salary market isn't very efficient. "Consequently, if CEOs earned less or were taxed more, there would be no adverse impact on output or employment," the report concludes.
We are doing the work- and doing it faster and better- but we are not getting any benefit.
You know what grew instead of worker's earnings? Credit cards and credit card debt. If you are over 50 you probably remember when credit cards were American Express and Diner's Club for rich people and executive expense accounts (back when their salaries were only 20 times bigger than the average worker's).
Unions have been losing strength since Reagan. The "Right To Work" states are union-busting. Right to work means "you have the right to work as a non-union employee at a union shop". For non-union wages, that is. It's not right, it is totally wrong! (Every job should have a union! http://occupyurlife.blogspot.com/2014/04/occupy-right-to-work.html
And now with the economic collapse in 2008, things just keep getting worse. This statistic tells the whole story:
The National Employment Law Project reports that that low wage industries employ 1.85 million MORE workers now than at the start of the recession while mid-and higher-wage industries employ 1.83 million LESS.
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/corporate-profits-bigger-than-ever-so-companies-can-afford-to-raise-the-minimum-wage--henry-blodget-142907469.html
Basically, all of the people that lost their white collar jobs are taking over the low wage jobs. (This explains the 200 applications a week for part-time mall jobs.)
Did you know that wealth grows at a faster rate than economic growth? The rich get richer, no matter what happens to the rest of us.
As a general rule wealth grows faster than economic output, he explains, a concept he captures in the expression r > g (where r is the rate of return to wealth and g is the economic growth rate). Other things being equal, faster economic growth will diminish the importance of wealth in a society, whereas slower growth will increase it (and demographic change that slows global growth will make capital more dominant). But there are no natural forces pushing against the steady concentration of wealth.
http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2014/05/economist-explains
(You might like this, too, on Piketty's book: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/apr/28/thomas-piketty-capital-surprise-bestseller)
There is no shortage of work. There is plenty to do. And there is no shortage of money, either. No executive deserves 273 times the amount of money his employees make. That is ridiculous.
And as for this argument that it will "hurt" small businesses. Well, low wages are already hurting their employees, and a higher minimum wage would actually help in weeding out unprofitable businesses. Too many people with a little inherited wealth start businesses that are really hobbies.
(And then there are places like this: http://www.kmov.com/news/crime/-Metro-East-health-clinic-raided-by-federal-authorities-258572511.html )
The people at the top-- the wealthy people, and job "Creators"-- are not going to give us decent pay of their own accord. Take Metro for example. The CEO of Metro, John Nations, makes 5 times what his drivers do (and while that isn't 273 or even 20 times what they make, this is public transit agency, not a Wall Street brokerage). Metro drivers have been working for 6 years without a new bargaining contract or a raise.
CEO John Nations is fond of reminding everyone that he is only at Metro to prepare his political career as governor or senator. He promises Right To Work will be first on his agenda, I've been told by five or six people that know him personally. Basically, we the people are paying him to advance his own interest.
I don't think these people should be running our society or keeping such big chunks of the money for themselves. I don't think a business of any size, large or small, should ask workers to live below the poverty level.
Do you?
If you agree that things need to change, support the worker's by not eating fast food on May 15th. Call the corporate headquarters of McDonald's, Taco Bell, etc, and tell them you stand with the striking workers. Call Mayor Slay and tell him you support $15 an hour in St. Louis.
Seattle will have a $15 minimum wage in three years. Let's put St. Louis on the map. SHOW ME 15!
OCCUPY $15 AN HOUR MINIMUM WAGE!
More reasons not to eat fast food: http://naturalhealthwarriors.com/chef-jamie-oliver-proves-mcdonalds-burgers-unfit-for-human-consumption/
You might also like this post, on my Occupy Your Life blog:
http://occupyurlife.blogspot.com/2014/04/occupy-work.html
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
WHAT METRO'S ACCOUNTING HAS TAUGHT ME ABOUT THE NATIONAL AND GLOBAL ECONOMY
I haven't been posting the last few days because I started working on a
plan for unemployed and low-income to get discounted or free passes. (I hope to post both soon.)
I've been looking at the sales tax revenues, and Metro's annual fiscal
reports.
I've also been trying to come up with some sort of model where Metro would be financially solvent.
They don't have an ideal model for solvency. Most public transit agencies operate at a loss, with two-thirds or more of their funding from local, state, and federal sources. They are just going to keep plodding along, doing the same thing everyone else is doing. So it is up to us-- the public transit riders-- to find solutions.
This is some of what I have been learning and thinking about:
Even if Metro raises the fares in July, and again in two years, they will never be viable in their current incarnation.
To be solvent right now, Metro would need between $4.50 to $5.80 per boarding! NOT per person, per boarding-- that 55 million per year statistic they like to throw around. That's just their operating expense. That doesn't include paying off all their debts.
(The $1.30 variance is due to the fact I do not know what their "Depreciation and Amortization" is really hiding. I do know that eliminating 5 million in "Contributions to Outside Entities" would cover the 2.5 million a year they claim they need from the riders.)
As I began to examine Metro's annual fiscal reports, I have had to study how bonds are structured, public/private partnerships, and public transit agencies generally-- in particular how tied they are to local "business development".
I have had to research the structure of government funding for both public entities and private business development. This has further led me to investigate things like "fiat currency" and money generally, foreign "aid", banking and the Federal Reserve, and, of course, bonds.
In my post "Metro Is Juggling A Lot Of Bonds" I compare our public transit agency to Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers before the economic collapse in 2008 and 2009.
http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/04/metro-is-juggling-lot-of-bonds.html
Metro isn't the only agency that involves itself in "business development" using (pardon the pun) government funding as a vehicle for private development and individual political careers.
Someone gave me the book "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man," by John Perkins on Friday, and I read the whole thing on Sunday.
From Wikipedia:
Economic hit men (EHMs) are highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars. They funnel money from the World Bank, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and other foreign "aid" organizations into the coffers of huge corporations and the pockets of a few wealthy families who control the planet's natural resources. Their tools included fraudulent financial reports, rigged elections, payoffs, extortion, sex, and murder. They play a game as old as empire, but one that has taken on new and terrifying dimensions during this time of globalization.
These days, global dominance is no long dependent on military invasions and "manifest destiny". Instead of sending in an army to "bring freedom and Christianity" to the impoverished heathens of the world (and gain control of their natural resources and cheap labor), private industry-- Like Halliburton, once run by Dick Cheney, to use one familiar example-- go to a place like, say, Ecuador, and convince the rich people and government to "invest" in new roads and bridges (sound familiar, cough-County Executive and Prop A- cough?) and electrical grids, plumbing, and of course, oil and gas pipelines and refineries.
Don't worry, wealthy Ecuadorians and government, you don't have to come up with the money up front! The U.S. government via USAID will loan your country the money to hire our contractors, and your country will pay the loan back with all the money you make from this modernization! We will "create jobs" and "new services" and you will attract lots of "talented young professionals" that will make you even richer, and saddle your country with a debt to the U.S.!
The rich people say "yay, more money for us!" And the U.S. government loans them a bunch of money in "foreign aid" so that they can hire and pay companies like Halliburton. Those companies come in and cut down the rain forest and put oil pipelines and electrical grids to run the pipelines.
Who is paying that debt you ask? Not the wealthy. Not the government. Ecuador, and other countries like it that have accepted U.S. foreign "aid", have become a modern slave plantation. The slave owners owe the U.S. government a lot of money for all those pipelines and modernizations ("business development") and now the slaves better pick a lot of "cotton" (oil) to pay it off.
In all of the places where this has occurred, the average people are actually worse off than they were before the U.S. industry and government loans.
Now, the flip side of this is a place like Saudi Arabia. This oil rich nation doesn't need the U.S., but the U.S. needs Arabian oil. Those crafty developers sold the wealthy of Arabia on the idea of modernized, western-style, skyscraper filled cities. "It will be better than Vegas!" They said. And the Saudi's agreed.
But they are not in debt to us. And the skyscrapers that you see inDubai (EDIT: sorry my bad- Dubai is in the United Arab Emirates- actually a country that has benefitted a lot more than even the Saudis from petro dollars.) were constructed with petrodollars, that is, money the U.S. pays to Saudi Arabia for oil imports. Clever, huh?
Does that benefit the taxpayer of the U.S.? Not really. Of course, our cars keep getting fueled with Saudi oil. But that money the government is "loaning" in "aid" is your tax dollars. And it's all going right into the pockets of Halliburton executives. Many of whom end up as our politicians (not just Cheney).
You know, like how John Nations becomes the head of Metro, and receives a $250,000 a year salary to build Metrolink stations for the likes of companies like Cortex. (http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/04/metro-optinstl-is-driven-by-you.html)
John Nations is very vocal about his purpose at Metro. He is there for five years so that he can run for either a Senate seat, or Governor, depending on who you talk to. Public transit? That's an after-thought. That is just a necessary technicality. Nations sole responsibility is to make sure the local Cheney's and Halliburton's are happy, so that they will contribute to his campaign finance fund.
Or how people like County Executive Charlie Dooley need to make sure that his friends at Musick construction get all the construction jobs for the Metrolink.
It is not just that the inflated statistics of the "Economic Hit Men" and croney capitalism have become the new economic success model for "business as usual", it is that profit is funnelled only to a certain section of society: Big business and the already wealthiest individuals, and the two things that keep the wealth flowing to them: the military, and the government.
Substitute the U.S. military for the Saint Louis city and county courts and lawyers. Our lawyers and judges are so wealthy because there is so much crime. There is so much crime because half the city is a 1st world ghetto-- the national version of the 3rd world, international sweat shop.
You know, like those children and prisoners in China working to make t-shirts and stuff? http://www.businessinsider.com/letter-in-saks-bag-from-china-2014-4#!JkEIe
The Chinese government has to accept payment for these manufactured goods. They accept the payment in U.S. Treasury Bonds. That is why you hear that Chinese own 1.5 Trillion of the U.S. Debt. (You know, that debt that equals $55,000 for every man, woman and child in the U.S. And $155,000 per taxpayer?)
From:
http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/10/17/china_bond_purchases_stop_being_wrong.html
Many objects are manufactured in China these days, and many of those objects are purchased by people and firms located in the United States of America. And before an American firm can purchase something from a Chinese firm, the American firm needs to trade some of its US dollars for some Chinese money. Thus America ends up with more Chinese-made goods and China ends up with more American money.
From:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ianshepherdson/2013/10/23/four-big-reasons-why-china-will-keep-buying-treasuries/
...once you accept the idea that China’s dollar earnings mostly have to stay as dollars, it is clear that there are no alternatives to owning U.S. securities, government and private. There no other safe, liquid investments available in the necessary quantities. At the margin, China’s sovereign wealth fund can buy equities and real assets like property, but the bulk of the overall portfolio has to be held in liquid securities. These are foreign exchange reserves, remember, not some pot of spare money to be gambled away.
The Chinese government is not going to let their own money's value increase, or demand higher wages and safer conditions for those sweat shop workers, because they need those foreign exchange reserves to make their country wealthy. (And that means make their government and rich families- the Chinese 1%- richer. See it doesn't matter what race or religion or what country. The world is really about the rich profiting from the poor. All the other divisions are to keep us fighting each other instead of them.)
The Chinese government need the U.S. dollar to stay strong. That way they can keep making a profit from all that sweat shop and prison labor.
This works out for the U.S. government, too. U.S. corporations have lots of "aid" and "modernization" and "democracy" to sell to the oil producing nations. And then there is always "re-building" after a war, or a natural disaster.
From:
http://www.truth-out.org/archive/component/k2/item/68279:henry-pelifian--the-iraq-war-and-crony-democracy
In "Cronies," it is clear why Halliburton hired Mr. Cheney, for he "knew how to vacuum up federal money and federal contracts." Other facts from "Cronies": During Cheney's tenure at Halliburton, he nearly doubled the amount of federal contracts to $2.3 billion. Also, Cheney assisted the parent company, Brown & Root, in receiving a fifteenfold increase in federally backed loans and insurance from the Export-Import Bank and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation. Mr. Cheney understood the importance of lobbying, for he doubled political donations while at Halliburton. According to the Center for Public Integrity and mentioned in "Cronies," seventy companies and individuals who were substantial contributors to the Bush-Cheney campaign have been awarded billions of dollars in contracts in Iraq.
Have we become a nation of lobbyists, for lobbyists, and by lobbyists? The crony democracy chain links politicians, government appointees, corporations, government contracts and lobbyists. The chain includes interchangeable employment with each successive administration from government officials to corporate CEO or Washington lobbyist. The goal is profit at government expense. What is the financial calculation of waste and abuse in such a system?
(This is also worth reading: http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2010/jun/09/arianna-huffington/halliburton-kbr-and-iraq-war-contracting-history-s/)
There is enough money in the world for every single person to have enough to eat, a place to sleep, and medical care.
According to Jeffrey Sachs: http://www.visionofearth.org/economics/ending-poverty/how-much-would-it-cost-to-end-extreme-poverty-in-the-world/
To end extreme poverty worldwide in 20 years, Sachs calculated that the total cost per year would be about $175 billion. This represents less than one percent of the combined income of the richest countries in the world.
...
The military budget in the USA is about $680 billion per year3. A large amount of other funding is directly connected to military spending in the states, bringing the total closer to $1 trillion per year4.Even if we assume the lesser of these numbers, annual defense spending in the US is about four times as much money as is needed to begin rapidly ending extreme poverty in the entire world. If some of the US military’s monstrous budget could be channelled towards humanitarian goals, then extreme poverty in our world could quickly become a thing of the past.
There is enough money, it is just not being distributed in a way that is meaningful. It's all about "profit" for the corporations and corporate leaders.
When wealthy people buy a bond, whether it the Chinese government buying Treasury bonds, or William "Bucky" Bush's St. Louis neighbor buying a Metro municipal bond, they expect not only a nice return on their investment financially, they expect to be catered to.
That means no Metrolink running through the northside neighborhoods that serve only to supply surplus labor that will work cheap and not complain. Keep those people incarcerated by lack of decent public transportation. Make sure the slave-maid has to ride the bus for two or three hours to get to the plantation house.
That money is also not to be spent improving those neighborhoods. They aren't earning enough to pay for improved street services. How can they, on such low wages?
In St. Louis, there is enough money for public transit to be absolutely free of charge. Rider revenues could be easily covered by Prop A's one half of one percent sales tax in the county and one quarter of one percent in the city, if the full amount was used for operating expenses.
But it can't. Even though Prop A is straight revenue, most of the money Metro receives (or so the man at Dooley's office told me) goes to paying its bonds-- it's IOU's.
Metro operated at a loss of $249,514,470 in 2013. So no matter how often they raise fares, they will never have enough.
And it is so burdened by debt that another fluctuation in the market could cripple it completely.
And if you have read this whole post, you probably understand as I do, that this current global economic model is destined to crash-- again and again.
This system needs constant, voracious expansion. That can only occur if more construction and "business development" is needed, paying the lowest possible wages and providing the fewest possible services.
Find a reason to invade another country, like the Russians in the Ukraine. Or start a war, as the Bush-Cheney regime did in Iraq.
Or if you're lucky, there will be a natural disaster, like Hurricane Sandy:
http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2014/feb/19/lawrence-odonnell/lawrence-odonnell-says-chris-christie-steered-6-mi/
Or an earthquake in Haiti. (Sorry, did you think the Red Cross was sacred?)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/24/red-cross-earthquake-haiti-where-did-the-money-go_n_1228334.html
This system is not going to change by itself. Not globally, nationally, or locally. These people make money whether there is war or peace. They make MORE money the smaller the middle class is and the more poor people there are.
It is only going to change when enough of us DEMAND our fair share. And frankly, that time is long passed.
OCCUPY!
PS: if you read all the way through this, you might be interested in this stuff as well:
On "Foreign Aid":
http://www.transparency.org/topic/detail/humanitarian_assistance
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2012/10/03/The-Scandal-That-Is-Foreign-Aid
On the Economics of the 1%:
http://www.upworthy.com/what-the-1-dont-want-you-to-know?g=3&c=hpstream
BILL MOYERS: Here’s Piketty’s main point: capital tends to produce real returns of 4 to 5 percent, and economic growth is much slower. What's the practical result of that?
PAUL KRUGMAN: What that means is that if you have a large fortune, or a family has a large fortune, they can -- the inheritors of that large fortune -- can live very, very well. They can live an extraordinary standard of living and still put a large fraction of the income from that fortune aside and the fortune will grow faster than the economy.
On Fiat currency:
http://dailyreckoning.com/fiat-currency/
http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-the-fiat-system-works.html
I've also been trying to come up with some sort of model where Metro would be financially solvent.
They don't have an ideal model for solvency. Most public transit agencies operate at a loss, with two-thirds or more of their funding from local, state, and federal sources. They are just going to keep plodding along, doing the same thing everyone else is doing. So it is up to us-- the public transit riders-- to find solutions.
This is some of what I have been learning and thinking about:
Even if Metro raises the fares in July, and again in two years, they will never be viable in their current incarnation.
To be solvent right now, Metro would need between $4.50 to $5.80 per boarding! NOT per person, per boarding-- that 55 million per year statistic they like to throw around. That's just their operating expense. That doesn't include paying off all their debts.
(The $1.30 variance is due to the fact I do not know what their "Depreciation and Amortization" is really hiding. I do know that eliminating 5 million in "Contributions to Outside Entities" would cover the 2.5 million a year they claim they need from the riders.)
As I began to examine Metro's annual fiscal reports, I have had to study how bonds are structured, public/private partnerships, and public transit agencies generally-- in particular how tied they are to local "business development".
I have had to research the structure of government funding for both public entities and private business development. This has further led me to investigate things like "fiat currency" and money generally, foreign "aid", banking and the Federal Reserve, and, of course, bonds.
In my post "Metro Is Juggling A Lot Of Bonds" I compare our public transit agency to Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers before the economic collapse in 2008 and 2009.
http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/04/metro-is-juggling-lot-of-bonds.html
Metro isn't the only agency that involves itself in "business development" using (pardon the pun) government funding as a vehicle for private development and individual political careers.
Someone gave me the book "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man," by John Perkins on Friday, and I read the whole thing on Sunday.
From Wikipedia:
Economic hit men (EHMs) are highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars. They funnel money from the World Bank, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and other foreign "aid" organizations into the coffers of huge corporations and the pockets of a few wealthy families who control the planet's natural resources. Their tools included fraudulent financial reports, rigged elections, payoffs, extortion, sex, and murder. They play a game as old as empire, but one that has taken on new and terrifying dimensions during this time of globalization.
These days, global dominance is no long dependent on military invasions and "manifest destiny". Instead of sending in an army to "bring freedom and Christianity" to the impoverished heathens of the world (and gain control of their natural resources and cheap labor), private industry-- Like Halliburton, once run by Dick Cheney, to use one familiar example-- go to a place like, say, Ecuador, and convince the rich people and government to "invest" in new roads and bridges (sound familiar, cough-County Executive and Prop A- cough?) and electrical grids, plumbing, and of course, oil and gas pipelines and refineries.
Don't worry, wealthy Ecuadorians and government, you don't have to come up with the money up front! The U.S. government via USAID will loan your country the money to hire our contractors, and your country will pay the loan back with all the money you make from this modernization! We will "create jobs" and "new services" and you will attract lots of "talented young professionals" that will make you even richer, and saddle your country with a debt to the U.S.!
The rich people say "yay, more money for us!" And the U.S. government loans them a bunch of money in "foreign aid" so that they can hire and pay companies like Halliburton. Those companies come in and cut down the rain forest and put oil pipelines and electrical grids to run the pipelines.
Who is paying that debt you ask? Not the wealthy. Not the government. Ecuador, and other countries like it that have accepted U.S. foreign "aid", have become a modern slave plantation. The slave owners owe the U.S. government a lot of money for all those pipelines and modernizations ("business development") and now the slaves better pick a lot of "cotton" (oil) to pay it off.
In all of the places where this has occurred, the average people are actually worse off than they were before the U.S. industry and government loans.
Now, the flip side of this is a place like Saudi Arabia. This oil rich nation doesn't need the U.S., but the U.S. needs Arabian oil. Those crafty developers sold the wealthy of Arabia on the idea of modernized, western-style, skyscraper filled cities. "It will be better than Vegas!" They said. And the Saudi's agreed.
But they are not in debt to us. And the skyscrapers that you see in
Does that benefit the taxpayer of the U.S.? Not really. Of course, our cars keep getting fueled with Saudi oil. But that money the government is "loaning" in "aid" is your tax dollars. And it's all going right into the pockets of Halliburton executives. Many of whom end up as our politicians (not just Cheney).
You know, like how John Nations becomes the head of Metro, and receives a $250,000 a year salary to build Metrolink stations for the likes of companies like Cortex. (http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/04/metro-optinstl-is-driven-by-you.html)
John Nations is very vocal about his purpose at Metro. He is there for five years so that he can run for either a Senate seat, or Governor, depending on who you talk to. Public transit? That's an after-thought. That is just a necessary technicality. Nations sole responsibility is to make sure the local Cheney's and Halliburton's are happy, so that they will contribute to his campaign finance fund.
Or how people like County Executive Charlie Dooley need to make sure that his friends at Musick construction get all the construction jobs for the Metrolink.
It is not just that the inflated statistics of the "Economic Hit Men" and croney capitalism have become the new economic success model for "business as usual", it is that profit is funnelled only to a certain section of society: Big business and the already wealthiest individuals, and the two things that keep the wealth flowing to them: the military, and the government.
Substitute the U.S. military for the Saint Louis city and county courts and lawyers. Our lawyers and judges are so wealthy because there is so much crime. There is so much crime because half the city is a 1st world ghetto-- the national version of the 3rd world, international sweat shop.
You know, like those children and prisoners in China working to make t-shirts and stuff? http://www.businessinsider.com/letter-in-saks-bag-from-china-2014-4#!JkEIe
The Chinese government has to accept payment for these manufactured goods. They accept the payment in U.S. Treasury Bonds. That is why you hear that Chinese own 1.5 Trillion of the U.S. Debt. (You know, that debt that equals $55,000 for every man, woman and child in the U.S. And $155,000 per taxpayer?)
From:
http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/10/17/china_bond_purchases_stop_being_wrong.html
Many objects are manufactured in China these days, and many of those objects are purchased by people and firms located in the United States of America. And before an American firm can purchase something from a Chinese firm, the American firm needs to trade some of its US dollars for some Chinese money. Thus America ends up with more Chinese-made goods and China ends up with more American money.
Now in the natural course of floating exchange rates what would
happen here is that the dollar price of Chinese money would rise, and
this would increase the price of Chinese-made stuff in America and
decrease the price of American-made stuff in China. That in turn would
tend to discourage the flow of Chinese-made stuff to the United States
of America.
But the Chinese government for various reasons wants to subsidize
Chinese manufacturing. So they want to send those dollars they
accumulate back to the United States
From:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ianshepherdson/2013/10/23/four-big-reasons-why-china-will-keep-buying-treasuries/
...once you accept the idea that China’s dollar earnings mostly have to stay as dollars, it is clear that there are no alternatives to owning U.S. securities, government and private. There no other safe, liquid investments available in the necessary quantities. At the margin, China’s sovereign wealth fund can buy equities and real assets like property, but the bulk of the overall portfolio has to be held in liquid securities. These are foreign exchange reserves, remember, not some pot of spare money to be gambled away.
The Chinese government is not going to let their own money's value increase, or demand higher wages and safer conditions for those sweat shop workers, because they need those foreign exchange reserves to make their country wealthy. (And that means make their government and rich families- the Chinese 1%- richer. See it doesn't matter what race or religion or what country. The world is really about the rich profiting from the poor. All the other divisions are to keep us fighting each other instead of them.)
The Chinese government need the U.S. dollar to stay strong. That way they can keep making a profit from all that sweat shop and prison labor.
This works out for the U.S. government, too. U.S. corporations have lots of "aid" and "modernization" and "democracy" to sell to the oil producing nations. And then there is always "re-building" after a war, or a natural disaster.
From:
http://www.truth-out.org/archive/component/k2/item/68279:henry-pelifian--the-iraq-war-and-crony-democracy
In "Cronies," it is clear why Halliburton hired Mr. Cheney, for he "knew how to vacuum up federal money and federal contracts." Other facts from "Cronies": During Cheney's tenure at Halliburton, he nearly doubled the amount of federal contracts to $2.3 billion. Also, Cheney assisted the parent company, Brown & Root, in receiving a fifteenfold increase in federally backed loans and insurance from the Export-Import Bank and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation. Mr. Cheney understood the importance of lobbying, for he doubled political donations while at Halliburton. According to the Center for Public Integrity and mentioned in "Cronies," seventy companies and individuals who were substantial contributors to the Bush-Cheney campaign have been awarded billions of dollars in contracts in Iraq.
Have we become a nation of lobbyists, for lobbyists, and by lobbyists? The crony democracy chain links politicians, government appointees, corporations, government contracts and lobbyists. The chain includes interchangeable employment with each successive administration from government officials to corporate CEO or Washington lobbyist. The goal is profit at government expense. What is the financial calculation of waste and abuse in such a system?
(This is also worth reading: http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2010/jun/09/arianna-huffington/halliburton-kbr-and-iraq-war-contracting-history-s/)
There is enough money in the world for every single person to have enough to eat, a place to sleep, and medical care.
According to Jeffrey Sachs: http://www.visionofearth.org/economics/ending-poverty/how-much-would-it-cost-to-end-extreme-poverty-in-the-world/
To end extreme poverty worldwide in 20 years, Sachs calculated that the total cost per year would be about $175 billion. This represents less than one percent of the combined income of the richest countries in the world.
...
The military budget in the USA is about $680 billion per year3. A large amount of other funding is directly connected to military spending in the states, bringing the total closer to $1 trillion per year4.Even if we assume the lesser of these numbers, annual defense spending in the US is about four times as much money as is needed to begin rapidly ending extreme poverty in the entire world. If some of the US military’s monstrous budget could be channelled towards humanitarian goals, then extreme poverty in our world could quickly become a thing of the past.
There is enough money, it is just not being distributed in a way that is meaningful. It's all about "profit" for the corporations and corporate leaders.
When wealthy people buy a bond, whether it the Chinese government buying Treasury bonds, or William "Bucky" Bush's St. Louis neighbor buying a Metro municipal bond, they expect not only a nice return on their investment financially, they expect to be catered to.
That means no Metrolink running through the northside neighborhoods that serve only to supply surplus labor that will work cheap and not complain. Keep those people incarcerated by lack of decent public transportation. Make sure the slave-maid has to ride the bus for two or three hours to get to the plantation house.
That money is also not to be spent improving those neighborhoods. They aren't earning enough to pay for improved street services. How can they, on such low wages?
In St. Louis, there is enough money for public transit to be absolutely free of charge. Rider revenues could be easily covered by Prop A's one half of one percent sales tax in the county and one quarter of one percent in the city, if the full amount was used for operating expenses.
But it can't. Even though Prop A is straight revenue, most of the money Metro receives (or so the man at Dooley's office told me) goes to paying its bonds-- it's IOU's.
Metro operated at a loss of $249,514,470 in 2013. So no matter how often they raise fares, they will never have enough.
And it is so burdened by debt that another fluctuation in the market could cripple it completely.
And if you have read this whole post, you probably understand as I do, that this current global economic model is destined to crash-- again and again.
This system needs constant, voracious expansion. That can only occur if more construction and "business development" is needed, paying the lowest possible wages and providing the fewest possible services.
Find a reason to invade another country, like the Russians in the Ukraine. Or start a war, as the Bush-Cheney regime did in Iraq.
Or if you're lucky, there will be a natural disaster, like Hurricane Sandy:
http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2014/feb/19/lawrence-odonnell/lawrence-odonnell-says-chris-christie-steered-6-mi/
Or an earthquake in Haiti. (Sorry, did you think the Red Cross was sacred?)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/24/red-cross-earthquake-haiti-where-did-the-money-go_n_1228334.html
This system is not going to change by itself. Not globally, nationally, or locally. These people make money whether there is war or peace. They make MORE money the smaller the middle class is and the more poor people there are.
It is only going to change when enough of us DEMAND our fair share. And frankly, that time is long passed.
OCCUPY!
PS: if you read all the way through this, you might be interested in this stuff as well:
On "Foreign Aid":
http://www.transparency.org/topic/detail/humanitarian_assistance
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2012/10/03/The-Scandal-That-Is-Foreign-Aid
On the Economics of the 1%:
http://www.upworthy.com/what-the-1-dont-want-you-to-know?g=3&c=hpstream
BILL MOYERS: Here’s Piketty’s main point: capital tends to produce real returns of 4 to 5 percent, and economic growth is much slower. What's the practical result of that?
PAUL KRUGMAN: What that means is that if you have a large fortune, or a family has a large fortune, they can -- the inheritors of that large fortune -- can live very, very well. They can live an extraordinary standard of living and still put a large fraction of the income from that fortune aside and the fortune will grow faster than the economy.
On Fiat currency:
http://dailyreckoning.com/fiat-currency/
http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-the-fiat-system-works.html
Thursday, April 24, 2014
DEAR FEDERAL TRANSIT AUTHORITY
EDIT: 25 April 2014, I filed a formal complaint with the FTA Inspector General, asking them to investigate and audit Metro and Prop A and Dooley, and asked them to refuse to give Metro anymore funds for the Cortex Metrolink station proposed between the CWE and Grand.
The Region 7 FTA office in Kansas City has promised that someone from the Federal office will be returning my call about Metro.
I started Occupy Public Transportation In St. Louis on March 24th, exactly one month ago. At the beginning I only wanted to stop the fare increase and to get Metro to listen to their riders' needs (better service, bathrooms, improved bus stops and sidewalk conditions, etc). But in the course of the last few weeks my research has led me to the conclusion that the entire agency needs an overhaul.
When they call me, I am going to ask them what I would need to know if I were to take over Metro operations tomorrow. To be clear, I know that this will not happen (I actually would never want the Metro job, and wish I wasn't even spending my time on OPTINSTL-- oh to live in a fair and honest world!), but in order to change anything I always start from the ideal and work my way back from there.
So, if I took over Metro tomorrow, what would I need to know and do to make the necessary changes outlined above?
http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/04/how-anyone-can-change-world-outlined-in.html
http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/04/i-want-to-live-in-city-with-great.html
Feel free to call the FTA and ask them these questions yourself. The more people that call, the more power we have, and the more likely we are to see changes. You can file a complaint with the FTA Inspector General anonymously, and receive a PIN to track the progress of the investigation on your complaint.
FTA Region 7 Office, 901 Locust Street, Suite 404, Kansas City, Missouri 64106. Telephone (816) 329-3920, Fax (816) 329-3921 (Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska.)
The Region 7 FTA office in Kansas City has promised that someone from the Federal office will be returning my call about Metro.
I started Occupy Public Transportation In St. Louis on March 24th, exactly one month ago. At the beginning I only wanted to stop the fare increase and to get Metro to listen to their riders' needs (better service, bathrooms, improved bus stops and sidewalk conditions, etc). But in the course of the last few weeks my research has led me to the conclusion that the entire agency needs an overhaul.
- First and foremost, Metro needs to be separated from Bi-State Development Agency.
- Metro bus drivers deserve a new bargaining agreement. I don't understand how an Agency that receives so much federal funding can be allowed to treat their employees this way. 6 years without a new contract! Not to mention the slow erosion of pensions and benefits, and the fact that new driver's start at $12 an hour is ridiculous! And even the top pay of $21 an hour is not enough for that job. It should be $25, and the starting wage should be at least $15. http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/04/rider-alert-metro-whines-about-one-day.html
- The entire current executive leadership needs to be removed. And it should be mandatory that ALL Metro executives use public transportation frequently. http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/03/do-metro-executives-ride-public-transit.html
- John Nations needs to resign as CEO or be fired. (And no CEO of Metro should be making five times what a bus driver makes! No more $250,000 a year executive salaries!)
- There needs to be public toilets at all Metrolink and major bus transfer centers. http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/04/bi-state-development-agency-is.html
- Metro has mismanaged funds: received large federal grants for Metrolink extensions without producing trains to those areas (because they did not do the work to build community support, and apparently did not anticipate how hard those communities would fight), and generally done nothing more than acquire real estate and line the pockets of a few corrupt developers and local politicians. They do not currently have any new rail lines in construction, just vague "plans" that seem to keep hitting snafus (and excuses). http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/04/again-metro-has-long-history-of.html AND http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-apalling-racist-fiasco-of-2005-and.html
- County Executive Charlie Dooley needs to be investigated and audited by the public. The same "Public Transportation" bond issue that failed before voters in 2008 was repackaged as a "Public Transit" bond in 2010. Far too many sources either hint or say outright that Metro-- having lost too many lawsuits regarding mismanagement of funds on the Shrewsbury Metrolink, and the barring of minority contractors- had to be given a 39.5 million dollar bailout (when their yearly operating expense was $42 million) for legal fees and settlements. Dooley did this only because Metro agreed to help "pull the wool" over voter's eyes in regards to Proposition "A".(I don't have court-worthy documentation on all of this yet, but it is coming.) http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/04/again-metro-has-long-history-of.html AND http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/04/what-metro-is-doing-with-your-money-and.html AND http://occupyurlife.blogspot.com/2014/04/occupy-saint-louis-county-executive.html
- The way that Metro does its survey and planning needs to change. Their data is general population and employment statistics. They admit that the buses are the bulk of their operation, and that north St. Louis city and county comprise their busiest transit hubs, yet they fail to survey the buses, or involve the communities in planning. When they do survey, almost always only once a year, and on the Metrolink, they do not gather the necessary information, or compute it accurately. Their starting point needs to be collecting the proper data on their riders-- who they are, where they travel and why, etc. (In other words, they should serve their customers, and not the other way around.) http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/04/what-metros-new-survey-should-be.html
- Metro needs to focus all of its Metrolink expansion in north St. Louis city and county. This is the area they admit has the most need and most transit riders. This is the area that is "incarcerated by lack of decent public transportation." There is plenty of existing rail, and plenty of room to develop more light rail. That they have not seriously addressed this, and continue to make other arrangements-- like the big buses for the Lucas Hunt and Natural Bridge bus routes-- demonstrates that they have no long term plans for this area. http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/03/brand-new-big-buses-for-4-64-and-70-but.html AND .http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/03/east-west-gateway-council-of.html
- More outreach needs to be done with street services in regards to bus stop placement and bus stop maintenance and needs (lighting, sidewalk maintenance). And Metro needs to improve all of its' bus stops generally (route and schedule information at every bus stop, trash cans, more benches and covered stops). People should be able to navigate their way from any bus stop, even if they have never ridden the bus before! http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/03/what-should-be-metros-new-bus-stop-plan.html
When they call me, I am going to ask them what I would need to know if I were to take over Metro operations tomorrow. To be clear, I know that this will not happen (I actually would never want the Metro job, and wish I wasn't even spending my time on OPTINSTL-- oh to live in a fair and honest world!), but in order to change anything I always start from the ideal and work my way back from there.
So, if I took over Metro tomorrow, what would I need to know and do to make the necessary changes outlined above?
http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/04/how-anyone-can-change-world-outlined-in.html
http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/04/i-want-to-live-in-city-with-great.html
Feel free to call the FTA and ask them these questions yourself. The more people that call, the more power we have, and the more likely we are to see changes. You can file a complaint with the FTA Inspector General anonymously, and receive a PIN to track the progress of the investigation on your complaint.
FTA Region 7 Office, 901 Locust Street, Suite 404, Kansas City, Missouri 64106. Telephone (816) 329-3920, Fax (816) 329-3921 (Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska.)
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
METRO, OPTINSTL IS DRIVEN BY YOU
Metro, you not only drive me (verrrryyyy slowwlllly) where I am going, you also drove me to activism.
Just when I think you can't be anymore ridiculous, you prove me wrong.
Today, on my transfer from the #16 at the Delmar Metrolink, as I ran around for twenty minutes trying to find a bathroom before I peed my pants (the hot dog place is gone, and the library doesn't have bathrooms, and the restaurants only have them for customers) I picked up a West End Word.
Imagine my delight at finding an article about a new $9 million station at Sarah street, that includes a bike rack and other "amenities". (What amenities??? Despite the fact the most humans possess bladders, the news also does not consider toilets worthy of reporting. Metro claims they have "amenities" at every station- but since they don't have toilets at most Metrolink and Metro bus centers, we have to assume they mean something else. Like ticket machines, and security, and signs, and bike racks, or something.)
Of course, Metro, me and all the other real public transit riders know what this proposed new station is really about. This is about Cortex getting to put its name on a piece of real estate under the guise of "job creation" because it is "key to achieving the company's goals."
This is about Cortex, not YOU public transit rider!
Dennis Lower, president and CEO of Cortex, said the proposed station is key to achieving the company's goals of being an international standard for innovation communities."
Cortex has its sights set on the creation of a sustainable, walkable twenty-four/seven community and becoming a center for job creation," he said. "Our redevelopment plan includes work spaces, residential development, retail establishments and evening destinations. The development will attract international businesses with expectations of reliable and convenient public transportation. The MetroLink stop will serve the Cortex workforce and will be viewed as a regional connector."
http://www.westendword.com/Articles-Area-News-c-2014-04-08-192011.114137-9-Million-Price-Tag-On-Proposed-MetroLink-Station-For-Midtown.html
Metro, Mr. Lower, and the rest of you lot, we need a metrolink or two in north city and county. We need toilets at every facility. We need real jobs and real community development, not something that taxpayers fund for private companies to put their name on and claim credit for. We do not want our $1 of funds to make Cortex $4 richer.
(Metro claims that every a dollar a "community" puts towards public transit "the community" gets $4 in return from Metro's government funding. Pretty vague statistics meant to disguise what is really going on.)
Yes, Mr. Lower, we know that Metro CEO John Nations can expect a nice fat campaign contribution to his political career when he dumps Metro (he likes to tell his employees that he is only doing this for a few years to get his political career lined up-- of course, the private car and $250,000 a year salary don't hurt him either).
Mr. Lower, your company is named for part of the human brain, but you aren't very smart. There is nowhere "greener" than a community without cars. And you know there are a lot of places that need housing and retail and work spaces in this city. But you aren't really planning on doing anything new or innovative, are you?
And seriously-- 800 boardings a day-- and almost 20 years to add 1000 more? Pathetic.
And when you say "job creation" I wonder if you really mean minimum wage jobs in retail and restaurants, that workers will ride the bus two or three hours to get to? With a big huge corporate Cortex logo on the building. And "international businesses" setting up shop. (Nice doublespeak for "multinational corporation".)
Yeah. We get it.
Mr. Lower, you seem like another crap human being. Sorry. Your big cortex and you can't do anything more than figure out a way to spend $9 million dollars ripping out the current CWE station, moving it a few blocks, rebranding it with the Cortex logo, and building up another "development" that may or may not catch on, and may or may not include local companies, and may or may not have anything to offer anyone but yourselves and few already rich developers and politicians?
Just so that it is easy for your white collar workers to park and ride the Metrolink and bring their bicycles? Wow.
I mean that is JUST what St. Louis needs right now-- ANOTHER METRO STATION in between Grand and CWE. You know, if the parts of the city that relied on public transit the most had a train, and there were bathrooms, and programs for low income to get discount passes, and "feasibility studies" weren't based on 80 participants, a big bioscience center, and greedy businessmen, but instead on transit riders needs-- yeah, great go forth with your little plan!
But there are lots of other very obvious CEREBRAL INNOVATIONS this city needs, and I guess you geniuses won't be the ones to provide them!
Hey Metro executives, I forgot to charge my phone last night, or you would have heard from me A LOT today, but I am gonna call you EXTRA tomorrow! We have a lot to talk about.
Like how you say you don't have the $9 million, and you are going to the Federal Transit Authority. You don't deserve one dime of federal money (income taxes), state money (property and income taxes), or city money (sales taxes). You don't deserve our fares!
Tomorrow I am calling the FTA, too. I bet they know just what I can do to stop you.
Just when I think you can't be anymore ridiculous, you prove me wrong.
Today, on my transfer from the #16 at the Delmar Metrolink, as I ran around for twenty minutes trying to find a bathroom before I peed my pants (the hot dog place is gone, and the library doesn't have bathrooms, and the restaurants only have them for customers) I picked up a West End Word.
Imagine my delight at finding an article about a new $9 million station at Sarah street, that includes a bike rack and other "amenities". (What amenities??? Despite the fact the most humans possess bladders, the news also does not consider toilets worthy of reporting. Metro claims they have "amenities" at every station- but since they don't have toilets at most Metrolink and Metro bus centers, we have to assume they mean something else. Like ticket machines, and security, and signs, and bike racks, or something.)
Of course, Metro, me and all the other real public transit riders know what this proposed new station is really about. This is about Cortex getting to put its name on a piece of real estate under the guise of "job creation" because it is "key to achieving the company's goals."
This is about Cortex, not YOU public transit rider!
Dennis Lower, president and CEO of Cortex, said the proposed station is key to achieving the company's goals of being an international standard for innovation communities."
Cortex has its sights set on the creation of a sustainable, walkable twenty-four/seven community and becoming a center for job creation," he said. "Our redevelopment plan includes work spaces, residential development, retail establishments and evening destinations. The development will attract international businesses with expectations of reliable and convenient public transportation. The MetroLink stop will serve the Cortex workforce and will be viewed as a regional connector."
http://www.westendword.com/Articles-Area-News-c-2014-04-08-192011.114137-9-Million-Price-Tag-On-Proposed-MetroLink-Station-For-Midtown.html
Metro, Mr. Lower, and the rest of you lot, we need a metrolink or two in north city and county. We need toilets at every facility. We need real jobs and real community development, not something that taxpayers fund for private companies to put their name on and claim credit for. We do not want our $1 of funds to make Cortex $4 richer.
(Metro claims that every a dollar a "community" puts towards public transit "the community" gets $4 in return from Metro's government funding. Pretty vague statistics meant to disguise what is really going on.)
Yes, Mr. Lower, we know that Metro CEO John Nations can expect a nice fat campaign contribution to his political career when he dumps Metro (he likes to tell his employees that he is only doing this for a few years to get his political career lined up-- of course, the private car and $250,000 a year salary don't hurt him either).
Mr. Lower, your company is named for part of the human brain, but you aren't very smart. There is nowhere "greener" than a community without cars. And you know there are a lot of places that need housing and retail and work spaces in this city. But you aren't really planning on doing anything new or innovative, are you?
And seriously-- 800 boardings a day-- and almost 20 years to add 1000 more? Pathetic.
And when you say "job creation" I wonder if you really mean minimum wage jobs in retail and restaurants, that workers will ride the bus two or three hours to get to? With a big huge corporate Cortex logo on the building. And "international businesses" setting up shop. (Nice doublespeak for "multinational corporation".)
Yeah. We get it.
Mr. Lower, you seem like another crap human being. Sorry. Your big cortex and you can't do anything more than figure out a way to spend $9 million dollars ripping out the current CWE station, moving it a few blocks, rebranding it with the Cortex logo, and building up another "development" that may or may not catch on, and may or may not include local companies, and may or may not have anything to offer anyone but yourselves and few already rich developers and politicians?
Just so that it is easy for your white collar workers to park and ride the Metrolink and bring their bicycles? Wow.
I mean that is JUST what St. Louis needs right now-- ANOTHER METRO STATION in between Grand and CWE. You know, if the parts of the city that relied on public transit the most had a train, and there were bathrooms, and programs for low income to get discount passes, and "feasibility studies" weren't based on 80 participants, a big bioscience center, and greedy businessmen, but instead on transit riders needs-- yeah, great go forth with your little plan!
But there are lots of other very obvious CEREBRAL INNOVATIONS this city needs, and I guess you geniuses won't be the ones to provide them!
Hey Metro executives, I forgot to charge my phone last night, or you would have heard from me A LOT today, but I am gonna call you EXTRA tomorrow! We have a lot to talk about.
Like how you say you don't have the $9 million, and you are going to the Federal Transit Authority. You don't deserve one dime of federal money (income taxes), state money (property and income taxes), or city money (sales taxes). You don't deserve our fares!
Tomorrow I am calling the FTA, too. I bet they know just what I can do to stop you.
Saturday, April 12, 2014
AGAIN? METRO HAS A LONG HISTORY OF MISMANAGING AND UNDERESTIMATING PROJECTS
Metro loves telling everyone how smart they are, and how great they are at planning and managing their money. But it is all a big fat lie:
"Costs on rise for Metro's North County Transit Center"- from St. Louis Post Dispatch
The price tag for Metro’s North County Transit Center on Pershall Road has shot up, leaving a funding shortfall of $1.4 million on the first phase of work.
The center is expected to be a hub of bus operations when it opens sometime before August 2015, officials said.
...
Metro staff said the 2010 estimate was based “upon a basic passenger waiting station and a bus transfer loop with little to no amenities.” Since then, there have been “unforeseen” code requirements and additional items that were not part of the original plan.
First of all, ANOTHER bus center? And with NO "Amenities" (that means bathrooms).
I REALLY HOPE those unforeseen code requirements are TOILETS!
AND: Is this money Metro could have spent on a train?
Second, the things they list are all the same things that happened back in 2003-2005 that resulted in this lawsuit and countersuit. A suit that ending up costing Metro 40 million dollars in fees, court costs and the resulting payment.
http://www.dowdbennett.com/news/jury-orders-transit-agency-to-pay-the-firms-it-sued/
Well, I know where they could get that 1.5 Million. Fire John Nations and six other Metro executives!
"Costs on rise for Metro's North County Transit Center"- from St. Louis Post Dispatch
http://www.stltoday.com/news/traffic/along-for-the-ride/b9d5cc90-3ac9-5f2c-ac99-8da7d863beb8.html
From the article:The price tag for Metro’s North County Transit Center on Pershall Road has shot up, leaving a funding shortfall of $1.4 million on the first phase of work.
The center is expected to be a hub of bus operations when it opens sometime before August 2015, officials said.
...
Metro staff said the 2010 estimate was based “upon a basic passenger waiting station and a bus transfer loop with little to no amenities.” Since then, there have been “unforeseen” code requirements and additional items that were not part of the original plan.
First of all, ANOTHER bus center? And with NO "Amenities" (that means bathrooms).
I REALLY HOPE those unforeseen code requirements are TOILETS!
AND: Is this money Metro could have spent on a train?
Second, the things they list are all the same things that happened back in 2003-2005 that resulted in this lawsuit and countersuit. A suit that ending up costing Metro 40 million dollars in fees, court costs and the resulting payment.
http://www.dowdbennett.com/news/jury-orders-transit-agency-to-pay-the-firms-it-sued/
Well, I know where they could get that 1.5 Million. Fire John Nations and six other Metro executives!
Thursday, April 10, 2014
METRO: YOUR TRANSPARENCY IS VERY OPAQUE, UNTIL IT WORKS IN YOUR FAVOR
When I emailed Metro with my long list of questions, including how many buses in operation, and bus drivers working, on an average weekday, they responded with the number of buses, actual vehicles on the road for all of the lines, 310, they said, but told me I had to file a Sunshine Act request to find out the amount of bus drivers.
Yesterday they posted this: http://www.nextstopstl.org/11397/metro-explains-monday-metrobus-delays/
70 bus drivers out of a total of 572 total called out. Guess things are only readily transparent when it serves their purposes.
(My estimate, supported by questioning random bus drivers, is that about 360 work on any given regular weekday, not including paratransit.)
In working to uncover the utter mismanagement of funds that led to the shut down of 24 lines in 2009, and which Metro blames the impending July fare hike necessity, I have uncovered more and more corruption, scandal, and mismanagement, not too mention outright deception to the public.
ST. LOUIS, PLEASE BEGIN DEMANDING TOTAL TRANSPARENCY AT METRO AND ALL OTHER AGENCIES THAT RECEIVE FEDERAL MONIES!
THIS IS YOUR CITY! OCCUPY IT!
THERE NEEDS TO BE A PUBLIC AUDIT OF METRO BI-STATE! http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/04/call-for-public-audit-of-metro-bi-state.html
(Metro insists that my desire to know these details is "irrelevant" and "ridiculous". Only by dissecting every aspect of their daily operations can we really come to the truth about where our money is really going. Since the operation of the buses and trains is supposed to be their primary function, I thought it was best to start with that. Of course, now I need to find out how many of these drivers are part-time, etc.)
Yesterday they posted this: http://www.nextstopstl.org/11397/metro-explains-monday-metrobus-delays/
70 bus drivers out of a total of 572 total called out. Guess things are only readily transparent when it serves their purposes.
(My estimate, supported by questioning random bus drivers, is that about 360 work on any given regular weekday, not including paratransit.)
In working to uncover the utter mismanagement of funds that led to the shut down of 24 lines in 2009, and which Metro blames the impending July fare hike necessity, I have uncovered more and more corruption, scandal, and mismanagement, not too mention outright deception to the public.
ST. LOUIS, PLEASE BEGIN DEMANDING TOTAL TRANSPARENCY AT METRO AND ALL OTHER AGENCIES THAT RECEIVE FEDERAL MONIES!
THIS IS YOUR CITY! OCCUPY IT!
THERE NEEDS TO BE A PUBLIC AUDIT OF METRO BI-STATE! http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/04/call-for-public-audit-of-metro-bi-state.html
(Metro insists that my desire to know these details is "irrelevant" and "ridiculous". Only by dissecting every aspect of their daily operations can we really come to the truth about where our money is really going. Since the operation of the buses and trains is supposed to be their primary function, I thought it was best to start with that. Of course, now I need to find out how many of these drivers are part-time, etc.)
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
CALL FOR A PUBLIC AUDIT OF METRO BI-STATE
More on the Minority Contractor vs. Metro Bi-State lawsuit that cost Metro 39 million dollars.
(Read my rampage about this:
http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/04/what-metro-is-doing-with-your-money-and.html)
US Missouri courts register over 3000 legal cases against Bi State Development Agency. Most are personal injury or wrongful death.
https://www.courts.mo.gov/casenet/cases/nameSearch.do
I think the public should be allowed to examine the records of these proceedings. (And I really hope that this was hidden from the media and that they weren't just bought off on not reporting it. I hope local media didn't ignore this purposefully.)
Also obtaining the exact wording of Prop A from 2010. I don't think that laws and legislation and bond props should be so hard to understand clearly. It hurts my pride that I was duped into voting for this. I want to read and understand exactly how this happened.
EDIT: FROM METRO'S 2009 Report, page 14:
Still going through the report-- but the B.S. about Prop A is actually "hiding right out in the open" in that paragraph.
Also looking into:
How Metro's funds are awarded and audited. I contacted the DOT but they sent me an email directing me to the Federal Transit Authority.
There must be some sort of appeal we can make, or petition, to some governing body, to get absolute transparency on financial matters, planning, structure. I do not think I should have to file a Sunshine Act request to find out how many bus drivers work on the average weekday.
Also, there must be some precedence, in this country or somewhere in the world, where a Business District or Business Development Agency was separated from it's public transit agency. Metro needs to be separated from Bi-State Development Agency.
And a more balanced committee needs to chair it. The more I investigate East West Gateway Council of Governments, the appointing of people by the Governor, the more I see how public transit needs to be determined locally. And NOT for purposes of owning real estate, developing business, and paying for future political campaigns.
I also think the County Executive needs to be audited.
I haven't found it yet, but I know the solutions are out there.
St. Louis deserves a world-class transit system. And I know that it is possible- with the funding it has now.
EDIT: http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/dailyrft/2010/04/former_st_louis_mayor_sues_metro_freeman_bosley_jr.php
Page 22 is enlightening, sadly the full court documents are not available at this link: http://www.scribd.com/doc/30306078/mokan-naacp-v-metro
EDIT: These records are from 2010, and you have to search by individual names, but here it is:
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/metro-transit-agency-employee-payroll/html_1396d59c-088b-11e0-ad1c-0017a4a78c22.html
Robert Joseph Baer, CEO, John Nations predecessor: $190,000
Ray Friem: Chief Oper Ofcr-Transit Serv/Chief Operations Officer $174,350.00
Jessica Mefford Miller: Chief of System planning and development: $86,000.00
Dianne Williams, Director of Communications: $85,696.00
Bus driver I knew the name of: $43,784.00
(Read my rampage about this:
http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/04/what-metro-is-doing-with-your-money-and.html)
US Missouri courts register over 3000 legal cases against Bi State Development Agency. Most are personal injury or wrongful death.
https://www.courts.mo.gov/casenet/cases/nameSearch.do
I think the public should be allowed to examine the records of these proceedings. (And I really hope that this was hidden from the media and that they weren't just bought off on not reporting it. I hope local media didn't ignore this purposefully.)
Also obtaining the exact wording of Prop A from 2010. I don't think that laws and legislation and bond props should be so hard to understand clearly. It hurts my pride that I was duped into voting for this. I want to read and understand exactly how this happened.
EDIT: FROM METRO'S 2009 Report, page 14:
Still going through the report-- but the B.S. about Prop A is actually "hiding right out in the open" in that paragraph.
Also looking into:
How Metro's funds are awarded and audited. I contacted the DOT but they sent me an email directing me to the Federal Transit Authority.
There must be some sort of appeal we can make, or petition, to some governing body, to get absolute transparency on financial matters, planning, structure. I do not think I should have to file a Sunshine Act request to find out how many bus drivers work on the average weekday.
Also, there must be some precedence, in this country or somewhere in the world, where a Business District or Business Development Agency was separated from it's public transit agency. Metro needs to be separated from Bi-State Development Agency.
And a more balanced committee needs to chair it. The more I investigate East West Gateway Council of Governments, the appointing of people by the Governor, the more I see how public transit needs to be determined locally. And NOT for purposes of owning real estate, developing business, and paying for future political campaigns.
I also think the County Executive needs to be audited.
I haven't found it yet, but I know the solutions are out there.
St. Louis deserves a world-class transit system. And I know that it is possible- with the funding it has now.
EDIT: http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/dailyrft/2010/04/former_st_louis_mayor_sues_metro_freeman_bosley_jr.php
Page 22 is enlightening, sadly the full court documents are not available at this link: http://www.scribd.com/doc/30306078/mokan-naacp-v-metro
EDIT: These records are from 2010, and you have to search by individual names, but here it is:
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/metro-transit-agency-employee-payroll/html_1396d59c-088b-11e0-ad1c-0017a4a78c22.html
Robert Joseph Baer, CEO, John Nations predecessor: $190,000
Ray Friem: Chief Oper Ofcr-Transit Serv/Chief Operations Officer $174,350.00
Jessica Mefford Miller: Chief of System planning and development: $86,000.00
Dianne Williams, Director of Communications: $85,696.00
Bus driver I knew the name of: $43,784.00
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