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) 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0tAMqly6KVwT0hXYzNyVS11TG8/view?usp=sharing  

Also see this post: http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2016/03/solutions-not-cop-outs.html

WHY POLITICAL ACTIVISTS AND OCCUPY MOVEMENTS SHOULD TARGET PUBLIC TRANSIT FOR CHANGE

I named this blog "Occupy" because I thought Occupy Wall Street was a good idea, even if its' time hasn't come yet.

But I don't think that starting at the top, at a national level, is the best way to get things done.

In less than two weeks since I started this blog and began investigating Metro, I have learned how powerful public transit agencies are.

Public transportation is a microcosm for how government and business work hand in hand to make sure wealth flows into the hands of only a small percentage of the population.

They are a funnel for receiving government funds.

They contract local police departments.

They own A LOT of real estate.

They supply a necessary service for low-income people, but, at least in Metro's case (and the Los Angeles Metro) that is not what they are really about, or their primary function.

"Incarceration by lack of decent public transit" is used to keep poor people in poor neighborhoods.  People that will work for any wage and in any conditions, and be willing to travel 4 hours a day to get to those substandard jobs.

Moreover, anyone interested in making their city more "green" and eco-friendly does not need to be told that decent public transportation will help save the environment.

If you are political activist, please consider working with OPTINSTL to investigate and change public transportation.

Especially if you are lawyer or accountant.  To change things might require legal action- against Metro and the agencies that fund them.

And Metro definitely needs to be audited by the public.  They get audited to make sure they are spending federal funds as directed, but there is no one investigating if their budgets could be changed to better serve the public (instead of business owners).

Consider requesting all the information available through the Sunshine Act. I am going to:
From an email from Metro: These are the answers I can provide for you without requiring that you file a Sunshine request for research and compilation of documentation.  If you need such documentation, please contact Shirley Bryant in the agency’s Legal Department at sbryant@metrostlouis.org.

  (From this post: http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/04/metro-responds-to-my-first-round-of.html)

If you are a social worker or philanthropist, investigate setting up programs to fund low-income and unemployed people with discounted or free transit passes.

I will be adding more as I learn more, but I hope I have convinced you that taking on Public Transit is as effective as going after Wall Street.  The "Local 1%" is much easier to reach.

OCCUPY PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION FOR CHANGE!

FLOODING THE PHONE LINES: BE POLITE, BUT DON'T BE AFRAID TO BE ANNOYING

Today was the first day of "Jam The Phone Lines".  It must be working, because the Metro people are already annoyed, and I only rode three buses today.  (I don't know how many other people are calling, though.  Maybe it wasn't just my calls.)

To get decent public transportation, there is really no other avenue open to us.  Metro is really about making St. Louis more attractive to businessmen, owning and maintaining real estate, and funneling government funds into business development for individual businessmen.

I am still looking into this, but as of right now it appears that:

We cannot elect new officials to change it, because the politicians do not have any real say in the matter.  And unless a really wealthy developer wants to come in and do for us what Joe Edwards and Washington University has done in the Loop, we cannot get enough property votes.

We also cannot elect anyone or appeal to any agency to change the federal monies that Metro receives-- and even if we did, we cannot control how they spend it.

In fact, even if Metro executives were truly on the side of their most frequent customers, THEY don't appear to have enough power to change things.

It's really only individuals with wealth that have any power, and they are shaping the city with their needs in mind.

We are going to have to be really annoying to change things.

I had two people put me into call waiting system and never come back.  The "Customer Analyst", Brandy, got very annoyed with me and called me "ridiculous" and didn't understand why I was asking so many questions that she did not think was relevant.  (The questions were: how many buses are in operation on a regular weekday-- not bus lines, actual vehicles.  Also how many bus drivers work on regular day-- not paratransit, just regular buses.  How much do bus drivers make and when was their last increase in pay?)

My calls to Metro's Chief of System Planning and Development, Jessica Mefford-Miller, are instantly deposited to voice mail, and I suspect future emails to her will be answered less and less quickly as the days wear on, and my unending list of questions about how their agency operates continues.

Also, even though I have all the bus schedules, and the internet, I now call them to verify my trip plans.  And ask any one of my unending questions. 

Yes, I am annoying and ridiculous.  I feel sorry for the analysts and the customer service people.  The more successful we are, the busier they will be.  They will need to find out things about the agency they work for, as they answer out questions.  Knowledge is power.

And the more successful we are, the more the internal organization of Metro will have to change.

People don't like change, especially at their jobs.

So, fellow rider, I know you want to be a nice person.  You might even know what it is like to work in a call center (that is, awful).

Remember, your intention is not to just complain or question-- it is TO CHANGE METRO.

To those people that are content to accept whatever is offered them, that do not believe change is possible, that just want what is easiest, who are comfortable where they are, you are going to seem annoying and ridiculous.

Most people think it is ridiculous to try to change the way things are.

Tonight's vigil in memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. reminded me of how ridiculous it was in the 1960's for a black man to think he could march down the middle of the street and demand his rights.  How annoying he was to the authorities and others, who kept telling him there was nothing he could do to change things.

Getting better bus service is not the same as civil rights, but the process for change is the same. It makes the world a better place.  It keeps fascism and tyranny in check. It empowers people that feel powerless. 

If we are too busy trying to be nice, or worrying about being ridiculous or annoying, we are never going to change anything.

We live in this world and our worth should not be dependent on our bank accounts.  Public transportation is a necessity for a lot of people.  We should be able to shape it to our needs.

Calling every time you ride, asking for what you want, communicating your needs, and asking questions about how Metro operates is not wrong.  It is not illegal. If they think a question like "how many buses do you have in operation every day" is challenging, they are going to have a real problem when I find someone to audit their books and look for the money they say they don't have for bathrooms, for subsidized passes for low-income and unemployed, for more Metrolink service, and etc.

They are really going to be annoyed when people start showing up at the East West Gateway Council of Governments meetings and asking questions about their one-sided development of the trains and Greenways.  Or when journalists begin looking into the structure of public transit companies nationwide.

And they will be really annoyed when the carefully laid, thirty year plan, for developing "business" and "attracting entrepreuners" suddenly becomes about mapping a transit system that serves the people that ride it. And being accountable to us, as well as the wealthy businessmen of St. Louis.  

Be nice.  Be calm.  Speak slowly.  

But keep calling. 

A lot.

Feel free to print and distribute the leaflet:
http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/03/jam-phone-lines-leaflet-for-use-and-to.html

WHY FLOODING METRO'S PHONE LINES IS EFFECTIVE ACTION FOR CHANGE

At last night's Metro Hearing on the July 1st Fare Increase, a man came up to me and said "what is jamming their phone lines going to do? It will just prevent people trying to call in to get bus information."

Yes.  That is the point.  We, the people, are so blocked from making changes to this agency through the channels that are available to us, that it is necessary to apply pressure to the people running it.  It might create some inconvenience and stress.  Change- good or bad- does not seem to come without a little stress.

I don't necessarily think Metro exec's are playing computer games and surfing social media all day at work, but they are not working to make things better for us.   Even a 10% increase in call volume will disrupt their day to day activities.  When these executives are so flooded with calls demanding change, it will alter "business as usual." 

AND THAT IS WHAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN.

THE SQUEAKY WHEEL GETS THE GREASE.

THEY WILL BE FORCED TO FIND SOLUTIONS.

AND THE MORE PEOPLE THAT PARTICIPATE, THE LONGER THE PHONE RINGS AND EMAILS COME IN AND LETTERS ARRIVE IN THE MAIL, THE MORE LIKELY THE CHANGES WE ARE DEMANDING WILL HAPPEN.

Money that wasn't available for improvements to existing services will be found.  Government regulations will be relaxed for "special circumstances."  Loopholes will be found

That's why women can vote.  That's why black people can sit on the front of the bus.  (That's why marijuana is becoming legal, although that is not in the same class as the other examples.) Etc.

And OPT INSTL is not doing anything illegal or violent, or encouraging anyone to do anything illegal or violent. No one is going to be harmed or injured from this action.  Not even the phone lines.

IN FACT, WE ARE DOING JUST WHAT METRO SAYS THEY WANT-- GIVING THEM FEEDBACK!

Metro spends a lot of time crafting responses to complaints and demands for change in service.  We callers have to be prepared to hear the same things over and over again from them, every time we call.

BUT THEY ARE USED TO ONLY A CERTAIN VOLUME OF FEEDBACK.

That is why civil disobedience, protests, petitions, marches, sit-ins, strikes, and call-ins so often work. 

Most people hate disruption and surprises more than anything else.  The more comfortable a person's life, the less likely they are to welcome disruption.  That is why so many people just run through their lives, like rats in mazes.  (Turns out rats might have more empathy than many people. http://www.nature.com/news/rats-free-each-other-from-cages-1.9603)

WE HAVE TO MAKE OUR NEEDS OVERWHELMINGLY OBVIOUS, SO THAT METRO WILL NOT BE ABLE TO IGNORE US!

You know, like when you are trying to sing a long with a song, and someone turns up the volume on another piece of music?  It's hard not to slide into that key, that harmony and melody, that rhythm.  The sound of the other song is too loud.  Flooding the Metro phone lines, jamming them with calls, giving them so much specific information about what we need, they will not be able to continue running through the rat maze of "business as usual."

INFORMATION CREATES CHANGE.

And if there ARE any visionaries and forward-thinking innovators among the Metro executives then jamming the phone lines and creating disruption will bring them out.  We won't even need to ask them directly or know who they are. The Metro workers that create the solutions will be put in charge to get the phones to stop ringing!

In the current situation, even if those leaders and idealistic engineers wanted to make the same changes we are demanding-- even if they are singing the same song we are-- the "business as usual" tune is too loud.  They would have to risk their jobs to make as much noise as we can.

This is why we, the transit riders, have to be so willing to really go the distance-- keep calling, every week, every month, every time we ride.  As I said, they will keep saying "our hands are tied" and "we can't do that" and "that's in development" and "we don't know when."

Slave owners did not teach slaves to read because knowledge is power.  A slave might read about a successful slave revolt.  And get the idea that he or she could revolt, too.  It's the same thing with all other protests and movements for change.  Not just the material change the protest brings about, but the changes to the people doing the protesting.

If a small portion of this city is able to change something in the transportation system by legal, non-violent action, you have a whole new crop of leaders, ready to take on another problem. Then the success encourages other people to join.  Even those that might have refused to take part in the first revolt.

Now profits and business as usual are disrupted again. And again.  And the changes will just keep coming. And the leaders.

IF THE SONG OF THE 99% GETS EVEN A LITTLE LOUDER-- JUST 3.5% OF THE POPULATION-- THE 1% WILL NOT BE ABLE TO CONTINUE THEIR TUNE.

The 75ish, middle-class, white, guy (who I suspect is a retired Federal cop***) that told me it was wrong to jam the phone lines also said to me "I hope when you Occupy the bus you will pay your fare." That statement told me what he thinks Occupy is about, and was against it.

I laughed. Of course I am going to pay my fare.  I don't have a car!  Besides, I want to live in a city with great public transit and I don't mind paying for it.  I DO mind paying so much for such awful service and lack of attention to the real problems with Metro.

Then he told me that Occupy Wall Street was just a bunch of "criminals camping out illegally in Zucotti Park", and that "nothing" would happen from jamming the phone lines or the World Wide Wave of Action.

Who was a bigger threat in Occupy Wall Street? Non-violent protestors, using their right to Free Assembly at Zucotti Park, or the armed SWAT teams surrounding them? Who is really dangerous? The people working for social change and justice, through non-violent, legal means? Or the 1% starting wars to make themselves more money?

This guy and his kind, they are afraid of the power of the people, and their mindset is ALL about money.  They always assume that you are motivated by the same greed they are.  ("Don't think you can get a free ride and call it social change, missy." No, he didn't say that.  But it seemed like he did.)

(The JAM THE PHONE LINES flyer will be updated soon with some telephone numbers for the real power behind Metro- The East West Gateway Council of Governments.  The local businessmen and politicians that make the decisions and control the money. The face of the "Local 1%."  http://rt.com/usa/sadoff-inequality-rich-poor-685/)

I hope people will join me in working to change public transportation in St. Louis. Part of the reason I am doing this is to share what I have learned about political activism.  To encourage others. To try to find the way that works. I can write this blog and hand out leaflets, and research the power structure, but if no one calls Metro this won't be effective.

If my suggestions don't work for you, I hope you will do something else. I hope you will believe in yourself and your power.  It almost doesn't matter WHAT you do, just that you DO SOMETHING AND KEEP TRYING.  We can't be afraid to fail and try again, just like the first Occupy Wall Street seemed to fail, and now is going to try again, with World Wide Wave of Action.

YOUR VOICE MATTERS!

YOU MATTER!

YOUR NEEDS ARE IMPORTANT! YOU ARE NOT JUST A COG FOR PROFIT!

IT IS TIME FOR AN END TO "INCARCERATION BY LACK OF DECENT PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION"!

OPT IN STL!

*** EDIT: This post has been heavily edited and the edits will eventually be a separate post called Why Occupy? And also one about undercover cops, federal and local, and vigilantes, and their tactics at meeting like this.

I will post the links here when they are done.