Please read this post on PAG2STL, even if you are already "woke":
http://pag2stl.blogspot.com/2016/12/usa-please-wake-up.html
OPTINSTL
OCCUPY! PUBLIC TRANSIT Image by Eric Drooker for Occupy Wall Street, click on image for Drooker's website
Sunday, December 11, 2016
Friday, September 9, 2016
DARREN SEALS
A post on Darren Seals murder, and events surrounding it in Riverview Gardens.
http://fergusonthemovement.blogspot.com/2016/09/darren-seals-murder-and-riverview.html
http://fergusonthemovement.blogspot.com/2016/09/darren-seals-murder-and-riverview.html
Sunday, April 17, 2016
OPTINSTL IS RED-FACED
...with embarrassment AND rage!
Okay, so OPTINSTL IS SO WRONG! Allow me to explain- the new North County transit center was planned originally for the Metrolink. While the bathrooms are great, the bus center is essentially worthless without a train. Why did OPTINSTL not notice there is no train right away? Because it is such a no-brainer! WHY WASTE 10 MILLION DOLLARS ON THAT "TRANSIT CENTER" WITHOUT A METROLINK???
Like the other bus transit centers, the overdevelopment of the CWE with Cortex, the extra-long Grand buses, North County transit center is just another big fat joke at the expense of the transit-dependent public. The self-congratulations and PR will just keep coming from $80-350K-a-year executives that drive cars from their county homes. They will keep spending money on stupid sh*t that makes it appear they are doing something, and leave the riders to stand around out in the sun and rain and snow, waiting for their slow buses on stupid routes.
Please, transit rider, CALL METRO AND COMPLAIN. ASK THEM QUESTIONS! TELL THEM WHAT YOU NEED!
They will not change until we make them change!
EVERY DIME THEY SPEND IS PUBLIC MONEY!
Okay, so OPTINSTL IS SO WRONG! Allow me to explain- the new North County transit center was planned originally for the Metrolink. While the bathrooms are great, the bus center is essentially worthless without a train. Why did OPTINSTL not notice there is no train right away? Because it is such a no-brainer! WHY WASTE 10 MILLION DOLLARS ON THAT "TRANSIT CENTER" WITHOUT A METROLINK???
Like the other bus transit centers, the overdevelopment of the CWE with Cortex, the extra-long Grand buses, North County transit center is just another big fat joke at the expense of the transit-dependent public. The self-congratulations and PR will just keep coming from $80-350K-a-year executives that drive cars from their county homes. They will keep spending money on stupid sh*t that makes it appear they are doing something, and leave the riders to stand around out in the sun and rain and snow, waiting for their slow buses on stupid routes.
Please, transit rider, CALL METRO AND COMPLAIN. ASK THEM QUESTIONS! TELL THEM WHAT YOU NEED!
They will not change until we make them change!
EVERY DIME THEY SPEND IS PUBLIC MONEY!
Wednesday, March 23, 2016
ANOTHER BUS STOP SHOOTING
This one in Richmond Heights. All of this violence will serve to get Metro more cops and that won't do anything to solve the actual problems. People in power are not going to do anything that inconveniences them or takes time away from checking their Instagram accounts at work.
There are too many guns, too many drugs, and too many kids that don't think they have a future. Schools, jobs, economic development that does more than line the same pockets decade after decade.
I sound like a broken record even to myself. The answers for change remain the same. The county should take that Crestwood Plaza redevelopment money and put it into after-school programs. No matter how many Starbucks you put in a neighbourhood, if people don't have jobs it is not going to "boost" the economy. The money for more cops needs to go to community relations. Someone needs to start asking the young people what the solutions are and what these kids need.
http://www.kmov.com/story/31542052/police-investigating-shooting-near-galleria
There are too many guns, too many drugs, and too many kids that don't think they have a future. Schools, jobs, economic development that does more than line the same pockets decade after decade.
I sound like a broken record even to myself. The answers for change remain the same. The county should take that Crestwood Plaza redevelopment money and put it into after-school programs. No matter how many Starbucks you put in a neighbourhood, if people don't have jobs it is not going to "boost" the economy. The money for more cops needs to go to community relations. Someone needs to start asking the young people what the solutions are and what these kids need.
http://www.kmov.com/story/31542052/police-investigating-shooting-near-galleria
Friday, March 18, 2016
NEXTSTL POST NAILS IT ON NORTH COUNTY TRANSIT CENTER
Great article on North County Transit Center.
https://nextstl.com/2016/03/north-county-transit-reconfiguration-symptom-not-treatment/
EDIT/PS: Optinstl doesn't always agree with Nextstl but they are always a good source of info. Metro DOES need to focus on the areas like North County that are mostly transit dependent. But Nextstl also seems to support Cortex, which is the biggest waste of money and a giant boondoggle that really only benefits Cortex itself. The CWE metrolink serves this area just fine. (Regardless of Cortex being non-profit entity, nothing they are proposing there is going to fundamentally change the area. Like Ballpark Village, it will just pull business away from previously existing local businesses, and it is unlikely that it will flourish- if it does indeed flourish at all- for more than a decade.)
Was just reading this post on Cortex. https://nextstl.com/2016/03/202424/
We heard Field Foods was going to be the economic saviour with a grocery store two years ago. Fields is a Boston investor's high end boutique grocery store that got a $12 million dollar grant for the food desert in Peabody Clinton area, NOT the Lafayette Square area. And while the cashiers and other low paying staff come from the area, the management and executives are all from Boston- or were when the store first opened in January 2014. The store has hardly lived up to any of its' promises in terms of sales tax revenues, and mostly seems to compete with locally owned Culinaria downtown.
And remember when Lofts were going to revitalize downtown? A lot of DINK'S (double income no kids) moved down there, and shocker, the area is declining again as they have kids and move back to the suburbs or more kid-friendly areas of the city.
The only thing that is going to revitalize St. Louis is a living wage and development in areas that need jobs and public transportation. Anything North of Delmar, for starters.
https://nextstl.com/2016/03/north-county-transit-reconfiguration-symptom-not-treatment/
EDIT/PS: Optinstl doesn't always agree with Nextstl but they are always a good source of info. Metro DOES need to focus on the areas like North County that are mostly transit dependent. But Nextstl also seems to support Cortex, which is the biggest waste of money and a giant boondoggle that really only benefits Cortex itself. The CWE metrolink serves this area just fine. (Regardless of Cortex being non-profit entity, nothing they are proposing there is going to fundamentally change the area. Like Ballpark Village, it will just pull business away from previously existing local businesses, and it is unlikely that it will flourish- if it does indeed flourish at all- for more than a decade.)
Was just reading this post on Cortex. https://nextstl.com/2016/03/202424/
We heard Field Foods was going to be the economic saviour with a grocery store two years ago. Fields is a Boston investor's high end boutique grocery store that got a $12 million dollar grant for the food desert in Peabody Clinton area, NOT the Lafayette Square area. And while the cashiers and other low paying staff come from the area, the management and executives are all from Boston- or were when the store first opened in January 2014. The store has hardly lived up to any of its' promises in terms of sales tax revenues, and mostly seems to compete with locally owned Culinaria downtown.
And remember when Lofts were going to revitalize downtown? A lot of DINK'S (double income no kids) moved down there, and shocker, the area is declining again as they have kids and move back to the suburbs or more kid-friendly areas of the city.
The only thing that is going to revitalize St. Louis is a living wage and development in areas that need jobs and public transportation. Anything North of Delmar, for starters.
KIRKWOOD DEATH; LOOP TROLLEY; NORTH COUNTY TRANSIT CENTER
I assume this fatality was either a cargo train or Amtrak. However, this would be the second time in two weeks that someone has been hit on the tracks. (See last post.)
http://www.kmov.com/story/31501918/emergency-crews-responding-after-pedestrian-hit-by-train-in-kirkwood
For the most part, train tracks are privately owned and leased. If you have ridden on Amtrak you learn this, because they have to stop A LOT for cargo trains, and local Metrolinks. Not all of the tracks are well maintained, and Amtrak often has to stop or has problems due to problems with the tracks. Sometimes these are long waits because they have to wait for the track owning companies to come make the repairs.
No entity that is private and for profit is going to put safety first. No entity that is funded by government money but not publicly owned is going to put safety first. Railroad tracks, like public transit, should be owned by the public and maintained at the highest standard. Amtrak is completely subsidized by the government.
http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-industry-standard-should-be-safety.html
The Loop Trolley has encountered another error. Shocking (*sarcasm*). The main focus is on the fact that cars might be hit. With that narrow a margin, this screams "pedestrian injury/fatality." PLEASE REMEMBER that the Trolley got a big chunk of money for "urban revitalization" (http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-loop-trolley-sucking-up-more.html). Originally the Trolley was to run down Forest Park Parkway. But to keep the Urban Circulator funds, they had to re-route the trolley through an "urban area"- in this case, the part of the Loop in the city. (Let's not forget that this Trolley is about making sure no local "park and ride" and rural tourists have to set foot on a Metro bus to go drink beer and eat cheeseburgers at Blueberry Hill. That is ALL this trolley is really about.)
http://www.riverfronttimes.com/newsblog/2016/03/18/trolley-tracks-east-of-skinker-may-be-too-tight-for-comfort
I find the city and county planners, street services, and MODOT, do be completely blind to pedestrians and pedestrian safety. The lights at the corner of Skinker and Delmar are a perfect example. (I haven't actually been at that corner in awhile, completely avoiding it even if I had to go to the Loop by turning on Olive or Vernon, since I am always coming from the north. So maybe they fixed it. I doubt it. I pointed it out to them a few times when I first moved back here.)
Stand at any of the corners and watch the light sequence. In each cycle there is a 30 second or so period where traffic is only moving from two directions- meaning no left or right turns. The car traffic has usually slowed at this point. During this time there is the inevitable crossing of pedestrians against the light, because of the lag. There is also a turn light that comes up during this time, which adds to the confusion. I can't recall which direction now, even though I used to encounter it daily a few years ago. Day and night I've seen near misses as someone comes speeding to catch the light before they think it is going to change, and pedestrian confusion- that is, stepping out into the walkway because the instinctual, intuitive understanding of how traffic lights are normally sequenced, and not expecting that out of sequence turn light.
(There is one turn light that looks like it was added much later than the rest. At one point I made a little diagram of where the light needed to be sequenced. I'm pretty sure it was the right turn onto Delmar from northbound Skinker, and the lag was the north-south flow of traffic on Skinker. But I can't recall exactly and have no idea where those notes are. This is all from memory.)
Even with all the focus on Washington University students- many of whom walk and bike in the area, and live in the Loop- the people that make all the decisions do not walk or use public transit. You need nothing more than a heavy snowfall to prove this. The ploughs come out immediately, and the streets are clear. But all the snow is piled up on the sidewalks. Even in the Loop and other areas with heavy foot-traffic, shoveling sidewalks is the responsibility of the property owners and businesses.
North County though, has to be the worst in terms of street planning and pedestrian safety. To get to the new North county transit center on foot- and a lot of times it is faster to walk from your last connection than wait for a bus- you have to walk on a shoulder. The bus stops in front of Centene have no shelter and trash cans. The bus stop across from Centene-- west/south side- is on the shoulder and then there is a slope into a little ditch before the fence separating the 270 freeway. Super fun to stand there at night. (Again, *sarcasm*.)
(http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/04/metro-does-not-take-responsibility-for.html)
It's always strange to me, when people talk about our "infrastructure". Only in the last two hundred years have roads been mostly for something other than pedestrians. Their were pedestrian fatalities from carriage accidents, but certainly not as many. Horses in a wooden carriage versus horsepower and 2000 pounds of metal are a very different situation for the person on foot.
I heard President Obama say, when one of the highway bonds was up for the voters, "This is what we do- we build roads and bridges." (Or something like that.) True. But no one in the world has more than 65 years of experience building and maintaining roads solely for use of the internal combustion engine. In this country the population of people and the amount of cars on the road doubled since the 1970's and we are only now seeing what a mistake it was to ditch the railroads for trucks and public transit for private automobiles.
All one has to do to see how blind to pedestrians the planners are is go look North County Transit Center. (Or Maplewood. The worst, in my opinion, as detailed in the optinstl link above, and here again: http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-industry-standard-should-be-safety.html)
These planners and city leaders, and most of the Metro executives, have never ridden the bus except on rare occasions, and seem to walk only for exercise or because they have dogs, and usually then, only in their own neighbourhoods. (And sidewalks are often missing in areas that were "developed" after the 1950's. Who needed them right? We will all just drive a block to the store or park, etc.)
If St. Louis monitored pedestrian traffic as much as car traffic, there would be sidewalks and lighting in most parts of North County (and south and west county, too, actually).
There is nothing more troubling than seeing people with small children standing out on that shoulder in front of Centene, or the many other bus stops just like it.
And this last schedule change seemed to bring a higher than usual amount of bus stop closings. I'm all for efficiency, but I don't trust the way Metro does things. For example, on Chambers they are eliminating two bus stops. On paper it makes sense. But these two bus stops sit at the bottom of two hills, right where an apartment complex is. That means that the people in wheelchairs or with health issues will have to go up the hill to catch the 61.
Route changes should not be made by asking the advice of random people motivated enough to go to one of the meetings, or briefly surveyed at Open Houses, even if they are held at transit centers. Metro should have neighborhood liaisons that are employed or compensated by Metro to determine and tailor public transit to the community's needs.
Please, call Metro today and tell them what you need for a better, faster, safer transit experience: http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/04/what-metros-new-survey-should-be.html
Call Metro every time you ride!
http://www.kmov.com/story/31501918/emergency-crews-responding-after-pedestrian-hit-by-train-in-kirkwood
For the most part, train tracks are privately owned and leased. If you have ridden on Amtrak you learn this, because they have to stop A LOT for cargo trains, and local Metrolinks. Not all of the tracks are well maintained, and Amtrak often has to stop or has problems due to problems with the tracks. Sometimes these are long waits because they have to wait for the track owning companies to come make the repairs.
No entity that is private and for profit is going to put safety first. No entity that is funded by government money but not publicly owned is going to put safety first. Railroad tracks, like public transit, should be owned by the public and maintained at the highest standard. Amtrak is completely subsidized by the government.
http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-industry-standard-should-be-safety.html
The Loop Trolley has encountered another error. Shocking (*sarcasm*). The main focus is on the fact that cars might be hit. With that narrow a margin, this screams "pedestrian injury/fatality." PLEASE REMEMBER that the Trolley got a big chunk of money for "urban revitalization" (http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-loop-trolley-sucking-up-more.html). Originally the Trolley was to run down Forest Park Parkway. But to keep the Urban Circulator funds, they had to re-route the trolley through an "urban area"- in this case, the part of the Loop in the city. (Let's not forget that this Trolley is about making sure no local "park and ride" and rural tourists have to set foot on a Metro bus to go drink beer and eat cheeseburgers at Blueberry Hill. That is ALL this trolley is really about.)
http://www.riverfronttimes.com/newsblog/2016/03/18/trolley-tracks-east-of-skinker-may-be-too-tight-for-comfort
I find the city and county planners, street services, and MODOT, do be completely blind to pedestrians and pedestrian safety. The lights at the corner of Skinker and Delmar are a perfect example. (I haven't actually been at that corner in awhile, completely avoiding it even if I had to go to the Loop by turning on Olive or Vernon, since I am always coming from the north. So maybe they fixed it. I doubt it. I pointed it out to them a few times when I first moved back here.)
Stand at any of the corners and watch the light sequence. In each cycle there is a 30 second or so period where traffic is only moving from two directions- meaning no left or right turns. The car traffic has usually slowed at this point. During this time there is the inevitable crossing of pedestrians against the light, because of the lag. There is also a turn light that comes up during this time, which adds to the confusion. I can't recall which direction now, even though I used to encounter it daily a few years ago. Day and night I've seen near misses as someone comes speeding to catch the light before they think it is going to change, and pedestrian confusion- that is, stepping out into the walkway because the instinctual, intuitive understanding of how traffic lights are normally sequenced, and not expecting that out of sequence turn light.
(There is one turn light that looks like it was added much later than the rest. At one point I made a little diagram of where the light needed to be sequenced. I'm pretty sure it was the right turn onto Delmar from northbound Skinker, and the lag was the north-south flow of traffic on Skinker. But I can't recall exactly and have no idea where those notes are. This is all from memory.)
Even with all the focus on Washington University students- many of whom walk and bike in the area, and live in the Loop- the people that make all the decisions do not walk or use public transit. You need nothing more than a heavy snowfall to prove this. The ploughs come out immediately, and the streets are clear. But all the snow is piled up on the sidewalks. Even in the Loop and other areas with heavy foot-traffic, shoveling sidewalks is the responsibility of the property owners and businesses.
North County though, has to be the worst in terms of street planning and pedestrian safety. To get to the new North county transit center on foot- and a lot of times it is faster to walk from your last connection than wait for a bus- you have to walk on a shoulder. The bus stops in front of Centene have no shelter and trash cans. The bus stop across from Centene-- west/south side- is on the shoulder and then there is a slope into a little ditch before the fence separating the 270 freeway. Super fun to stand there at night. (Again, *sarcasm*.)
(http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/04/metro-does-not-take-responsibility-for.html)
It's always strange to me, when people talk about our "infrastructure". Only in the last two hundred years have roads been mostly for something other than pedestrians. Their were pedestrian fatalities from carriage accidents, but certainly not as many. Horses in a wooden carriage versus horsepower and 2000 pounds of metal are a very different situation for the person on foot.
I heard President Obama say, when one of the highway bonds was up for the voters, "This is what we do- we build roads and bridges." (Or something like that.) True. But no one in the world has more than 65 years of experience building and maintaining roads solely for use of the internal combustion engine. In this country the population of people and the amount of cars on the road doubled since the 1970's and we are only now seeing what a mistake it was to ditch the railroads for trucks and public transit for private automobiles.
All one has to do to see how blind to pedestrians the planners are is go look North County Transit Center. (Or Maplewood. The worst, in my opinion, as detailed in the optinstl link above, and here again: http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-industry-standard-should-be-safety.html)
These planners and city leaders, and most of the Metro executives, have never ridden the bus except on rare occasions, and seem to walk only for exercise or because they have dogs, and usually then, only in their own neighbourhoods. (And sidewalks are often missing in areas that were "developed" after the 1950's. Who needed them right? We will all just drive a block to the store or park, etc.)
If St. Louis monitored pedestrian traffic as much as car traffic, there would be sidewalks and lighting in most parts of North County (and south and west county, too, actually).
There is nothing more troubling than seeing people with small children standing out on that shoulder in front of Centene, or the many other bus stops just like it.
And this last schedule change seemed to bring a higher than usual amount of bus stop closings. I'm all for efficiency, but I don't trust the way Metro does things. For example, on Chambers they are eliminating two bus stops. On paper it makes sense. But these two bus stops sit at the bottom of two hills, right where an apartment complex is. That means that the people in wheelchairs or with health issues will have to go up the hill to catch the 61.
Route changes should not be made by asking the advice of random people motivated enough to go to one of the meetings, or briefly surveyed at Open Houses, even if they are held at transit centers. Metro should have neighborhood liaisons that are employed or compensated by Metro to determine and tailor public transit to the community's needs.
Please, call Metro today and tell them what you need for a better, faster, safer transit experience: http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/04/what-metros-new-survey-should-be.html
Call Metro every time you ride!
Wednesday, March 16, 2016
SHOOTING AT BUS STOP
Too many guns, not enough school or civic opportunities, too great a racial divide between North and South, too many young people that don't see a good future for themselves and decide to take what power they can. More cops aren't going to solve the problem.
http://www.kmov.com/story/31482991/3-teenagers-shot-at-north-st-louis-bus-stop
http://www.kmov.com/story/31482991/3-teenagers-shot-at-north-st-louis-bus-stop
Monday, March 14, 2016
METRO NEEDS BIG CHANGES
"Big Changes to Buses" comes the headlines today.
http://www.kmov.com/Clip/12282774/big-changes-coming-to-metrobus-routes-monday
http://www.nextstopstl.org/17968/metro-releases-new-north-county-service-plan/
They change the buses all the time, but it never makes anything better. This is because Metro does not do enough research on what transit riders need, and when they do, it's the wrong way.
Their blog congratulates holding FOUR "open house" transit meetings. Four. To change the entire bus system.
At least they came to the transit centres. But it is still not enough. They really need to have someone out every day, soliciting information from passengers, and they need to have surveys. (You can always volunteer the OPTINSTL survey information when you call them. http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/04/what-metros-new-survey-should-be.html)
I also find it amusing that they always congratulate themselves for figuring out that North County is the most transit dependent area. The focus is always on "reducing traffic congestion". Very few people with cars are going to give up driving to ride the sloooooow buses. The train, maybe. But only to and from work and ball games. Of course, most of the money for the North County Transit Center came from funding to reduce traffic congestion and emissions.
Well, at least they are trying to appear like they are trying, and who knows? Maybe they really are. But four open house meetings? How many people decided these changes? It can't be more than 200. Hardly representative or comprehensive.
I still don't see how they can live down the shame of buying those used Grand buses. Love seeing them break down (*sarcasm*), and other than peak times, and between Mid-Town and Arsenal, they never seem very full. Remember how that was going to reduce congestion on Grand? Right.
It's up to the transit rider to call them, email, and generally communicate EXACTLY what we need to make public transit serve us, instead of the other way around.
Oh, and those sidewalks on Pershall, make sure there is plenty of lighting, too. That whole area along 270 is a nightmare for pedestrians, on the Pershall and over on the other side, on Dunn. If you live in North County you know how many accidents go unreported. This one wasn't. A transit friendly city is a pedestrian friendly city. That would mean that the planners and designers and engineers and executives would need to ride transit and do some walking.
More people are going to be walking over to Clocktower Aldi's and the Wal-mart, and down to the Home Depot on Halls Ferry. Don't just build the transit center and leave it, like you did in Maplewood for 7 years. Put in the sidewalks NOW.
http://www.kmov.com/story/31467896/pedestrian-suffers-serious-injuries-after-being-by-car-in-north-county
http://www.kmov.com/Clip/12282774/big-changes-coming-to-metrobus-routes-monday
http://www.nextstopstl.org/17968/metro-releases-new-north-county-service-plan/
They change the buses all the time, but it never makes anything better. This is because Metro does not do enough research on what transit riders need, and when they do, it's the wrong way.
Their blog congratulates holding FOUR "open house" transit meetings. Four. To change the entire bus system.
At least they came to the transit centres. But it is still not enough. They really need to have someone out every day, soliciting information from passengers, and they need to have surveys. (You can always volunteer the OPTINSTL survey information when you call them. http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/04/what-metros-new-survey-should-be.html)
I also find it amusing that they always congratulate themselves for figuring out that North County is the most transit dependent area. The focus is always on "reducing traffic congestion". Very few people with cars are going to give up driving to ride the sloooooow buses. The train, maybe. But only to and from work and ball games. Of course, most of the money for the North County Transit Center came from funding to reduce traffic congestion and emissions.
Well, at least they are trying to appear like they are trying, and who knows? Maybe they really are. But four open house meetings? How many people decided these changes? It can't be more than 200. Hardly representative or comprehensive.
I still don't see how they can live down the shame of buying those used Grand buses. Love seeing them break down (*sarcasm*), and other than peak times, and between Mid-Town and Arsenal, they never seem very full. Remember how that was going to reduce congestion on Grand? Right.
It's up to the transit rider to call them, email, and generally communicate EXACTLY what we need to make public transit serve us, instead of the other way around.
Oh, and those sidewalks on Pershall, make sure there is plenty of lighting, too. That whole area along 270 is a nightmare for pedestrians, on the Pershall and over on the other side, on Dunn. If you live in North County you know how many accidents go unreported. This one wasn't. A transit friendly city is a pedestrian friendly city. That would mean that the planners and designers and engineers and executives would need to ride transit and do some walking.
More people are going to be walking over to Clocktower Aldi's and the Wal-mart, and down to the Home Depot on Halls Ferry. Don't just build the transit center and leave it, like you did in Maplewood for 7 years. Put in the sidewalks NOW.
http://www.kmov.com/story/31467896/pedestrian-suffers-serious-injuries-after-being-by-car-in-north-county
ACCIDENT AT SWANSEA METROLINK
EDIT 17 April 2016: This accident is now a fatality. http://www.bnd.com/news/local/article71885612.html
I missed this in the news on March 6 and it does not appear to be widely reported. A man was struck by a train and his foot was severed and neck broken after a train ran over him at Swansea.
I keep checking the dates on these stories. It's not on any other news stations that I could find, and it isn't on Metro's Blog. In the old days, every news story contained the details of what happened- when, where, etc. Is this some new development in an old accident case? Or did this just happen on March 6th? These are the only two stories I could find:
http://www.kmov.com/story/31399856/family-members-of-man-hit-by-metrolink-train-speak-out
http://www.kmov.com/story/31467300/witness-failure-in-alert-system-allowed-man-to-be-run-over-by-metrolink-train
KMOV video is freezing my computer, so I will try to watch later and see if the video segments have more details.
I missed this in the news on March 6 and it does not appear to be widely reported. A man was struck by a train and his foot was severed and neck broken after a train ran over him at Swansea.
I keep checking the dates on these stories. It's not on any other news stations that I could find, and it isn't on Metro's Blog. In the old days, every news story contained the details of what happened- when, where, etc. Is this some new development in an old accident case? Or did this just happen on March 6th? These are the only two stories I could find:
http://www.kmov.com/story/31399856/family-members-of-man-hit-by-metrolink-train-speak-out
http://www.kmov.com/story/31467300/witness-failure-in-alert-system-allowed-man-to-be-run-over-by-metrolink-train
KMOV video is freezing my computer, so I will try to watch later and see if the video segments have more details.
Sunday, March 13, 2016
NEW METRO STATION IN FERGUSON
Couldn't find any local reporting on this. It was "Drumpfed", I guess. The orange-faced Amerikkkan Hitler got all the news this weekend.
I haven't been there yet, but will check it out tomorrow. I hope those restrooms are really "public". At Riverview the toilets are operated by the privately owned snack shop. (Which means it is only open when they are open and you have to get a key- or at least you did last time I used it, which was actually about 2 years ago. Will check that out this week, too.)
Also, they need to put in sidewalks all the way along Pershall. The construction has made the already dangerous walk on Pershall between West Florissant and New Halls Ferry a nightmare. Especially at night.
At least we have a train up here now. EDIT: Please see this post: http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2016/04/optinstl-is-red-faced.html
http://www.masstransitmag.com/press_release/12180965/st-louis-metro-celebrates-completion-of-north-county-transit-center
As for John Nations comments that "five years ago we identified" etc... Stop patting yourself on the back. North City and County are the most transit dependent areas you service and you don't deserve congratulations for figuring that out. Your own data proves that. And that new Cortex Metrolink stop is a big waste of money, rivalled only by the St. Charles turned to Shrewsbury extension that bankrupted the Agency in 2010.
I haven't been there yet, but will check it out tomorrow. I hope those restrooms are really "public". At Riverview the toilets are operated by the privately owned snack shop. (Which means it is only open when they are open and you have to get a key- or at least you did last time I used it, which was actually about 2 years ago. Will check that out this week, too.)
Also, they need to put in sidewalks all the way along Pershall. The construction has made the already dangerous walk on Pershall between West Florissant and New Halls Ferry a nightmare. Especially at night.
http://www.masstransitmag.com/press_release/12180965/st-louis-metro-celebrates-completion-of-north-county-transit-center
As for John Nations comments that "five years ago we identified" etc... Stop patting yourself on the back. North City and County are the most transit dependent areas you service and you don't deserve congratulations for figuring that out. Your own data proves that. And that new Cortex Metrolink stop is a big waste of money, rivalled only by the St. Charles turned to Shrewsbury extension that bankrupted the Agency in 2010.
JOHN NATIONS NEEDS TO BE FIRED
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.
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.
Saturday, March 12, 2016
NEW WORLD, NEW REVOLUTION
"Voting and calling representatives won't do any good, we need a revolution! The whole system has to change!" I have said this myself in the past, and I have heard this from other people countless times.
"They would rather kill us all than change the system!" Said about the 1%.
I spent ten years in a revolutionary movement. I've never lived through a revolution, but I have talked to many people from Central and South America that have, and read about many revolutions in history.
Violent revolution is not a solution. It does change a lot of things in a seemingly "quick" fashion, but only because of years of work by a few individuals that were prepared for the moment of a mass uprising, and had a plan to take power. These people- for the most part- had their own agendas, and just ended up replacing the faces in power, and making cosmetic changes to the power structure. The masses of people have never been in power. There has never been a "people's government." (Iceland might be, but I haven't researched it enough yet. They did make a lot of changes without violence.)
And revolutions are wars, and wars are a nightmare. Everybody suffers. (A few psychopaths, like George H.W. Bush, prosper and thrive, and usually live to propagate more wars.)
There are 7 billion people on this planet, twice the population of all the civilizations before us, twice the population of the world in 1970, and we are running out of drinkable water on a global scale. Any mass death requires disposal of the dead, and treatment of wounded. We really don't have the resources for this. Our species can't afford to solve problems with violence anymore.
The American Revolution created a kind of Republic that is unique in the world. Freedom of and from religion, democratic mass voting (except for the President), the Constitution, all of these things were created after the revolution against the monarchy. People had to think up these new modes of government and bring them into existence. There was debate and disagreement, countless discussions.
None of the bloodshed and sacrifice of the revolution would have made a damn bit of difference without the work that came afterward.
For the first time in history, we could actually accomplish everything WITHOUT the violent uprising and war. We could create a whole new mode of government power, run by and for the people, without killing each other.
From roughly age 16 to age 26 I advocated armed revolution in the U.S. I sold newspapers and talked to people and went to demonstrations and organized conferences and rallies. I don't hold the same beliefs anymore but I learned a lot and talked to a lot of people about politics and things that really matter in their lives.
Back then (the 1980's) there was no internet and no cell phones. I remember trying to get information on the MOVE massacre in Philadelphia. I had to go to different libraries, look in card catalogs and at microfiche, track down people that had videotaped news segments. (Video machines were still very new then, and personal video cameras were cumbersome and heavy.) Then a leaflet had to be written and photocopied and distributed on the street in my spare time.
To talk to people I had to have all of the facts in my head or on a piece of paper in front me. Most people don't really want to know about things that are happening because it is disturbing. (Most people in our country have the luxury of avoiding political interaction with their government. This is very different than avoidance in poor countries where leisure time of any kind is very limited, and simply questioning politicians can mean imprisonment and/or death.)
Even in areas that were responsive and sympathetic - in the MOVE example we went to South Central Los Angeles- we were encountering people when they were out shopping, or running errands. They could buy the paper or take a leaflet, but to find out more, they had to keep in touch with us, calling the bookstore to find out when an action might be, or we had to call them.
It was a lot easier for people in power to lie and cover up dishonest and deadly actions. And many people who didn't want to be disturbed by cold, hard evidence of their governments misdeeds were able to dismiss the few people like me that they might encounter.
Research that took months and even years in 1985, can be found on line in minutes. Tens of petitions can be signed on line in an hour. Hundreds of elected officials can be emailed instantly in the time it took to write one letter and mail it.
A lot of people that say "there has to be revolution" really mean "I am not going to do anything until it gets so bad that I can't ignore it anymore." But a lot of people really don't think that anything can be done unless we overthrow the existing power structure, with violence. Which means they have to wait around until enough other people will revolt with them.
Which means things have to get really, really bad.
This is the first time in 35 years that I have felt like a revolutionary uprising might occur in the U.S.A. The only other time was in Los Angeles after the police that beat Rodney King were acquitted in 1992.
The revolt that is brewing is another sign of a new world. It's not the usual suspects this time. It's the Good Ole Boys that are taking over government buildings and hoarding guns and ammo. As someone said to me at a Ferguson protest "Equality feels like privilege or special treatment to the oppressed, and it feels like discrimination to the oppressor."
In Ferguson it was the mostly white Peacekeepers walking around with guns, not the Black Panthers. The paranoid delusions of the Dylan Roof's and the Donald Drumpf's are not completely paranoid or delusional. They are losing their privilege. America is not "Great" for racists anymore. The status quo no longer serves them first, because the rest of us demanded a more equitable and fair society.
The Armchair Revolution and Phoning It In are more effective now than an armed uprising. For the first time in history, we can make revolutionary change without making revolution. We can, literally, "call them on their bullshit." Make them answer to you and work for you.
Make this country great. Not "again", but for the first time. Your mind, your time, and your phone (or computer), are the only weapons you need.
"They would rather kill us all than change the system!" Said about the 1%.
I spent ten years in a revolutionary movement. I've never lived through a revolution, but I have talked to many people from Central and South America that have, and read about many revolutions in history.
Violent revolution is not a solution. It does change a lot of things in a seemingly "quick" fashion, but only because of years of work by a few individuals that were prepared for the moment of a mass uprising, and had a plan to take power. These people- for the most part- had their own agendas, and just ended up replacing the faces in power, and making cosmetic changes to the power structure. The masses of people have never been in power. There has never been a "people's government." (Iceland might be, but I haven't researched it enough yet. They did make a lot of changes without violence.)
And revolutions are wars, and wars are a nightmare. Everybody suffers. (A few psychopaths, like George H.W. Bush, prosper and thrive, and usually live to propagate more wars.)
There are 7 billion people on this planet, twice the population of all the civilizations before us, twice the population of the world in 1970, and we are running out of drinkable water on a global scale. Any mass death requires disposal of the dead, and treatment of wounded. We really don't have the resources for this. Our species can't afford to solve problems with violence anymore.
The American Revolution created a kind of Republic that is unique in the world. Freedom of and from religion, democratic mass voting (except for the President), the Constitution, all of these things were created after the revolution against the monarchy. People had to think up these new modes of government and bring them into existence. There was debate and disagreement, countless discussions.
None of the bloodshed and sacrifice of the revolution would have made a damn bit of difference without the work that came afterward.
For the first time in history, we could actually accomplish everything WITHOUT the violent uprising and war. We could create a whole new mode of government power, run by and for the people, without killing each other.
From roughly age 16 to age 26 I advocated armed revolution in the U.S. I sold newspapers and talked to people and went to demonstrations and organized conferences and rallies. I don't hold the same beliefs anymore but I learned a lot and talked to a lot of people about politics and things that really matter in their lives.
Back then (the 1980's) there was no internet and no cell phones. I remember trying to get information on the MOVE massacre in Philadelphia. I had to go to different libraries, look in card catalogs and at microfiche, track down people that had videotaped news segments. (Video machines were still very new then, and personal video cameras were cumbersome and heavy.) Then a leaflet had to be written and photocopied and distributed on the street in my spare time.
To talk to people I had to have all of the facts in my head or on a piece of paper in front me. Most people don't really want to know about things that are happening because it is disturbing. (Most people in our country have the luxury of avoiding political interaction with their government. This is very different than avoidance in poor countries where leisure time of any kind is very limited, and simply questioning politicians can mean imprisonment and/or death.)
Even in areas that were responsive and sympathetic - in the MOVE example we went to South Central Los Angeles- we were encountering people when they were out shopping, or running errands. They could buy the paper or take a leaflet, but to find out more, they had to keep in touch with us, calling the bookstore to find out when an action might be, or we had to call them.
It was a lot easier for people in power to lie and cover up dishonest and deadly actions. And many people who didn't want to be disturbed by cold, hard evidence of their governments misdeeds were able to dismiss the few people like me that they might encounter.
Research that took months and even years in 1985, can be found on line in minutes. Tens of petitions can be signed on line in an hour. Hundreds of elected officials can be emailed instantly in the time it took to write one letter and mail it.
A lot of people that say "there has to be revolution" really mean "I am not going to do anything until it gets so bad that I can't ignore it anymore." But a lot of people really don't think that anything can be done unless we overthrow the existing power structure, with violence. Which means they have to wait around until enough other people will revolt with them.
Which means things have to get really, really bad.
This is the first time in 35 years that I have felt like a revolutionary uprising might occur in the U.S.A. The only other time was in Los Angeles after the police that beat Rodney King were acquitted in 1992.
The revolt that is brewing is another sign of a new world. It's not the usual suspects this time. It's the Good Ole Boys that are taking over government buildings and hoarding guns and ammo. As someone said to me at a Ferguson protest "Equality feels like privilege or special treatment to the oppressed, and it feels like discrimination to the oppressor."
In Ferguson it was the mostly white Peacekeepers walking around with guns, not the Black Panthers. The paranoid delusions of the Dylan Roof's and the Donald Drumpf's are not completely paranoid or delusional. They are losing their privilege. America is not "Great" for racists anymore. The status quo no longer serves them first, because the rest of us demanded a more equitable and fair society.
The Armchair Revolution and Phoning It In are more effective now than an armed uprising. For the first time in history, we can make revolutionary change without making revolution. We can, literally, "call them on their bullshit." Make them answer to you and work for you.
Make this country great. Not "again", but for the first time. Your mind, your time, and your phone (or computer), are the only weapons you need.
THE OLD WAYS OF PROTESTING ARE NOT EFFECTIVE IN MODERN TIMES
In the Political Activist's Guide To St. Louis ( pag2stl.blogspot.com) I say that violent revolution won't work in a world of 7 billion people and the kinds of weapons that police and the military have now. We live in a world now where if we are going to survive and thrive, we need people to begin actively running their governments. Mao once said "all power comes from the barrel of a gun". That has to change. Violence just changes the faces in power, not the power itself.
Protests and counter protests, in the past, served to bring large groups of like minded people together, to raise energy, and to spread messages through the media coverage. That's the plus side, and those things are still effective.
But large protests and counter protests often end up as screaming matches, the arrests only benefit the police and courts, and the real work of educating the general public and making material changes still falls to a few dedicated people who do the solitary work of calls, petitions, education, etc, for weeks, months, years, after the protests are over and most of the people have returned to business as usual.
(The upcoming RNC counter protest in Cleveland bought the police a bunch of fancy riot gear and big budget for the summer: http://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/uncucumbered/cleveland_prepares_for_republican_convention_riots?recruiter_id=17 )
Instead of counter-protesting when Drumpf or the KKK is having their rally, do it the day or night before, and go to the people that aren't in the KKK. You will reach more people about your concerns, and likely get the same or more media attention. And little chance of getting arrested and creating revenue for the cops through arrest fees and fines. (If you do get arrested PLEASE don't just take the plea and pay the fine, GO TO COURT and challenge everything you can. Even if you lose you will do the First Amendment a great favour.)
Instead of clumping together and focusing on the idiots that aren't going to change their minds no matter what you say, not too mention making it easier for the police to arrest you, stretch out side by side on the sidewalks, single file. You will still be protesting, but you will reach more people, and will have time to talk to them because you aren't shouting at the idiots.
I am NOT criticizing people that demonstrate, or shout at the cops or counter protesters (during Ferguson the police were the counter protesters). It's just that it is not effective anymore. We saw very clearly in Ferguson that they just send in the tear gas and jack up all the fines.
To change things means we need to protest every day, or every week, or every month, to the people in power. We have to educate the people that aren't paying attention to the issues on how the issues effect them.
For example, if all of the people that counter protested at the Drumpf rally yesterday had held the counter protest Thursday night at rush hour, on the sidewalk, single file, and then the next day during the rally called the Drumpf campaign headquarters here in St Louis, nationally, and also called local representatives and media, and told them why they think Drumpf is dangerous, it would have had greater impact. It wouldn't have made the same thrilling headline news of bloodied protesters and Drumpf drones screaming "fuck you whore" at counter protesters, but it would have had greater impact on the people who are on the fence or who aren't involved in politics at all.
And in Drumpf's case, it would have been a bummer for him and his supporters. They WANT a fight. We already know that. That's all he talks about. And they love being vilified. Being met with "crickets" would have been a let-down for Drumpf and his drones.
As someone who has worked for many years as a receptionist, switchboard operator, desk clerk, etc, I can tell you that the phone is one of the most effective tools of disruption to "business as usual". And it is invisible to anyone outside of the office. An overload of phone calls puts massive stress on any government or business entity. There is no nightly show that is going to run footage of Drumpf's office staff answering angry calls (unless it shuts the phone lines down).
No heroism to bask in on the nightly news, no vilification to uphold, no cross for the martyr to bear publicly.
For example, 35 people were arrested yesterday. A phone "demonstration" by 35 people for 6 hours, taking in to account breaks for the bathroom, etc, time waiting on hold, etc, could still have made approximately 20 calls each an hour, which totals 4200 phone calls. This would have taken extra time to prepare 120 short "scripts"- one for each call, or compiling 120 places to call with one script.
So- a list of 120 - the Mayor, the Governor, state and national congress members, Republican party hq's, Drumpf's headquarters, the board members of Peabody Opera House, the local and national media, etc- with the same message "I oppose Donald Trump, do you stand with me? etc". Which means 120 places getting 35 phone calls each. Or 120 places for each caller- Drumpf's business entities, elected officials, etc- with a tailored message for each place. 35 extra calls over a 6 hour period is a pain in the ass. Even if you are paid employee, and a lot of the people at the Drumpf offices are volunteers. Even the most hard-core believer would get worn out if this happened every time Drumpf spoke somewhere. Especially if the calls asked a lot of questions and requested detailed answers in a calm way.
Getting Drumpf's staff to quit is more effective than yelling at his followers. Convincing his fellow Republicans to come out publicly against him is almost too easy these days. And making Peaody Opera House sorry they booked the event would be a cakewalk. And you don't end up in jail and paying out money to the courts.
"Hi I am a registered voter and I was wondering if you could detail for me what era in American History your candidate is referring to when he says 'again?' When was America great in your candidate's opinion, and why was it great then? What specifically does he have planned to return our land to -this time in the past considered great-?"
(I took at look at the Drumpf supporters in St. Louis and I assure you that during Reagan's presidency these people were saying the same things they say now- replace "Muslim" with "Iranian". Remember the Moral Majority? Phyllis Schlafley hasn't written a new speech in 40 years. Even from a Drumpf drones' point of view there is no "great" to go back to. And it is not that hard to manipulate a conversation to get them to admit it. These people are the ultimate haters. And most lack the critical thinking skills that their candidate lacks as well. Try it sometime, it is fun. Ask leading questions, but frame them in their rhetoric.)
"Can you explain how your candidate's First Amendment rights were violated? I would like to see the First Amendment get a more thorough discussion in his speeches. What will he do to protect Freedom of Speech?" (Yes, really. Drumpf said his First Amendment rights were violated in Chicago last night: http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2016/03/12/3759418/no-one-is-violating-trump-free-speech/)
"What is your candidate's stance on the TPP? Can you explain the TPP to me and how it will effect our economy for the better?"
"Your candidate says he is millionaire, but his tax returns say differently. He isn't evading his taxes or lying about his income is he? Can you explain the discrepeacy?"
"What does your candidate have to say about the Monroe Doctrine?"
"Many African slaves were Muslims, is your candidate going to deport anyone who has a Muslim ancestor?"
These people don't know shit about history or politics. Make them research the answers. Make them think.
I decided not to go to the Drumpf protest, but I was very proud of St. Louis to see that many people did, even though I am sorry that many were arrested. I am suggesting though, that courageous, motivated activists channel their energy differently. MAKE HEADACHES FOR DRUMPF, NOT HEADLINES.
Protests and counter protests, in the past, served to bring large groups of like minded people together, to raise energy, and to spread messages through the media coverage. That's the plus side, and those things are still effective.
But large protests and counter protests often end up as screaming matches, the arrests only benefit the police and courts, and the real work of educating the general public and making material changes still falls to a few dedicated people who do the solitary work of calls, petitions, education, etc, for weeks, months, years, after the protests are over and most of the people have returned to business as usual.
(The upcoming RNC counter protest in Cleveland bought the police a bunch of fancy riot gear and big budget for the summer: http://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/uncucumbered/cleveland_prepares_for_republican_convention_riots?recruiter_id=17 )
Instead of counter-protesting when Drumpf or the KKK is having their rally, do it the day or night before, and go to the people that aren't in the KKK. You will reach more people about your concerns, and likely get the same or more media attention. And little chance of getting arrested and creating revenue for the cops through arrest fees and fines. (If you do get arrested PLEASE don't just take the plea and pay the fine, GO TO COURT and challenge everything you can. Even if you lose you will do the First Amendment a great favour.)
Instead of clumping together and focusing on the idiots that aren't going to change their minds no matter what you say, not too mention making it easier for the police to arrest you, stretch out side by side on the sidewalks, single file. You will still be protesting, but you will reach more people, and will have time to talk to them because you aren't shouting at the idiots.
I am NOT criticizing people that demonstrate, or shout at the cops or counter protesters (during Ferguson the police were the counter protesters). It's just that it is not effective anymore. We saw very clearly in Ferguson that they just send in the tear gas and jack up all the fines.
To change things means we need to protest every day, or every week, or every month, to the people in power. We have to educate the people that aren't paying attention to the issues on how the issues effect them.
For example, if all of the people that counter protested at the Drumpf rally yesterday had held the counter protest Thursday night at rush hour, on the sidewalk, single file, and then the next day during the rally called the Drumpf campaign headquarters here in St Louis, nationally, and also called local representatives and media, and told them why they think Drumpf is dangerous, it would have had greater impact. It wouldn't have made the same thrilling headline news of bloodied protesters and Drumpf drones screaming "fuck you whore" at counter protesters, but it would have had greater impact on the people who are on the fence or who aren't involved in politics at all.
And in Drumpf's case, it would have been a bummer for him and his supporters. They WANT a fight. We already know that. That's all he talks about. And they love being vilified. Being met with "crickets" would have been a let-down for Drumpf and his drones.
As someone who has worked for many years as a receptionist, switchboard operator, desk clerk, etc, I can tell you that the phone is one of the most effective tools of disruption to "business as usual". And it is invisible to anyone outside of the office. An overload of phone calls puts massive stress on any government or business entity. There is no nightly show that is going to run footage of Drumpf's office staff answering angry calls (unless it shuts the phone lines down).
No heroism to bask in on the nightly news, no vilification to uphold, no cross for the martyr to bear publicly.
For example, 35 people were arrested yesterday. A phone "demonstration" by 35 people for 6 hours, taking in to account breaks for the bathroom, etc, time waiting on hold, etc, could still have made approximately 20 calls each an hour, which totals 4200 phone calls. This would have taken extra time to prepare 120 short "scripts"- one for each call, or compiling 120 places to call with one script.
So- a list of 120 - the Mayor, the Governor, state and national congress members, Republican party hq's, Drumpf's headquarters, the board members of Peabody Opera House, the local and national media, etc- with the same message "I oppose Donald Trump, do you stand with me? etc". Which means 120 places getting 35 phone calls each. Or 120 places for each caller- Drumpf's business entities, elected officials, etc- with a tailored message for each place. 35 extra calls over a 6 hour period is a pain in the ass. Even if you are paid employee, and a lot of the people at the Drumpf offices are volunteers. Even the most hard-core believer would get worn out if this happened every time Drumpf spoke somewhere. Especially if the calls asked a lot of questions and requested detailed answers in a calm way.
Getting Drumpf's staff to quit is more effective than yelling at his followers. Convincing his fellow Republicans to come out publicly against him is almost too easy these days. And making Peaody Opera House sorry they booked the event would be a cakewalk. And you don't end up in jail and paying out money to the courts.
"Hi I am a registered voter and I was wondering if you could detail for me what era in American History your candidate is referring to when he says 'again?' When was America great in your candidate's opinion, and why was it great then? What specifically does he have planned to return our land to -this time in the past considered great-?"
(I took at look at the Drumpf supporters in St. Louis and I assure you that during Reagan's presidency these people were saying the same things they say now- replace "Muslim" with "Iranian". Remember the Moral Majority? Phyllis Schlafley hasn't written a new speech in 40 years. Even from a Drumpf drones' point of view there is no "great" to go back to. And it is not that hard to manipulate a conversation to get them to admit it. These people are the ultimate haters. And most lack the critical thinking skills that their candidate lacks as well. Try it sometime, it is fun. Ask leading questions, but frame them in their rhetoric.)
"Can you explain how your candidate's First Amendment rights were violated? I would like to see the First Amendment get a more thorough discussion in his speeches. What will he do to protect Freedom of Speech?" (Yes, really. Drumpf said his First Amendment rights were violated in Chicago last night: http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2016/03/12/3759418/no-one-is-violating-trump-free-speech/)
"What is your candidate's stance on the TPP? Can you explain the TPP to me and how it will effect our economy for the better?"
"Your candidate says he is millionaire, but his tax returns say differently. He isn't evading his taxes or lying about his income is he? Can you explain the discrepeacy?"
"What does your candidate have to say about the Monroe Doctrine?"
"Many African slaves were Muslims, is your candidate going to deport anyone who has a Muslim ancestor?"
These people don't know shit about history or politics. Make them research the answers. Make them think.
I decided not to go to the Drumpf protest, but I was very proud of St. Louis to see that many people did, even though I am sorry that many were arrested. I am suggesting though, that courageous, motivated activists channel their energy differently. MAKE HEADACHES FOR DRUMPF, NOT HEADLINES.
Friday, March 11, 2016
QUESTIONS FOR SAINT LOUIS TEENS
WHAT
DO YOU NEED
TO
CHANGE THE WORLD?
What
would you like to learn that you are not studying now? (Dance,
music, acting, filmmaking, astronomy, skating, sculpture, clothing
design, baking, ???)
What
do you think would make school better for you?
What
would make your neighbourhood better for you?
What
do you need in your life that you do not have now?
Do
you feel like you have a meaningful future ahead of you? If not, what
do you think needs to change?
Do
you feel that you have something to contribute to the world?
Do
you take pride in yourself? In your school? In your community? If
not, what would need to happen or change for you to feel proud?
What
changes would you like to make in your life? What do you need to
make those changes?
Is
there anywhere in St. Louis that you would like to go that you have
not been?
Anywhere
in Missouri that you would like to visit? In the U.S.? In the World?
Are
there enough after-school and weekend activities and venues for Teens
in St. Louis?
What
sort of activities or social events or clubs do you think would
reduce crime and gang violence in schools and neighbourhoods?
What
do you think would prevent kids from dropping out of school?
Answer
these questions to yourself first. Be as detailed as you can in your
answers. If you have the courage and the desire, write the answers
down, or make a video or audio recording, and share them. Share them
with your teacher, or an elected official, or church or community
group, or Imagine a Better St Louis or similar organization.
Every
great invention, all of our technology, every song, every movie,
every social change, everything
in human civilization began with a thought.
Don't
be afraid to ask for what you need. Youth are the future, and the
world looks to you for leadership. Begin shaping your world now, by
communicating what you need, and by sharing your solutions to the
problems in your community.
“May
your choices reflect your hopes, not
your fears.”
–
Nelson
Mandela
"If
one is lucky, a solitary fantasy can totally transform one million
realities." -- Maya
Angelou
If you want to print this as a leaflet and share it (it's two sided, half a page each side)
Thursday, March 10, 2016
SOLUTIONS NOT COP OUTS
EDIT: Please see this post, too:
http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2016/03/questions-for-saint-louis-teens.html
Instead of more cops, the same tired, ineffective response, over and over again, how about real solutions?
There are the obvious- put money into jobs and schools, etc.
But also GO ASK THESE KIDS WHAT THEY NEED.
http://www.kmov.com/story/31428741/group-of-juveniles-assault-rob-2-men-in-central-west-end
http://www.kmov.com/story/31431838/police-teens-responsible-for-recent-crimes-in-u-city-are-from-east-st-louis
And then ask all the other kids, too.
Don't just stop with kids, ask every single person that ends up in trouble with the law.
Is there anything you would like to be doing with your time? Is there any activities that you would want to do with your free time? (Sing, Dance, Make movies, fly a kite, run a marathon?)
What would you need to be able to do that? (A ride, lessons, a video camera?)
Do you feel you have a meaningful life and a future ahead of you?
What would you need to feel that way?
Instead of more cops, ask every kid in every junior high and high school these questions. There are actual solutions to these problems.
(The job of everyone in prison should be to answer these questions, too. Just asking these questions would bring about results, even if the person did not answer out loud.)
Also, Metro can barely pay the interest on its' bond debt with payments they get from St Louis County Prop A. Steve Stenger says more cops on Metrolink will be covered with Prop A. Please ask him how that is possible? Please ask how much of that money goes to Metro already and what do they spend it on? St. Louis really can't afford anymore bonds.
http://www.kmov.com/story/31424328/county-executive-pushes-to-double-number-of-officers-on-metrolink-lines
Or cops. More cops almost never reduce crime. In fact, more cops usually means more crime.
Solve the real issues. Make real changes.
http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2016/03/questions-for-saint-louis-teens.html
Instead of more cops, the same tired, ineffective response, over and over again, how about real solutions?
There are the obvious- put money into jobs and schools, etc.
But also GO ASK THESE KIDS WHAT THEY NEED.
http://www.kmov.com/story/31428741/group-of-juveniles-assault-rob-2-men-in-central-west-end
http://www.kmov.com/story/31431838/police-teens-responsible-for-recent-crimes-in-u-city-are-from-east-st-louis
And then ask all the other kids, too.
Don't just stop with kids, ask every single person that ends up in trouble with the law.
Is there anything you would like to be doing with your time? Is there any activities that you would want to do with your free time? (Sing, Dance, Make movies, fly a kite, run a marathon?)
What would you need to be able to do that? (A ride, lessons, a video camera?)
Do you feel you have a meaningful life and a future ahead of you?
What would you need to feel that way?
Instead of more cops, ask every kid in every junior high and high school these questions. There are actual solutions to these problems.
(The job of everyone in prison should be to answer these questions, too. Just asking these questions would bring about results, even if the person did not answer out loud.)
Also, Metro can barely pay the interest on its' bond debt with payments they get from St Louis County Prop A. Steve Stenger says more cops on Metrolink will be covered with Prop A. Please ask him how that is possible? Please ask how much of that money goes to Metro already and what do they spend it on? St. Louis really can't afford anymore bonds.
http://www.kmov.com/story/31424328/county-executive-pushes-to-double-number-of-officers-on-metrolink-lines
Or cops. More cops almost never reduce crime. In fact, more cops usually means more crime.
Solve the real issues. Make real changes.
Tuesday, March 8, 2016
FIRST ISSUE OF THE POLITICAL ACTIVIST'S GUIDE TO SAINT LOUIS
The first issue is the template for change. Future issues will focus on specific issues and power structures (including Metro/Bi-State, of course).
http://pag2stl.blogspot.com/
http://pag2stl.blogspot.com/
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
Sunday, November 15, 2015
CHANGES TO OPTINSTL COMING
It is shocking to me how many hits the posts about Ferguson last year still get. (And how many errors and early information that wasn't verified I posted. Will do edits with "the cross out line" where I find those errors.) If you think a little blog on blogger is a wasted effort, I am here to assure you it is not. If you have something to say, start a blog.
Attached to this blog is one on Ferguson, and also another one Occupy Your Life (I think I had to spell it occupyurlife in the blogger url). I am going to moving posts that aren't about transportation to those sites (I'll leave the post with a link to the new location). I need to get this blog back on track about Metro and public transportation in St. Louis.
I am also working on a printed newsletter and/or "zine" for the STL area, and getting actual domain names and websites, not just Google blogs. Also in the early part of next year there will be OPTINSTL public actions- meeting places to conduct mass phone-ins, sign petitions, etc.
I fund all of my activities with my own money, and I don't want to get into advertising or sales. So things can be slow. But if you agree with anything you read here, as I say in the copyright blurb, go ahead and reprint it. You don't even have to give me credit (although if you try to pass off exact quotes as yours and someone searches, they will be directed here- so if you are selling something or writing a paper, better cover your tracks).
I think the most important post on this blog is I WANT TO LIVE IN A CITY WITH GREAT PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION: http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/04/i-want-to-live-in-city-with-great.html
I hope you do, too, and I hope you will be patient while I try to get things sorted. In the meantime, call Metro everytime you ride, and make the pledge "5 For 11" - to do five additional actions every month for the social change of your choice, during this year.
Attached to this blog is one on Ferguson, and also another one Occupy Your Life (I think I had to spell it occupyurlife in the blogger url). I am going to moving posts that aren't about transportation to those sites (I'll leave the post with a link to the new location). I need to get this blog back on track about Metro and public transportation in St. Louis.
I am also working on a printed newsletter and/or "zine" for the STL area, and getting actual domain names and websites, not just Google blogs. Also in the early part of next year there will be OPTINSTL public actions- meeting places to conduct mass phone-ins, sign petitions, etc.
I fund all of my activities with my own money, and I don't want to get into advertising or sales. So things can be slow. But if you agree with anything you read here, as I say in the copyright blurb, go ahead and reprint it. You don't even have to give me credit (although if you try to pass off exact quotes as yours and someone searches, they will be directed here- so if you are selling something or writing a paper, better cover your tracks).
I think the most important post on this blog is I WANT TO LIVE IN A CITY WITH GREAT PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION: http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/04/i-want-to-live-in-city-with-great.html
I hope you do, too, and I hope you will be patient while I try to get things sorted. In the meantime, call Metro everytime you ride, and make the pledge "5 For 11" - to do five additional actions every month for the social change of your choice, during this year.
Tuesday, November 10, 2015
FIGHT FOR 15
Even if you can't be out in the streets today with the striking fast food workers, you can still support a livable wage for all workers.
Call your Congress Person. (Call, don't email or write.) Make sure to tell them if you are a registered voter, and your name, address, etc. They've never called me back, and neither MO (R) Roy Blunt (573-334-7044) or MO (D) Claire McCaskill (573-651-0964) has ever added me to their mailing list, even though I have called and emailed with my address. But part of this process is to tie up their phone lines and time, and make them at least pretend to listen to their constituents.
Call the locals too- your mayor, state representative, etc. It's important to jam the phone lines as much as possible on this issue. Remember, the person answering the phones might be making minimum wage, too.
Call the Corporate Headquarters of Fast Food and Retail Giants:
McDonalds 1-800-244-6227
Burger King 1 866 394 2493
Taco Bell 1-800-822-6235
Jack In the Box 1-858-522-4716
KFC 1-800-225-5532
Fortune 500 list of top corporations in the US
National Retailers list of top 100
Wal-Mart 1-800-925-6278
CVS 1-800-746-7287
Apple 1-800-692-7753
Kroger 1-800-576-4377
Walgreens 1-888-782-8443
Target 1-800-440-0680
Lowes 1-800-445-6937
Home Depot 1-800-466-3337
Amazon 1-866-486-2360
Best Buy 1-877-415-3487
Safeway 1-877-723-3929
Family Dollar 1-866-377-6420
When you call you can simply say:
"I support a living wage for all workers in the USA. Raise the minimum wage to $15. And I believe all workers should have the right to form a union."
But you don't have to stop there. (And if you are reading this after 10 November 2015, you can call anytime.) You can also say:
"I support raising the minimum salary requirement for exempt employees to $131,000 a year." (Note: after doing the math I realized $75k is too low, if you read previous posts where I was supporting that. I think that figure came from a proposal by Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. $75k is still too low.
168 X $15 = $2520. Yearly = $131,040. See below.)
Exempt employee salary minimum is currently $23,660 a year, or $455 a week. That is what McDonalds pays their store managers. In a state like Missouri, with almost no workers rights, that means that McD's can legally require that employee to be available for work 168 hours a week, with no breaks allotted for sleep or time off.
They can also deduct up to half the weeks pay if the exempt employee is unavailable for work for PART OF one day. (Read the FLSA exempt employee rules here: http://www.dol.gov/whd/flsa/ )
168 hours in a week X $7.65 per hour MO minimum wage = $1285.20 per week, which is a yearly salary of $66,830.40
This shouldn't even be legal right now. If an exempt employee is REQUIRED to always be available for work, then they should be paid minimum wage for every hour of the week.
(Yes, that's right, they don't have let you take any breaks in Missouri, even to go to the bathroom. There is a state mandate for 6 hours of night relief for sleep in nursing homes and residential care facilities where the manager lives on the premises, but the employer can stipulate a waiver of that in the employment agreement.)
You can also bring up Executive to Worker salary ratios. Ask "What is the average pay of a McDonald's worker? What is the average pay- with bonuses- of McDonald's executives?"
Ask them how much their corporation pays in taxes to the US government every year? Ask if they have actually paid that amount or if the payment has been deferred?
Ask them what their company's net profits were? How many minimum wage hours their company paid in that same year. If your calculator can handle the numbers do the math. IE, total non exempt, minimum wage employee hours paid (that means all the hours worked by all the minimum wage employees) times the additional $7.50 per hour with the wage increase = a number probably too big for a calculator. Then subtract that number from the $5-29 Billion in net profits McD's made in 2014.
Remind them that the minimum wage hasn't not increased with inflation since 1970. Worker productivity has increased and with that factor the minimum wage should really be closer to $20. Remind them that what has increased since 1970 is corporate profits, executive salaries and bonuses, and credit card debt. Remind them they are paying $17-20 in other countries like Denmark and Australia. Ask them why American workers don't deserve a livable wage?
And don't let anyone get away with "well those people should know that is a character building job" or "those people should get a college degree and a real job." Fast food and retail are the biggest job markets, and are in every neighborhood. If these jobs are so unimportant why are there so many of them. If we all become nurses and lawyers and secretaries, will we stop eating fast food? Who will serve it and cook it?
These big corporations get subsidies for development and construction from state and local governments. Local governments give them sales tax breaks for moving in and "creating jobs". Local retailers and restaurants do not get those tax breaks or development funds.
Retailers like WalMart make huge profits from food stamp sales, and many of their full time workers are on public assistance. Don't like welfare? Raise the wage.
Some pink and white collar workers that make $15 an hour think it is unfair that fast food workers will receive the same pay. It's likely that other wages will increase once the minimum wage goes up. And don't forget, this is not just about fast food. This is about nursing assistants, home health workers, 911 dispatchers in many states. Pink and white collar workers, please be honest and ask yourself some questions. Is the only thing that makes your $15 an hour job worthwhile is that you are making more than the current minimum wage? And the fear that you will be a minimum wage employee if your company doesn't raise your pay after the wage increase?
Shouldn't you be fighting for more too? Better wages, more benefits, unions and workers cooperatives. The entire relationship between employers and employees has to change. It cannot be "corporate profits over people" or "shareholders over employees."
If a business can't survive without paying poverty wages maybe that business should close. Many small businesses are just as bad WalMart and Amazon and Exxon in terms of what they pay versus what they keep for the executives. And small businesses generally have fewer benefits, and close more frequently.
Workers need to take more control of the workplace. Hiring needs to be transparent on both sides. Employers should be drug tested, credit checked, and payroll accounts should be transparent. Employers should have more qualifications than simply having the money to start a business. They should have to demonstrate that they know what they are doing!
Take the first step today and make some calls! Demand a better world for all of us! Demand a working relationship with your employer! Demand a living wage!
Anyone who works full time deserves a livable wage. $15 IS the minimum wage. It's just not THE LAW... yet. These companies are not going to give it to us. We have to demand it.
Call your Congress Person. (Call, don't email or write.) Make sure to tell them if you are a registered voter, and your name, address, etc. They've never called me back, and neither MO (R) Roy Blunt (573-334-7044) or MO (D) Claire McCaskill (573-651-0964) has ever added me to their mailing list, even though I have called and emailed with my address. But part of this process is to tie up their phone lines and time, and make them at least pretend to listen to their constituents.
Call the locals too- your mayor, state representative, etc. It's important to jam the phone lines as much as possible on this issue. Remember, the person answering the phones might be making minimum wage, too.
Call the Corporate Headquarters of Fast Food and Retail Giants:
McDonalds 1-800-244-6227
Burger King 1 866 394 2493
Taco Bell 1-800-822-6235
Jack In the Box 1-858-522-4716
KFC 1-800-225-5532
Fortune 500 list of top corporations in the US
National Retailers list of top 100
Wal-Mart 1-800-925-6278
CVS 1-800-746-7287
Apple 1-800-692-7753
Kroger 1-800-576-4377
Walgreens 1-888-782-8443
Target 1-800-440-0680
Lowes 1-800-445-6937
Home Depot 1-800-466-3337
Amazon 1-866-486-2360
Best Buy 1-877-415-3487
Safeway 1-877-723-3929
Family Dollar 1-866-377-6420
When you call you can simply say:
"I support a living wage for all workers in the USA. Raise the minimum wage to $15. And I believe all workers should have the right to form a union."
But you don't have to stop there. (And if you are reading this after 10 November 2015, you can call anytime.) You can also say:
"I support raising the minimum salary requirement for exempt employees to $131,000 a year." (Note: after doing the math I realized $75k is too low, if you read previous posts where I was supporting that. I think that figure came from a proposal by Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. $75k is still too low.
168 X $15 = $2520. Yearly = $131,040. See below.)
Exempt employee salary minimum is currently $23,660 a year, or $455 a week. That is what McDonalds pays their store managers. In a state like Missouri, with almost no workers rights, that means that McD's can legally require that employee to be available for work 168 hours a week, with no breaks allotted for sleep or time off.
They can also deduct up to half the weeks pay if the exempt employee is unavailable for work for PART OF one day. (Read the FLSA exempt employee rules here: http://www.dol.gov/whd/flsa/ )
168 hours in a week X $7.65 per hour MO minimum wage = $1285.20 per week, which is a yearly salary of $66,830.40
This shouldn't even be legal right now. If an exempt employee is REQUIRED to always be available for work, then they should be paid minimum wage for every hour of the week.
(Yes, that's right, they don't have let you take any breaks in Missouri, even to go to the bathroom. There is a state mandate for 6 hours of night relief for sleep in nursing homes and residential care facilities where the manager lives on the premises, but the employer can stipulate a waiver of that in the employment agreement.)
You can also bring up Executive to Worker salary ratios. Ask "What is the average pay of a McDonald's worker? What is the average pay- with bonuses- of McDonald's executives?"
Ask them how much their corporation pays in taxes to the US government every year? Ask if they have actually paid that amount or if the payment has been deferred?
Ask them what their company's net profits were? How many minimum wage hours their company paid in that same year. If your calculator can handle the numbers do the math. IE, total non exempt, minimum wage employee hours paid (that means all the hours worked by all the minimum wage employees) times the additional $7.50 per hour with the wage increase = a number probably too big for a calculator. Then subtract that number from the $5-29 Billion in net profits McD's made in 2014.
Remind them that the minimum wage hasn't not increased with inflation since 1970. Worker productivity has increased and with that factor the minimum wage should really be closer to $20. Remind them that what has increased since 1970 is corporate profits, executive salaries and bonuses, and credit card debt. Remind them they are paying $17-20 in other countries like Denmark and Australia. Ask them why American workers don't deserve a livable wage?
And don't let anyone get away with "well those people should know that is a character building job" or "those people should get a college degree and a real job." Fast food and retail are the biggest job markets, and are in every neighborhood. If these jobs are so unimportant why are there so many of them. If we all become nurses and lawyers and secretaries, will we stop eating fast food? Who will serve it and cook it?
These big corporations get subsidies for development and construction from state and local governments. Local governments give them sales tax breaks for moving in and "creating jobs". Local retailers and restaurants do not get those tax breaks or development funds.
Retailers like WalMart make huge profits from food stamp sales, and many of their full time workers are on public assistance. Don't like welfare? Raise the wage.
Some pink and white collar workers that make $15 an hour think it is unfair that fast food workers will receive the same pay. It's likely that other wages will increase once the minimum wage goes up. And don't forget, this is not just about fast food. This is about nursing assistants, home health workers, 911 dispatchers in many states. Pink and white collar workers, please be honest and ask yourself some questions. Is the only thing that makes your $15 an hour job worthwhile is that you are making more than the current minimum wage? And the fear that you will be a minimum wage employee if your company doesn't raise your pay after the wage increase?
Shouldn't you be fighting for more too? Better wages, more benefits, unions and workers cooperatives. The entire relationship between employers and employees has to change. It cannot be "corporate profits over people" or "shareholders over employees."
If a business can't survive without paying poverty wages maybe that business should close. Many small businesses are just as bad WalMart and Amazon and Exxon in terms of what they pay versus what they keep for the executives. And small businesses generally have fewer benefits, and close more frequently.
Workers need to take more control of the workplace. Hiring needs to be transparent on both sides. Employers should be drug tested, credit checked, and payroll accounts should be transparent. Employers should have more qualifications than simply having the money to start a business. They should have to demonstrate that they know what they are doing!
Take the first step today and make some calls! Demand a better world for all of us! Demand a working relationship with your employer! Demand a living wage!
Anyone who works full time deserves a livable wage. $15 IS the minimum wage. It's just not THE LAW... yet. These companies are not going to give it to us. We have to demand it.
Thursday, November 5, 2015
FIVE FOR ELEVEN
Thanks to the movie V For Vendetta, The Fifth of November is
no longer just a bonfire day in England. It is a day for social protest
and action, and the "Million Mask March".
To quote the character V:
People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.
They don't fear masses of us in the street, we've seen that they just send in the teargas and rubber bullets. I'm not saying we should stop protesting in public. But we need more action, and we need effective day to day actions on a wide scale, that we can maintain for years. In fact, we need to make political action part of our day to day lives.
You know: brush teeth, wash face, call the Mayor's office...
We have to disrupt the ordinary, day to day lives of people in power, in annoying legal ways. Calling them constantly while they are at work, showing up at their meetings and in their courtrooms and watching what they are doing. Asking them well-informed questions and demanding answers.
Make a pledge today to make 5 significant actions for social change each month for 11 months in the next year. (Give yourself a one month break.) If enough people did this, we could have a literal "armchair revolution".
Here are some suggestions:
REGISTER TO VOTE
If you aren't registered to vote, register. Voting is less important than being than being a registered voter.
CALL ELECTED OFFICIALS ON A REGULAR BASIS
Voting is less important than calling or writing your elected officials on a regular basis about the things that are important to you.
VOTE IN LOCAL ELECTIONS
There are approximately 220 million people eligible to vote, and only 150 million are registered. Of registered voters, only about half of those 150 million actually vote in Presidential elections! As was demonstrated in 2000, the popular vote does not elect the President. The electoral college does.
And the people that make the most difference in your day to day life are your local leaders. Voter turn out in local elections is often less than 20%.
It is a lot easier to change things from the bottom up, than vice versa.
LEARN YOUR LOCAL ELECTED JUDGES
More important than voting for political leaders is the who is in the judicial system. Learn about the judges on the ballot in your next local election.
RAISE THE WAGE
Join the nationwide Fight for $15 an hour minimum wage. Do the research. It will not be the end of small businesses. It will not be the end of corporate jobs. The minimum wage hasn't raised with inflation since 1970. What has risen is corporate profits, executive salaries and bonuses, and credit card debt.
And we need to raise the "exempt" wage. Right now employers in Missouri can require an exempt employee to be available 168 hours a week (that's the entire week) for $455 per week, if the exempt employee supervises 2 or more employees for 80 or more hours per week.
For example, if you are the live in administrator at a small residential care facility or half way house that is "24 hour awake" care. The state requires that of those 80 hours, 42 are required 6 hours a night for the administrator to sleep. The other 38 hours will generally be support during the day with cleaning, cooking and medication paperwork. If the exempt employee takes a full day off, half the weekly pay can be legally deducted. $455 a week is not even minimum wage for 168 hours worth of work.
LEARN YOUR LOCAL ECONOMY
Learn how your local government is spending tax money. Are the same contractors used again and again? Is there nepotism and "legacy" hiring in your local government offices and agencies?
INCREASE THE AMOUNT OF PETITIONS YOU SIGN
Signing on line petitions and then sharing on social media is a good way to get dialogue started, and to show visible support for the issues that matter to you.
You have the power to change the world. Make the pledge: 5 for 11.
Happy V Day! #5NOV
OPTINSTL will be back on blogging and taking it to the streets about public transportation in St. Louis toward the end of the year. Absence on social media does not mean absence from the issues!
To quote the character V:
People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.
They don't fear masses of us in the street, we've seen that they just send in the teargas and rubber bullets. I'm not saying we should stop protesting in public. But we need more action, and we need effective day to day actions on a wide scale, that we can maintain for years. In fact, we need to make political action part of our day to day lives.
You know: brush teeth, wash face, call the Mayor's office...
We have to disrupt the ordinary, day to day lives of people in power, in annoying legal ways. Calling them constantly while they are at work, showing up at their meetings and in their courtrooms and watching what they are doing. Asking them well-informed questions and demanding answers.
Make a pledge today to make 5 significant actions for social change each month for 11 months in the next year. (Give yourself a one month break.) If enough people did this, we could have a literal "armchair revolution".
Here are some suggestions:
REGISTER TO VOTE
If you aren't registered to vote, register. Voting is less important than being than being a registered voter.
CALL ELECTED OFFICIALS ON A REGULAR BASIS
Voting is less important than calling or writing your elected officials on a regular basis about the things that are important to you.
VOTE IN LOCAL ELECTIONS
There are approximately 220 million people eligible to vote, and only 150 million are registered. Of registered voters, only about half of those 150 million actually vote in Presidential elections! As was demonstrated in 2000, the popular vote does not elect the President. The electoral college does.
And the people that make the most difference in your day to day life are your local leaders. Voter turn out in local elections is often less than 20%.
It is a lot easier to change things from the bottom up, than vice versa.
LEARN YOUR LOCAL ELECTED JUDGES
More important than voting for political leaders is the who is in the judicial system. Learn about the judges on the ballot in your next local election.
RAISE THE WAGE
Join the nationwide Fight for $15 an hour minimum wage. Do the research. It will not be the end of small businesses. It will not be the end of corporate jobs. The minimum wage hasn't raised with inflation since 1970. What has risen is corporate profits, executive salaries and bonuses, and credit card debt.
And we need to raise the "exempt" wage. Right now employers in Missouri can require an exempt employee to be available 168 hours a week (that's the entire week) for $455 per week, if the exempt employee supervises 2 or more employees for 80 or more hours per week.
For example, if you are the live in administrator at a small residential care facility or half way house that is "24 hour awake" care. The state requires that of those 80 hours, 42 are required 6 hours a night for the administrator to sleep. The other 38 hours will generally be support during the day with cleaning, cooking and medication paperwork. If the exempt employee takes a full day off, half the weekly pay can be legally deducted. $455 a week is not even minimum wage for 168 hours worth of work.
LEARN YOUR LOCAL ECONOMY
Learn how your local government is spending tax money. Are the same contractors used again and again? Is there nepotism and "legacy" hiring in your local government offices and agencies?
INCREASE THE AMOUNT OF PETITIONS YOU SIGN
Signing on line petitions and then sharing on social media is a good way to get dialogue started, and to show visible support for the issues that matter to you.
You have the power to change the world. Make the pledge: 5 for 11.
Happy V Day! #5NOV
OPTINSTL will be back on blogging and taking it to the streets about public transportation in St. Louis toward the end of the year. Absence on social media does not mean absence from the issues!
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