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

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.

OCCUPY YOUR LIFE THIS THURSDAY AND FIGHT FOR $15!

September 4th EDIT/UPDATE: Ferguson, representin':
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/05/business/economy/fast-food-workers-seeking-higher-wages-are-arrested-during-sit-ins.html?_r=0

This is a reprint form the Occupy Your Life blog:
http://occupyurlife.blogspot.com/2014/09/fast-food-thursday-fight-for-15-show-me.html

With only 318,000 people in Saint Louis, and 49.5% African-American, an a big chunk of small business owners living in the county, a $15 minimum wage in the city should be fairly easy to institute.  Yes, it will take more than protests.  It will take massive campaigning and petitioning.  But it is within reach.

In the meantime, don't eat at a fast food restaurant this Thursday, and call the corporate offices of McDonalds, Taco Bell, Burger King, etc, and tell them you stand with their striking workers.

More importantly, call Mayor Slay and Governor Nixon, and your local Mayor and representatives, and tell them you demand a $15 an hour minimum wage.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/02/more-fast-food-strikes-are-coming_n_5751630.html?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000592

WHAT THE METRO JOB FAIR ON JUNE 28TH IS REALLY ABOUT

Someone commented to me the other day that Metro must be worried about OPTINSTL's call for a boycott of Metro on July 1st.

"You know that is why they are holding that job fair on the 28th," he said.

http://www.kmov.com/news/local/Metro-hosting-job-fair-on-June-28-264767711.html

I have no idea if my campaign has reached enough people to be producing that kind of results.  Are the Metro phone lines flooded?  I don't know.  I don't work there.  I can only do what I can do, and wait to see what happens.

It would be wonderful if Metro was, indeed, trying to make nice with the public to prevent a rider boycott on July 1st.  But if they were really worried, they would not have raised fares in the first place.

I think the Metro Job Fair is actually about CEO John Nations, who is publicly opposed to unions and supports the union-busting "right to work" legislation, and a direct threat he is sending his drivers:

"Don't you dare strike the week of the Fourth of July, or we will fire you."

Metro is NOT really hiring.  They are barely solvent and have plenty of part-time drivers.  They just don't want a repeat of Cardinals Opening Day "Blue Flu".

http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/04/rider-alert-metro-whines-about-one-day.html  

They don't want St. Louis to get any ideas from San Francisco or Philadelphia (unlike Pennsylvania, we don't have a Republican Governor, although Nixon often seems like a Republican).

http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/06/san-franciscos-transit-workers-blue-flu.html

http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/06/philadelphia-transit-workers-strike.html

What kind of city do you want to live in, St. Louis?  A city where people are paid a livable wage with decent benefits?  A city with good jobs and good employers?

A city with a great public transit system?

Or would you prefer a city where officials that receive $250,000 a year salaries (entirely paid for from public funds) rob their employees pensions, refuse to negotiate contracts in good faith, and exchange "business development" for promises of future political campaign contributions?  (Nations make no secret of the fact that he is only at Metro to create a platform for his campaign for governor or senator.)

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

St. Louis, you deserve more from Metro!  I hope you will demand it!  Don't break the Metro Operators Union.  If you get a job with Metro, don't cross the picket lines.  Metro wants minimum wage drivers that have no benefits.  All the executives care about is there own fat-cat salaries.  If they could import bus driver jobs to China and hire children and prisoners for a dollar an hour, they would.

They would say "Oh, we were protecting profits."  And pat themselves on the back for doing a great job and give themselves big fat bonuses.

Metro isn't hiring, they are firing.

Remember that.

PS- personally, although a driver strike on July 1st would be fantastic, a driver strike on July 4th would be even better.

PPS- Something else at play here, both with the timing of the fare increase and the hiring fair, is that Metro's fiscal year ends on June 30th.  Too long to go into here, but think about it.  Even though the financial reports won't be ready for at least a few weeks, they do want to make a nice face to the public.  "Hey look, we're hiring, regardless of how obviously failing we look on paper, we are hiring." *cough* "...Not."

METRO, OPTINSTL IS DRIVEN BY YOU

Metro, you not only drive me (verrrryyyy slowwlllly) where I am going, you also drove me to activism.

Just when I think you can't be anymore ridiculous, you prove me wrong.

Today, on my transfer from the #16 at the Delmar Metrolink, as I ran around for twenty minutes trying to find a bathroom before I peed my pants (the hot dog place is gone, and the library doesn't have bathrooms, and the restaurants only have them for customers) I picked up a West End Word.

Imagine my delight at finding an article about a new $9 million station at Sarah street, that includes a bike rack and other "amenities".  (What amenities??? Despite the fact the most humans possess bladders, the news also does not consider toilets worthy of reporting.  Metro claims they have "amenities" at every station- but since they don't have toilets at most Metrolink and Metro bus centers, we have to assume they mean something else.  Like ticket machines, and security, and signs, and bike racks, or something.)

Of course, Metro, me and all the other real public transit riders know what this proposed new station is really about.  This is about Cortex getting to put its name on a piece of real estate under the guise of "job creation" because it is "key to achieving the company's goals." 

This is about Cortex, not YOU public transit rider!

Dennis Lower, president and CEO of Cortex, said the proposed station is key to achieving the company's goals of being an international standard for innovation communities."

Cortex has its sights set on the creation of a sustainable, walkable twenty-four/seven community and becoming a center for job creation," he said. "Our redevelopment plan includes work spaces, residential development, retail establishments and evening destinations. The development will attract international businesses with expectations of reliable and convenient public transportation. The MetroLink stop will serve the Cortex workforce and will be viewed as a regional connector."

http://www.westendword.com/Articles-Area-News-c-2014-04-08-192011.114137-9-Million-Price-Tag-On-Proposed-MetroLink-Station-For-Midtown.html

Metro, Mr. Lower, and the rest of you lot, we need a metrolink or two in north city and county.  We need toilets at every facility.  We need real jobs and real community development, not something that taxpayers fund for private companies to put their name on and claim credit for.  We do not want our $1 of funds to make Cortex $4 richer.

(Metro claims that every a dollar a "community" puts towards public transit "the community" gets $4 in return from Metro's government funding.  Pretty vague statistics meant to disguise what is really going on.)

Yes, Mr. Lower, we know that Metro CEO John Nations can expect a nice fat campaign contribution to his political career when he dumps Metro (he likes to tell his employees that he is only doing this for a few years to get his political career lined up-- of course, the private car and $250,000 a year salary don't hurt him either).

Mr. Lower, your company is named for part of the human brain, but you aren't very smart.  There is nowhere "greener" than a community without cars.  And you know there are a lot of places that need housing and retail and work spaces in this city.  But you aren't really planning on doing anything new or innovative, are you?

And seriously-- 800 boardings a day-- and almost 20 years to add 1000 more?  Pathetic.

And when you say "job creation" I wonder if you really mean minimum wage jobs in retail and restaurants, that workers will ride the bus two or three hours to get to?  With a big huge corporate Cortex logo on the building.  And "international businesses" setting up shop.  (Nice doublespeak for "multinational corporation".)

Yeah. We get it.

Mr. Lower, you seem like another crap human being.  Sorry. Your big cortex and you can't do anything more than figure out a way to spend $9 million dollars ripping out the current CWE station, moving it a few blocks, rebranding it with the Cortex logo, and building up another "development" that may or may not catch on, and may or may not include local companies, and may or may not have anything to offer anyone but yourselves and few already rich developers and politicians?

Just so that it is easy for your white collar workers to park and ride the Metrolink and bring their bicycles? Wow.

I mean that is JUST what St. Louis needs right now-- ANOTHER METRO STATION in between Grand and CWE.  You know, if the parts of the city that relied on public transit the most had a train, and there were bathrooms, and programs for low income to get discount passes, and "feasibility studies" weren't based on 80 participants, a big bioscience center, and greedy businessmen, but instead on transit riders needs-- yeah, great go forth with your little plan!

But there are lots of other very obvious CEREBRAL INNOVATIONS this city needs, and I guess you geniuses won't be the ones to provide them!

Hey Metro executives, I forgot to charge my phone last night, or you would have heard from me A LOT today, but I am gonna call you EXTRA tomorrow!  We have a lot to talk about.

Like how you say you don't have the $9 million, and you are going to the Federal Transit Authority.  You don't deserve one dime of federal money (income taxes), state money (property and income taxes), or city money (sales taxes).   You don't deserve our fares!

Tomorrow I am calling the FTA, too.   I bet they know just what I can do to stop you.

EAST WEST GATEWAY COUNCIL OF GOVERNMENTS: THE REAL ENEMY OF DECENT PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION

At the Increased Fare "Hearing" (they don't listen, so I don't know why they call it that) I learned about the group that is true enemy of the public transit rider.

The East West Gateway Council of Governments.

Go have a look at this page: http://www.ewgateway.org/AboutUs/BOD/bod.htm

That's the Board of Directors.  24 people, most of whom are white men that have never ridden a bus in their life, unless it was some marketing and publicity stunt.  (There are only 6 African-Americans, and only one woman on the whole board.)

Until yesterday, I thought Bi-State and Metro were all about public transportation.  I thought it was a little strange that Metro also owns St. Louis Downtown airport in Cahokia, and the Arch Riverboats and Trams.

Turns out that back in 1950, one of the first things Bi-State did was form the Metropolitan Sewer District.  Why? Because Metro's true function is to "develop" the region to create more openings for business development (no, that does not necessarily mean more jobs, better wages, and a better quality of life).  Metro is just a funnel for government funds.

I haven't had a chance to read through the whole website yet, but there are some really obvious conclusions to be made, simply by looking at who is in charge.

It is difficult to look at the picture of say, Chairman Steve Ehlman, a St. Charles businessman, and wonder if he isn't the reason there is no train to St. Charles and surrounding counties. (See this post on the "heroes" of St. Charles.)

That might seem kind of racist, huh? Judging him because he is an upper-middle class, suburban, white, businessman?   Kind of like judging a black man because he has saggy trousers and grills?

Except a guy like the Chairman is basically wearing his gang colors.  This is Gang "Ole-Boy Network".  And you, public transit rider, are NOT invited to the country club, unless you are bussing the tables and mopping the floors.

See, if you have a permanent population that lives at poverty level, doesn't have access to decent jobs, healthcare, housing, and who rely on crappy public transportation, employers have a nice pool of people that will work for any wage, in any conditions.

"Don't send your jobs to China! We got a bunch of people that work for next to nothing!  And don't worry that they will be hanging out in your neighborhood after work, they have a two hour bus ride to work each way.  We'll keep the trains out of your neighborhood and out of their neighborhood."  (See image, below)

Incarceration by lack of decent public transit.

You don't even have to put up barbed wire fences.

Keep checking back.  I am going to be looking into these people more closely in the future.  And how they operate.

East-West Gateway Council of Governments
One Memorial Dr., Ste 1600
St. Louis, MO  63102
phone:  (314) 421-4220 or (618) 274-2750
    fax: (314) 231-6120
e-mail: webmaster@ewgateway.org