MORE SPIKES & HOMICIDE VERSUS COP-ICIDE

So St. Louis city has had 5 homicides in the last 24 hours, and the count for the year is 109.

http://www.kmov.com/news/crime/Police-searching-for-suspect-in-fatal-stabbing-in-north-St-Louis-279231232.html

I already said most of what I think about the spikes in violence in this post from July 15th:

http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/07/st-louis-spikes.html

Our country is becoming increasingly insolvent. There was no bail out in 2008, it was a band aid and only shifted the problem.  Another economic crisis is looming.  And who feels it first? The poorest.

Additionally, the heroin problem in the city has apparently gotten out of control in the last few years.  It might mostly be poor, urban black men that have become addicts, but the problem has been noted as well among white, affluent teenagers in places like Webster Groves. (It was a headline in the Webster Kirkwood Times in 2010.)

Drugs don't miraculously surface in these neighborhoods.  There's a two sided narrative in the media and mainstream white culture about black people in poor neighborhoods with high crime rates. Somehow, urban black people are portrayed as both lazy and shiftless, but at the same time motivated, crafty hustlers, running or part of criminal gang networks with enough motivation and organization to flood the streets with illegal drugs.

Neither is a correct description. And I guarantee you the drugs are coming in from much more organized, much more solvent, and much higher up and white-skinned "gangs."  Drug balloon couriers, poor immigrants, biker and prison gangs, and drug cartels could not do this alone. Many of the drug planes that come from South America re-fuel at a former DEA agent's retirement home in Costa Rica. It's time to stop kidding ourselves about how drugs get into our country.

The mainstream has been swallowing the official story, i.e., the "Kool Aid", for so long that no one seems to really question it anymore.  And the answer to almost every problem in North St. Louis is MORE POLICE.

If you go out to a "nice" neighborhood with good schools, a suburb that is mostly white, where the median income is $50K or above, and many of the mothers are unemployed "stay at home" moms, and you talk to people they will say things like: "I stay involved in my children's lives, and drive them to school and know all their friends and make sure they have lots of activities after school and build character and do family things together" etc.

These "respectable" people do all those things for their children because they want their children to have healthy experiences, develop a stable foundation for life, and keep away from kids that are considered a "bad influence", drugs, and dangerous mischief and crime. And they pat themselves on the back about what great parents they are when they succeed.

It never seems to occur to them that if they think their own children are so susceptible to "bad influences" in these "nice" neighborhoods with "good" parents, that kids in bad neighborhoods might be susceptible as well, and also be surrounded by bad influences. Their parents often work more than one job.  And many are public transit dependent. Kids in North city and county schools do not take a lot of field trips or have well-funded after school programs.  Gangs are rampant because teens want to form close bonds with their peers and find meaning in their lives.  And the community does not offer many viable alternatives. (Youth centers might supply basketball courts, but they do not supply hopeful futures or meaningful lives.)

More ironic, is the outcry from these "decent" people that the "problem" with Brown and Myers started at home with their parents.  Brown's parents weren't together, but both parents were active in his life, and he was on his way to his grandmother's when he was murdered.  One of the first things his mother said when she arrived at Canfield Green was "do you know how hard it was for me to keep him in school to graduate?" I've heard the same thing from parents in the suburbs, facing much fewer obstacles! Moreover, many young men expressed their hopelessness about the future "why stay in school if I am going to get shot dead anyhow (by police or criminals)?"

(You know who DID NOT have a "good" family? Officer Darren Wilson.  He had an absent father and his mother was a criminal. But the Kool Aid insists that all cops are honest and good, and all black men are liars and thugs.)

The Kool Aid drinkers might be surrounded by 2nd Amendment supporters with guns, but they don't live in areas where there is a lot of crime or violence.  And these "decent" people mistake their privilege for integrity.  I have had to restrain myself from laughing out loud when working among these "nice" white people (who usually assume I am just like them) when they pat themselves on the back for their successes in life.  They no more chose to be born white and middle class than Brown chose to be born black and low income.  And they congratulate themselves on surviving the comparatively small obstacles they have had to face, while diminishing the larger problems someone like Michael Brown, Jr. had to face. (He graduated from insolvent, unaccredited Normandy school district!)

Most of these "decent" people could not stand to ride public transit for four hours a day to fast food jobs for even a week, much less years.  They moan about their inability to buy a more expensive car or go on a more expensive vacation, but seem to never consider what it would be like to go their entire lives without EITHER. These are the people that have fits when someone in their HOA doesn't mow their lawn often enough, can you imagine what sort of criminals these people would become if they lived in areas with crumbling buildings and vacant homes and few businesses or jobs?  They'd be the first ones to start selling crack and heroin to make enough money to buy a car and move into a better area.

I invite you to look at the comments from the article that came out about John Crawford's murder * on August 6th, when the usual story of a "dangerous thug waving a gun in a Wal Mart" was shot and murdered by police.  The "official story" has since been completely debunked, and do you see any retractions or apologies in there? No.  Because these "decent" people are mostly racists that believe the only good "---" is a dead "---".  One less lazy, unemployed, drug dealing, welfare thief off the streets. Hooray.

These people are not good or decent or better or more hard-working. They were simply lucky enough to be born in circumstances, and usually skin color, where they succeeded. And if they really believed all the congratulatory crap about themselves that they spewed, they wouldn't feel so threatened by affirmative action or social programs.  They know that the current system does not have enough jobs (although there is plenty of work that needs doing) and that while there is excess and abundance, it is concentrated among the hands of very few people.

Instead of blaming the most power and richest in society, economic predators like Rex Sinquefield (what value does a hedge fund investor really bring to society? what has he done to make the world better that he deserves such wealth?) they blame the Crawfords and the Browns and the Myers.  They blame the most oppressed in society. They blame dead black men.

If anyone bothers to take crime statistics in predominantly black communities and compare it to equal populations of white people and communities at the same income level it becomes obvious that crime is related to INCOME not COLOR.  (But doing that would remove the smug superiority and congratulations that white privilege bestows on its' recipients.  Then these folks would just be "lucky" and nothing more.)

http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/09/vulnerableyouth/3/index.shtml

http://politicalviolenceataglance.org/2012/09/19/income-inequalitys-strange-relationship-to-violence/

Do police stop crime or prevent it? Rarely.  As I said in the "Spikes" post linked to above, these cops don't know anything about the people in the neighborhoods they patrol, don't seem to understand black culture at all (not every kid with saggy pants is a gang member or criminal) and for the most part just come to do a mop up and report.

Moreover, since most of the cops seem to think all black men are potential terrorists, they often create crime. ** The police response to John Crawford, III, Michael Brown, Jr. and VonDerrit Myers, Jr. are glaring examples of that.  And in both cases the victim's were maligned to justify their murders at the hands of the police.

If calling the police means you might be inadvertently putting someone else at risk (police far too frequently mistake cell phones and toy guns for real guns, and do not seem to be able to tell black men apart "they all look the same" etc.) why call the police at all? How can the police help when they do not live in these areas and have no or little respect for the humanity of the people they police? 

And what is really sickening is that none of these privileged people seem to be able to understand WHY there are protests against "cop-icide" of black men like Crawford, Brown, and Myers (and so many more).  Even the cops on the STLMPD CopTalk blog act as if all black people are the same person, and that criminals and gang shootings should be treated the same as police killings. (Ironically not realizing they are, like the protesters, calling the cops criminals and thugs.)

The post link below on the Cop Talk blog is representative of this ideology.  In it a poster asks "where are the Reverends?" to pray and protest when a drug deal resulted in a shooting and death in downtown St. Louis, yesterday, after "Moral Monday" actions by clergy.

http://members.boardhost.com/stlouiscoptalk/msg/1413314561.html

I'll tell you where they were: among their congregations in the many churches in North St. Louis city and county.  Every day. Doing everything they can to make life better for their neighborhoods.  I am especially sick of people disparaging Muslim Anthony Shahid, as he is one of the ONLY people, black or white, that has consistently reached out to young black men in the most dangerous neighborhoods in St. Louis.  He might be theatrical, contentious, and possibly a separatist, but he has done more than ANY police force in turning young men away from gangs and creating viable futures for black youth of North St. Louis.

If "Black on Black Crime", as it is called by the Kool Aid drinkers, is comparable to police murdering black men, than there is the real problem right there.  A cop murdering an unarmed man is not the same as a drug deal gone bad. And if you don't get that, I don't care if you are black or white or any other race or nationality, YOU are the problem.  The police should serve and protect, NOT judge and execute.

(And to mimic the Cop Talk poster: where is the outcry over "white on white crime", in the case of Eric Frein or Adam Lanza?  Or any of the other millions of examples of white people murdering other white people? Is it only about race when it is black people? yeah, that's what I thought.)

Law and Order is not the same as Justice and Peace.  The Nazis had plenty of laws.  They had more laws than any other country.  And the concentration and death camps were very ordered.  Right now we have "Just Us"- lawyers and judges and municipalities that have created a system where traffic tickets are a profitable business venture.

We don't need more cops, or stronger law enforcement.  We need more economic equality, more jobs, better schools, healthcare, and repair of neighborhoods and infrastructure.  We don't need more "order" we need more DIS-order.  These violent, militarized macho cops that think they are the law or are above the law need to go.  And we need to root out the racist individuals and institutionalized racism and white supremacy in Saint Louis.

The protests against the police killings of black men have nothing to do with criminals of any color killing other criminals.  And more police, and especially not the kind of police that are the majority of the force right now, are not the answer to crime.  I'm sorry that people have to demonstrate for 68+ days and disrupt sports games and symphonies and march through neighborhoods chanting at night to get this dialogue going.

If you find this so inconvenient, and you have all the answers, please, come move into the Canfield Green apartments or to College Hill or any black community of your choice, and live for a year, or even a month.  Please come and demonstrate- literally- exactly how things are supposed to be.  Since your kids are so amazing, and you are such great parents, enroll your kids in Normandy or Riverview Gardens schools, and "Show Me" how everyone can be as perfect as you.

You will learn very quickly that it takes more courage to be a black man in the U.S. than to be a police officer in the U.S. Especially in the most crime ridden neighborhoods.

Otherwise, shut the hell up, because you don't know shit and you have nothing to offer.  And if you are a cop that is reading this and you work anywhere in North city or county, and you wear a "I am Darren Wilson" armband, or are any of the posters in this sickening CopTalk thread  (bragging about sending protesters to the hospital and squashing freedom of speech and demonstrations: http://members.boardhost.com/stlouiscoptalk/msg/1412902526.html ): PLEASE RESIGN NOW.

In regards to the protests, since we are PROTESTING THE POLICE, you, Officer I Am Darren Wilson, are really nothing more than a counter-protester!

Police ESCALATE the anger of protesters simply by being there.  And police bring so much violence, and potential for violence, and desire for violence, with them!

Officers I Am Darren Wilson, please go work in one those lillywhite "nice" neighborhoods you live in.  Or convince your fellow officers to go on extended blue flu. (Don't worry, if you are one of the "Good Cops" you will be re-hired.) We The People will be able to organize a new system of policing much easier if you are gone.

THE WHOLE DAMN SYSTEM IS GUILTY AS HELL! Time for change!


Footnotes:

*Crawford murder and comments:
 http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/news/man-police-shot-in-walmart-killed-over-fake-gun-fa/ngw77/#cmComments

One of the most representative comments:

Lets see here. They go to Walmart and for whatever idiotic reason he grabs,I suppose a toy gun from the shelf, and I am guessing takes it out of the packaging. I think most come in some kind of card board packaging, then starts waiving it around pointing at people to the point were folks in the store sure must have thought it was a real gun since they called 911 to report that very thing. Im sure a commotion was started and people were getting the heck out of there. And at no time during this did this guy think... Hey Im waiving a toy gun around ???why???? freaking people out. Maybe I shouldnt do that??? Or maybe the cops are gonna get called... And then of course when they do he still is waiving it around refusing to put it down.???? Why?????what was the goal here. What normal person would do this?? why would anyone do this to the point of causing a panic in the first place and then when the police come you still are doing it and wont put it down as ordered.. .. That said dont be surprised that you get shot for your efforts. This guy made the decisions to act like he did and those actions and decisions led to his death. HIS ACTIONS AND HIS DECISIONS. So his babys mamma and or the girlfriend and baby momma to be can call the NAACP Jessie Jackson and try to make it racial all you want. Call Santa Clause if you want but the bottom line is this. He made the choice to act like he did and his actions caused the outcome. Lets not forget that his actions is what started this entire sequence of events and contributed to the death of a truly innocent woman who suffered a heart attack due Im sure in part to the stress of the incident when she was in the store. An incident that HE and HE alone chose to start. That is it period. The officers actions were just and correct. Good job. Im sorry that you have to go through this but you did the right thing. never forget that. 

We now know 911 caller Ronald Ritchie lied, that Crawford was carrying a bb gun pointed downward, there were no other shoppers around, and that the Swat officers shot him in less than one minute after coming through the doors of the Wal-mart.  You can watch the video with the 911 dispatch here: http://youtu.be/S9FtNOV6Qhk

** Cops create crime

http://www.kmov.com/news/local/Man-films-local-officers-attempt-to-intimidate-him-under-false-pretences-249957921.html

http://www.kmov.com/news/local/Two-Hillsdale-officers-allegedly-partner-with-drug-dealers-to-steal-heroin-253004751.html

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/st-louis-police-officer-suspended-two-prosecutors-leave-jobs-amid/article_85b82473-efba-562f-b966-7c0ec0350feb.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/31/drug-search-trekies-stopped-searched-illinois_n_1364087.html

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/st-louis-county-cop-charged-with-assaulting-man-with-baton/article_267e68a7-8496-5663-8c81-a951172a904f.html

http://photographyisnotacrime.com/2014/06/04/man-sues-missouri-cops-claiming-deleted-footage-police-abuse/

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/08/29/oklahoma-cop-charged-sexual-assaults/14830063/

http://youtu.be/h65WaOSS6sE 

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/10/03/1333925/-Is-it-a-coverup-House-of-Cards-level-corruption-in-Ferguson-and-beyond

http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/dailyrft/2014/09/nixon_stumps_for_rep_jeff_roorda_an_ex-cop_who_says_body_cameras_make_people_less_safe.php

https://news.vice.com/article/el-paso-releases-video-of-cop-executing-handcuffed-man-wheres-the-anger

http://topconservativenews.com/2014/05/police-state-horror-reckless-driving-cop-that-charged-his-victim-with-fake-crimes-gets-to-keep-his-badge/

http://www.ky3.com/news/local/ky3-investigation-confidential-settlements-and-police-licensing/21048998_26075114

http://www.alternet.org/more-americans-killed-police-terrorists-crime-down-why-police-aggression 

http://thefreethoughtproject.com/cops-caught-millions-seized-assets-surveillance-gear-weapons-clowns/

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/08/19/3472902/police-economic-ferguson/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/investigative/2014/10/11/cash-seizures-fuel-police-spending/

RED WHITE AND BLUE FLU

The news media really downplayed the Metrolink Blue Flu today.  That's usually a good sign.  It means the union is getting visible public support and the Ole Boy Network has made the proper phone calls to media station managers and senior editors.

http://fox2now.com/2014/07/04/possible-blue-flu-halts-metrolink-fair-st-louis-parking-rates-drop-to-20/

Of course, it appeared that not nearly as many people attended Fare St. Louis in Forest Park than had been anticipated, and also that fewer Fare-goers used Metrolink than expected.

This did force them to lower that $30 parking price tag to $20.  Maybe that kept a lot of people away.  The local government, in keeping with the state and federal government, has been doing a fine job of making plain that constituents are just cash cows to be milked at every opportunity.  Land of the free indeed.

You know, they could have made public transit free today.  Even if you don't ride it, you pay for it.  That would have been a true gesture of celebration and thanks.  And probably attracted a lot of new riders.

The city leaders are walking on eggshells right now.  The spike in violence and crime in the poorest areas of the city are always harbingers of larger problems, about to boil over.  The government is broke, but they won't raise taxes on corporations, or any of the other necessary changes.

One thing I found myself musing on, as I watched the parade on television, is how lackluster the parade seemed going through the park.  Not just the sparse attendance.  It just didn't strike the same response as seeing the same marching bands and floats glide down the streets of downtown.

Part of what makes a parade so exciting is the way it takes over and transforms the ordinary streets.  I wonder if Saint Louisans won't feel a emptiness, a need to fill the streets?

I think the city leaders, for their own sake, should have kept the parade downtown.  Parades, in times of strife, are "demonstrations by proxy".

The Metrolink operators deserve our support.  They are fighting for their union, their pensions, and their pay.  We should all join them in securing those things for ourselves.  We can start by calling Metro and telling them we support the drivers, and demanding they negotiate a new contract.

And we need to demand a few "Fare Free" days a year for the city.

METRO: YOUR TRANSPARENCY IS VERY OPAQUE, UNTIL IT WORKS IN YOUR FAVOR

When I emailed Metro with my long list of questions, including how many buses in operation, and bus drivers working, on an average weekday, they responded with the number of buses, actual vehicles on the road for all of the lines, 310, they said, but told me I had to file a Sunshine Act request to find out the amount of bus drivers.

Yesterday they posted this: http://www.nextstopstl.org/11397/metro-explains-monday-metrobus-delays/

70 bus drivers out of a total of 572 total called out.  Guess things are only readily transparent when it serves their purposes.

(My estimate, supported by questioning random bus drivers, is that about 360 work on any given regular weekday, not including paratransit.)

In working to uncover the utter mismanagement of funds that led to the shut down of 24 lines in 2009, and which Metro blames the impending July fare hike necessity, I have uncovered more and more corruption, scandal, and mismanagement, not too mention outright deception to the public.

ST. LOUIS, PLEASE BEGIN DEMANDING TOTAL TRANSPARENCY AT METRO AND ALL OTHER AGENCIES THAT RECEIVE FEDERAL MONIES!

THIS IS YOUR CITY!  OCCUPY IT! 

THERE NEEDS TO BE A PUBLIC AUDIT OF METRO BI-STATE! http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/04/call-for-public-audit-of-metro-bi-state.html

(Metro insists that my desire to know these details is "irrelevant" and "ridiculous".  Only by dissecting every aspect of their daily operations can we really come to the truth about where our money is really going.  Since the operation of the buses and trains is supposed to be their primary function, I thought it was best to start with that.  Of course, now I need to find out how many of these drivers are part-time, etc.)

WILL THINGS GO BACK TO NORMAL?

I missed the news tonight and didn't see the coverage of the Metro Blue Flu.

I found this video http://youtu.be/s_qm4eUrqqo

(The person that posted it is mostly whining about how the drivers "pulled this crap" and made everyone late for work.)

Bus drivers take the brunt of the riders' hatred for Metro.  But for the most part they don't deserve it.

I understand it is an inconvenience.  But as I've said before, no change comes without inconvenience.

You know who was inconvenient? Rosa Parks.  No one on that bus got home on time that day.

The people of this city deserve a decent transit system, and that means taking care of the drivers.

And if you make less than $15 an hour, maybe you should consider striking, too. A job should pay enough to live on.  All the countries that pay a livable minimum wage had people that were willing to make the sacrifices and suffer the inconveniences necessary to make society better for everyone.

I don't understand why every single profession doesn't have a union.

Tomorrow, if there is another blue flu or a full out strike, let's be clear that as much as Metro executives whine that they have to follow ALL the federal guidelines to the letter, they WILL bring in people to drive the buses that don't have the proper driver's license or DOT certification.

Metro is (currently) not about Public Transportation.  That is just the way they funnel funds for "business development." I think that is about to change.

I hope the bus drivers strike, and if they do, I hope it goes citywide.

Saint Louis, you get what you ask for, but you have to ask.

And sometimes that means you have to be inconvenient.

EDIT: This state needs to abolish "right to work".  Right to work means "an employer has the right to fire you for any reason, offer any wage and any condition, and destroy the labor unions".  Citizens of this "greatest country in the world" are not even granted the right to a bathroom break, except in five states. (The federal government only regulates how breaks are paid, if an employer decides to give them.  The government does not provide for any breaks.  Not a lot of state offer meal breaks that are legally enforceable, Missouri is not one of them. )

An employer can check your credit and background, record you, track you, but an employee is not allowed to check out an employer.  Do they handle their money responsibly? Do they have adequate knowledge and training in business to manage payroll and other responsibilities of owning a business?  As I said, all jobs should have unions, and minimum wage should be $15.  That amount is not random.  It is the basic need.  And bus drivers deserve at least $25.

RIDER ALERT: METRO WHINES ABOUT ONE DAY OF BLUE FLU AFTER IGNORING BUS DRIVER CONTRACTS FOR SIX YEARS

Please also see this post: http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/04/bus-drivers-are-sick-of-metro-too-blue.html

From Metro's website at 13:27 today:

Service Delays Possible on MetroBus

Some MetroBus routes are experiencing major delays as a result of some operators not reporting to work. They know that a work action violates Missouri law. We apologize for the inconvenience this is causing our customers. It is unfortunate that our operators are choosing to disadvantage taxpayers and the riding public who depend on us to get to work. We expect our operators to report to work as scheduled. We are involved in contract negotiations with the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 788, which represents our MetroBus and MetroLink operators as well as clerical workers.

Metro, you are a rip-off to your riders and your bus drivers.  And this entire city!  In 2009, after you mismanaged your federal funds and rider revenues, you cut 24 bus lines and 30% of services.  You keep congratulating yourself on what a great job you are doing, but you still have to jack up fares to keep the current system in operation.

You let your drivers work for 6 years (!) without a contract, and no raises-- not too mention cutting back full-time to part-time, and trying to erode the pension plan-- and you complain about ONE DAY OF SERVICE INTERRUPTION?!

SHAME ON YOU!

YOU NEED TO APOLOGIZE FOR YOUR TERRIBLE SERVICE, NOT YOUR WORKER'S DEMANDING THEIR DUE!

You have nothing to say about the fact that a public transit rider faces an average of ONE HOUR ON THE BUS for a trip that would take 15 minutes on city streets.  You have no apologies for the lack of toilets provided.  You have no explanation for why you consistently ignore the needs of the people that need you most, and your excessive consideration for people that only ride the Metrolink, and only ride it to Cardinals games.

SHAME ON YOU METRO!

Also, quite frankly, why EVERY SINGLE EMPLOYED PERSON IN MISSOURI IS NOT "VIOLATING MISSOURI LAW" is incomprehensible.  Missouri labor laws need to be violated! They need to be trashed!  WAKE UP AND GET YOUR REBELLION ON!

"Right to work" means "the right of employers to treat workers like crap and fire them for any reason" including going to the bathroom.  (There is no federal rule that workers are allowed breaks of any kind, including to use the toilet, and regulate how breaks are to be paid for if the employer, at his discretion, offers his employees breaks.   Only five states require employers to give employees break-time.  So basically, you can be fired for going to the bathroom, and if you ride the bus, you will need to use the bathroom when you get to work!)

"Right to Work" says they are about letting workers "choose" if they want to be unionized, but what it really means is "you better choose if you want to open your mouth about a union or if you want to be fired."

METRO YOU HAD BETTER NOT FIRE-- OR EVEN DISCIPLINE-- ONE OF THOSE 70 WORKERS!

THEY ARE RIGHT AND YOU ARE SO WRONG!

BUS DRIVERS ARE SICK OF METRO TOO: BLUE FLU ON OPENING DAY

No contract and no raise for 6 years for bus drivers, while Executives get their raises, and the Local 1% lines their pockets with federal monies.

No contract for bus drivers for 6 years, and pensions and benefits being whittled away.

If the Executives don't show up for work, the buses keep running.  But if the bus drivers strike the whole system shuts down.  WHO IS MORE IMPORTANT?

CALL METRO IN SUPPORT OF BLUE FLU AND BETTER PAY AND BENEFITS FOR DRIVERS!

THEY ARE THE ONES THAT MATTER!

http://www.stltoday.com/news/traffic/along-for-the-ride/buses-delayed-after-metro-drivers-call-in-sick/article_8a59638e-9370-52be-8ce7-65f45ad95cc9.html

http://fox2now.com/2014/04/07/dozens-of-metro-bus-operators-call-in-sick-in-possible-protest/

http://kplr11.com/2014/04/07/dozens-of-metro-bus-operators-call-in-sick-in-possible-protest/

OPT INSTL supports St. Louis bus drivers!

http://www.stltoday.com/news/traffic/along-for-the-ride/metro-s-union-workers-seek-to-win-over-passengers/article_403dbe1d-3cf6-5bf1-b21e-021d32ce9b2a.html

SAINT LOUIS DESERVES A GREAT PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM!

BUS DRIVERS DESERVE BETTER PAY AND BENEFITS!!!!

Call Metro: 314-231-2345

Contact Metro Board of Commissioners:
http://www.metrostlouis.org/About/Leadership/BoardCommissioners.aspx
(working on contact information for these people)

Former Mayer Vince Schoemehl serves in his capacity with Grand Center:

Grand Center, Inc.
3526 Washington Ave.,
2nd Floor
St. Louis, MO 63103
P: 314-289-1500
F: 314-533-3345

Contact East West Gateway Council of Governments, in particular:

Steve Ehlmann
Chair
St. Charles County Executive
100 North 3rd Street
St. Charles, MO 63301
636-949-7520

Francis G. Slay
 Chair
Mayor
City of St. Louis
1200 Market Street
St. Louis, MO 63103
314-622-3723

http://www.ewgateway.org/AboutUs/BOD/bod.htm