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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Below are some OPTINSTL highlights:

St Louis / St Louis City

Fixed funding contribution to Metro for bus rapid transit route

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

delivery is contingent upon $20 million contribution from

Metro.

Public Transportation

$18.00

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

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

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

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

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

St Louis / St Louis City

Fixed funding contribution to Metro for the bus rapid transit

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

Ave and Natural Bridge Road. Project delivery is contingent

upon Metro providing $20 million to complete the

improvement.

Public Transportation

$18.00

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

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

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

St Louis / St Louis City

Future light rail station

Public Transportation

$8.90

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

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

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

St Louis / St Louis City

Studies for light rail expansion and funding scenarios for next

phase

Public Transportation

$2.00

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

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

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

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

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

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

More on St. Louis Streetcar:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Don't believe the hype.

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

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

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

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

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

Start by voting NO on AMENDMENT 7!
 

LOOP TROLLEY POLICE STATE

More musings on

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

and

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

It occurred to me this afternoon that a transportation district can have it's own security, and the police are heavily involved in Metro's honor system.  Instead of having turnstiles and tokens, they let the police write tickets when the honor system is checked. (In my experience, the more black men on the Metrolink, the more likely it is to get inspected for ticket dodgers.)

It seems pretty likely that the Loop Transportation District Security and local police will be used to eject anyone "undesirable" from the Loop.

It's not about a trolley, it's about control for profit.  Profit for the "Local 1%"

THE LOOP TROLLEY: SUCKING UP MORE GOVERNMENT FUNDING IT DOESN'T DESERVE

The Loop Trolley got $25 million from the Department of Transportation Urban Circulator Grants,

http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/blog/2014/03/loop-trolley-project-lands-25-million-grant.html

despite the fact that it barely meets the requirements for the funds.

http://www.fta.dot.gov/about/about_FTA_11006.html#exempt_projects

More interesting is that a lawsuit was filed against it in November, and the news articles about the grant money, do not mention this.  

https://www.stlbeacon.org/#!/content/33497/loop_trolley_status_update?coverpage=4259

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/lawsuit-seeks-to-put-the-brakes-on-loop-trolley/article_66e1a5cb-3184-5d06-85cd-52473b4c13d0.html

The lawsuit is very enlightening.  You get one vote per acre of land owned, even if you are a non-resident.  Guess who owns most of property in the Loop, and guess who had the most votes?

Property owners got to cast one vote per acre of land they owned -- giving Joe Edwards, the suit said, the most votes.   Quoted from the Beacon article, linked above.

That $25 million would  have been much better for an DOT Urban Circulator in Grand Center, from the Metrolink to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. BLVD., or as I suggested before, downtown or South Grand/ Cherokee.

The Loop Trolley, the "Folly Trolley", needs to be shutdown.

Let Saint Louis City Mayor Francis Slay, and University City Mayor Shelley Welsch, know how you feel:

https://www.mayorslay.com/

Mayor
Shelley Welsch
7141 Delmar Blvd.
(314)505-8606 (ofc.)
(314)727-6852 (hm.)
mayor@ucitymo.org

THE LOOP TROLLEY IS ABOUT GETTING PUBLIC TRANSIT OUT OF THE LOOP

EDIT: Please read this post on the recent government "Urban Circulator" grant.

There is a lot to learned about how Public Transit really works (that is, not for the people that need it) by examining the proposed Loop Trolley.

The Loop Trolley is ridiculous.  Its real purpose is not to provide transit service. The Federal Government gave it $12 million in funds from a grant that was designed to revitalize urban areas.  The Loop does not need to be revitalized, and it is barely urban.

The Loop Trolley is about getting more "local tourists" (white suburbanites and rural dwellers that park and ride the Metrolink to Cardinals games and other big events downtown) to come drink beer and eat cheeseburgers at Blueberry Hill.

The Loop Trolley is the creation of just one man, Joe Edwards, and without him it would have been dismissed years ago.

Since learning that Metro is really about developing the Bi-State area (see this post about the people in charge of Metro) to "attract talented professionals and entrepreneurs" I have come to understand how the Loop Trolley ever got off the ground.

And what a mess it will create if it succeeds.

Joe Edwards is notorious for his hatred of panhandlers.  He is behind those signs you see in the Loop that say "Don't give money to panhandlers, it encourages them to drink alcohol and take drugs." (I'll get the exact wording next time I am in the Loop.  I really find those sign hilarious.  As the owner of a bar, Joe Edwards encourages people to drink alcohol!)

The real problem for people like Edwards is that panhandlers are generally poor people, usually black, that come to the Loop from low-income, urban neighborhoods, and ask the college students and suburban tourists for money.

That is why the Loop got rid of all the bus benches and covered bus stops.  That is why there is only one bus that runs down Delmar, the #97, and why there are only three bus stops per each side of the street, between Skinker and the "Lion Gates" by U. City Hall.  (The stops are not well placed either- the worst is the eastbound stop located at the crosswalk at Westgate and Delmar.  Metro doesn't decide where bus stops go, the city or town does.  More on that in another post.)

I don't think Edwards is a racist in terms of hating people based on their skin color.  He and Nelly are well known bowling partners, and I've heard from reliable sources that it is Edwards that drives Chuck Berry to Berry's monthly Blueberry Hill gig.

But like most people, white and black and all other colors, he suffers from what I call "cultural racism."  Basically, the lifestyle that a person was born into is the best, other cultures are judged by how compatible or incompatible they are to that culture. And he was born to the predominant culture in our society. And like most people that live in that world, he has no need to examine the privileges that were handed to him at birth. 

He may be more of hippie than those other white, privileged, suburban businessmen and developers that head the East West Gateway Council of Governments, but they are all on the same page and getting money from the same banks and Federal funding.  They are members of the "Ole Boy Network", the legal gang of thugs that runs the city.  A local version of Gang 1% that run the world.

Metro/ Bi-State is all about attracting more people like Edwards to Saint Louis.

And that is not necessarily a good thing for transit riders.

Edwards has formed the Loop Trolley Transportation District.  Why didn't they go through Metro?  Because this way Edwards can be in charge of it.  In the same way that the East West Council of Governments tells Metro where it can go (or try to go-- the cities and towns have some say in it, which is how the train to St. Charles was killed), Edwards can direct the Loop Trolley development.

It seems pretty certain that the first thing that will happen is the #97 will be re-routed out of the Loop.  The trolley is for the Metrolink.  In fact, it will pass by three Metrolink stations- Forest Park, Skinker/Wash. U. and Delmar.  Why?

So that those "suburban local tourists" don't have to set foot on a public bus to go to the Loop from the Metrolink.

I recall very clearly when the Loop started to have its annual summer problem with flash-mobs of inner-city, black, high-school kids back in 2009.

When it was suggested that what those kids need is somewhere to go to have fun, that maybe the problem was that Saint Louis continues to ignore the $32,000 a year income gap between the north and south side of the "Delmar Divide" .  That as businessmen, maybe they could work to create more job opportunities, provide outreach to low income areas, and just generally focus on coming up with solutions, the response was pretty much this:

"Get 'em out of here! We don't need them!" (Said one local business man, who, ironically, hires the most black people and also attracts the largest portion of black patrons compared to other Loop restaurants.)  The sentiment was echoed widely by the other businessmen.

I also found it confusing that so many of the businessmen were focusing on Metro's responsibility and complaining to them, simply because the kids ride the train to get to the Loop.  Why would public transportation be held accountable for where people ride it?

But now that I know who Public Transportation agencies work, it makes sense.  Basically, local businessmen are Metro's bosses.  Metro's primary function is business development.  Running the bus and Metrolink are actually secondary functions, even if it is their most time-consuming function.

Mr. Edwards has figured out a way to be his Trolley's boss. 

It is ironic that around the time the Trolley was getting its' $12 million, Metro had to be bailed out with another grant for the same amount. Not that Trolley money could have been used to improve existing service. Metro was not eligible for that Trolley grant.

(Unless it was going to develop the Trolley, and as many bad things as I have to say about Metro, I do believe that if they had developed a Trolley plan it would have been in an area more suited to it-- probably downtown, but possibly South Grand and Cherokee, or thereabouts, which, in many opinions is where a street-car would really make a difference.)

The way government public transportation money is allocated, you can't use "development" funds for existing services.  That is because, just as businessmen are in charge of Metro at a local level, big business and big oil are in charge of government at the federal level.  (If only Occupy Wall Street had succeeded!)

It is in the best interests of St. Louis public transportation to oppose the Loop Trolley.