AMENDMENT 7 SHOWDOWN

I can't seem to shut up about Amendment 7.  It is not just an outrage and highway robbery, but also a very clear example of the kind of widespread insolvency our governments are facing nationally.  (It might seem that it started in 2008, but our current corporate plutocracy and income inequality actually go back to 1981 and Reagan.)

I don't even need to point out that it is no coincidence that this comes during the "fight" to pass the highway transportation bill.

http://www.rollcall.com/news/holden_pass_the_highway_transportation_bill-222461-1.html?pg=2&dczone=opinion

The Laborers International Union of North America have joined the construction cartels and made themselves into panhandlers for the proposed statewide sales tax increase. 

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/money-flowing-to-missouri-transportation-tax-group/article_5905897d-aa61-55da-814a-fa1faf4c8a6a.html

Theatrical panhandlers with a scare tactic.  They are traveling around with a bus that has a bridge (foam sculpture) crashing down on top of it. 

http://kplr11.com/2014/07/14/local-group-to-use-bus-wreck-to-support-transportation-tax-hike/

I don't blame these guys for working it to get some work.  And I support the unions.  But this sales tax increase is panhandling.  These workers are just some of the recipients of the beggar's cup, even though they know they, too, will pay for it.

Government officials want to do everything BUT raise taxes on the wealthy and increase effective tax rates on the corporate oligarchs.  None of our great leaders is the least bit interested in doing what is right for the people.  All they want is their nice fat campaign contributions and lobbyist gifts to keep coming.

As I-- and many others-- have said before, Metro is not about public transit.  Public Transit is just the excuse for Bi-State Development Agency to funnel government funds for business development and political networking.

The Government is not about Government services, including transportation infrastructure.  Government services are just the excuse for extracting more tax money.

If the government and big business wants more of our (coin) change, they need to create some real change!

Amendment 7 is a good opportunity for we, the people, to demand real change!

These threats of infrastructure collapse and bus crashes, these are scare tactics.  They need to be afraid of us!

“When the people fear the government there is tyranny, when the government fears the people there is liberty.”  -John Basil Barnill

 

“People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.” -V For Vendetta


OPTINSTL'S previous posts on Amendment 7:

http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/07/why-you-should-vote-no-on-proposed.html

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

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

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

VOTE NO ON AMENDMENT 7, PROPOSED STATEWIDE SALES TAX INCREASE

EDIT: St. Louis Today posted this great article on Sunday, June 22nd:
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/political-fix/coming-to-a-tv-screen-near-you-missouri-s-sales/article_2b9096df-ce44-5307-9cd2-d1bd34df70bf.html

I have more to say about this topic, but this is the text of the statement to our "leaders" and the leaflet I will be taking to the open hearing tomorrow at the Central Library.  (There is also a hearing today at UMSL and one on Thursday in Cottleville. http://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/modot-kicks-public-meetings-transportation-tax-list)
 

17 June 2014

Dear St. Louis City and County, and Missouri “leaders”:

     I find it reprehensible that this state is asking its citizens for MORE MONEY! Especially for “roads and bridges”! One thing we have quite enough of here in St. Louis is road, highway, and bridge construction. We need improved public transit, especially in the areas that use it the most. We need a metrolink that runs from north county to south county. We need high speed rail connecting Saint Louis to Jefferson City, Kansas City, and Columbia.

     These “wish lists” are just fantasy to sell this tax hike to voters. And even the fantasy allocates only $12 million of the $500 million budget to public transit. Once you get our money you will do whatever you want with it. We were told in April of 2010 that Prop A was going to save Metro. In 2013 Prop A collected $78 million in the county and $11 million in the city. Yet all that money has done is pay off the interest on Metro's outrageous debt for the Shrewbury Metrolink extension. Fares are being increased in July and Metro faces continued insolvency.

     And you didn't tell us, back in 2010, that County Executive Charlie Dooley could withhold that $78 million he collects on Prop A and allocate it instead to more roads and bridges. And let's just consider what all this construction is really about: making wealthy companies like Clayco wealthier. Which, of course, makes their contributions to your political campaign funds larger, but does absolutely nothing for the public.

     Why are we being asked to make the already wealthy contractors and developers and engineers of this city even wealthier, when by U-6 numbers we have 10% unemployment, and our schools are failing? I keep hearing about how “attracting talented young professionals” is the key to St. Louis economic growth. This is not only ridiculous, it is offensive.

     Obviously, you do not think that the youth of St. Louis have the capability to become “talented young professionals” with an “entreupreneurial spirit.” If you did you would save our schools, create jobs and internship opportunities, invest in more day care, and give the same investment incentives and tax breaks to local small businesses that you give to these big corporations (who often put the locals out of business!).

     If you believed in your citizens, you would be working to abolish right-to-work legislation, increase the state's minimum wage, and make this a better state for workers. Low wage jobs are the only part of the job sector that is growing. I don't trust a state that makes it more difficult to get unemployment so that it can use the unemployment fund to pay off its debts, and keeps milking sales tax like it is a cash cow.

     We, the people, deserve real leaders. We do not need a County Executive that gives a museum director a half a million dollar a year salary. We do not need a Mayor that governs only the southern, “white” half of the city. We do not need a Metro CEO that supports “right to work”, refuses to negotiate a new union contract with his drivers, is paid $250,000 a year, and gives $5 million a year in “contributions to outside entities.”

     Everything about this city and state's “economic development” is backward and mismanaged (and possibly corrupt). If you can't increase the well being of the people currently living here, with the vast amounts of money we are already giving you, why should we trust you with more money? Why would more people want to move here?

     What are you doing to make the quality of our lives better? For the WHOLE city, not just the middle and upper class citizens. What are you doing to close the $32,000 a year income gap, the “Delmar Divide”, where the median income in north St. Louis is just $8,000 a year, and the south is $40,000?
     The northern half of this city is treated like a reservation or concentration camp, filled with hostile natives, incarcerated by lack of job opportunity, poverty, crumbling neighborhoods, and miserable public transit options. We don't need more Ballpark Villages and Cortex communities. All this does is shift the wealth, it doesn't create more. (Cortex is especially insulting. That they were given DOT TIGER funding, when the obvious outcome of this development is gentrification. And $9 million of taxpayer money to tear down the existing CWE Metrolink station to build a new one a few blocks away? OUTRAGEOUS!)

     We don't need more roads and bridges. We don't need another sales tax increase. We need leaders that can effectively manage the money they have now, and who address the real problems facing our city and state.  

THE PEOPLE SAY “NO” TO AMENDMENT 7!!! 

 

VOTE NO ON “AMENDMENT 7”

THE PROPOSED MISSOURI STATEWIDE SALES TAX INCREASE ON THE BALLOT AUGUST 2014 !

Your vote counts in local and state elections! And even if you cannot vote, you are still a sales tax paying citizen of this state! And St. Louis city and county already have the highest sales tax rates in the state!

Call your local and state representatives and tell them you are against Amendment 7. Tell them you what we need to make this city and state more economically viable! MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD!

WHAT ABOUT OUR SCHOOLS?! Where is all that lottery money going? Why are they asking us for more money for highways and bridges when our kids are suffering in unaccredited and crowded school districts? Where is the funding for after-school and youth programs? Internship opportunities? Scholarships?

WHAT ABOUT PUBLIC TRANSIT AND HIGH SPEED RAIL? In 2010 voters agreed to Prop A to “save” Metro, and yet they are still insolvent! They are raising fares on July 1^st and have not put in a single foot of new Metrolink track in 8 years! We need a statewide speed rail system that links St. Louis, Kansas City, Jefferson City, and Columbia. We don't need more highways!

WHAT ABOUT HOUSING? One hundred thousand homes and lots sit vacant in St. Louis city and county, many bank or city/county owned, and yet we have thousands of homeless. The problem is much larger than just 26 houses in the Ranken Technical College neighborhood! And at the least the vacant lots could be turned into urban farms or “edible” parks, and playgrounds!

WHAT ABOUT JOBS? We need more jobs, and better jobs! More job training! A higher minimum wage! More protection for workers! Stronger unions! More daycare!

GET INVOLVED! THIS IS YOUR MONEY! THIS IS YOUR CITY! THIS IS YOUR STATE!

Governor Jay Nixon: (573) 751-3222

Mayor Francis Slay: (314) 534-2009   mayorslay@mayorslay.com

Board of Aldermen: (314) 622-3287       

County Executive Charlie Dooley: (314) 615-7016

Learn more about Amendment 7 and the proposed projects:

http://www.stltoday.com/news/opinion/columns/the-platform/editorial-ten-good-reasons-to-vote-against-the-transportation-sales/article_48a47c71-3a4c-5e0e-b7c2-59d45740bf86.html

http://nextstl.com/2014/05/st-louis-city-produces-project-list-possible-sales-tax-revenue/

http://nextstl.com/2014/06/modot-produces-draft-sales-tax-transportation-project-list/

Join the movement for better public transit: This leaflet was produced by Occupy Public Transportation in St. Louis (OPTINSTL). If you ride public transit, consider boycotting Metro in protest of the fare increase! 

JULY 1^st! STRIKE CITYWIDE! DON'T RIDE!

please print and share this leaflet

optinstl.blogspot.com                      optinstl@gmail.com

METRO IS JUGGLING A LOT OF BONDS

I've been going through the audit report Claire McCaskill had done on Metro after the Shrewsbury lawsuit fiasco.

http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/04/more-on-metro-lawsuit-against-original.html

I wish there was some sort of honorary degree in Public Transit I could get from a university. Just reading through the legalese in these things is ridiculous.

I admit I have to read slowly, and re-read a lot. But it is not completely incomprehensible. Let's look at this paragraph from page 8 of the document, which is page 12 of the PDF web page file:

http://auditor.mo.gov/press/2008-58.pdf

The Cross County Extension Project exceeded the original project budget by nearly $126 million and resulted in the issuance of an additional $150 million in bonds in 2005 to finance the project and $20.8 million in bonds in 2007 to refinance a portion of the debt service payments due in 2008 and 2009. The total debt service costs over the life of these additional bonds will exceed $293.5 million and will not be fully paid until 2036. The additional debt service must be funded by the Proposition M sales tax and as a result Proposition M sales tax funds available for funding operations will be reduced. A proposal to increase the Proposition M sales tax rate by ¼ cent had been placed on the February 2008 ballot in St. Louis County. However, that proposal was removed from the ballot by county officials following the unfavorable outcome of the Metro lawsuit against the CCC. Also, in early 2008, Metro was informed that St. Louis County would reduce Metro's funding from the ½ cent transportation sales tax by $8.5 million for fiscal year 2009 and $10 million for fiscal year 2010.

Now, those $150 million in extra bonds is a problem. Not only did they go way over budget, end up in litigation, lose the court case, end up paying a lot in legal fees and settlements, they also created a bunch of debt for themselves (a bond is essentially a way to borrow money, a big IOU).

And some of these bonds were to refinance the debt service payments due in 2008 and 2009 on other bonds!

They planned to repay this IOU (the "additional debt service") by Proposition M, which actually never made it to the ballot. (So, I was wrong that Prop A was a bond measure re-packaged to voters, the Transportation Bond failed. Prop A was just a quarter cent increase and three years later version of Prop M.)

And it seems that any monies that come from the County on Transportation Sales Tax IS decided by the County Executive. In both 2009 and 2010 they are looking at increasing reductions in the amount of money they can ask for.

So that explains A LOT about Prop A.

It also explains why Metro was hit so hard by the sub-prime mortgage fiasco that hit all the banks, and in turn, all bonds. The report continues with this:

As of April 30, 2008, Metro reported holding cash and investments of approximately $131 million and various trustees held $41 million. In March 2008, Metro prepared an analysis of cash and investments that indicated about $71 million would be available to fund operating deficits that were expected in fiscal years 2008, 2009, and 2010, if additional revenue sources could not be identified. The analysis predicted that cash and investments available to fund operations would be about $12 million by the end of fiscal year 2010. Also as of April 30, 2008, Metro and its trustees were holding $28.2 million in Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority (MOHELA) securities that they have been unable to sell due to disruptions in the financial markets. The remainder of Metro's cash and investments, about $72.8 million held by Metro and its trustees, are restricted and unavailable to fund operating deficits.

As early as April 2002, Metro's former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) informed the St. Louis County Council that Metro was facing serious shortfalls in operating the region's mass transit system. In the fall of 2006 and spring of 2007, the former CEO and executives of St. Louis County met with legislative leadership to discuss new state funding to abate the pending financial shortfall. In May 2008, Metro adopted the budget for fiscal year 2009 that included a projected budget deficit of $10.8 million for fiscal year 2009, and also included $8.3 million in budgeted "other revenue sources" which were described as "the amount needed to balance the budget. The additional needed revenue could come from a successful tax referendum in St. Louis County, passenger fare increases, and/or revenues not yet determined. If no other revenues are identified, service reductions will be planned and implemented" during fiscal year 2009. The budget also projected a deficit of $45.8 million for fiscal year 2010. The planned spending for capital improvements was also reduced from $360.6 million in fiscal year 2009 to $68.6 million in fiscal year 2010. Metro has scheduled a series of public hearings regarding various options for fare increases that may become effective in January 2009. Those options range from increasing the cost of all passes and transfers to increasing all fares, passes, transfers and cutting service.

The second is obscene, considering what the former CEO was paid. In 2002 they KNEW BEFORE THE FINANCIAL CRISIS that they were already FACING SHORTFALL!

What did they do? They jacked up the public for more sales tax and higher fares.

SOUND FAMILIAR? (Yes, City voters, you have ANOTHER Transportation tax in the coming election. Alderman Lewis Reed was conducting a survey about it in the Missouri History Museum a few weeks ago. The survey asked voters to choose what they wanted to spend it on. Metro was one of the choices. I haven't had a chance to look into the City yet at all, but I bet that money doesn't go straight to Metro for basic operating expenses. I bet there are a lot of restrictions on it. And Council and Commission approvals. The people they should be asking, the riders, are not even considered except as an afterthought.)

Metro has all the earmarks of Lehman Brothers in September of 2008.

People that think the current system is "doing the best it can" and "Metro is similar to other Transit Agencies in cities of a similar size" need to consider the lesson of Lehman Brothers. What they did was no worse than Bear Stearns.

Metro might be doing what everyone else is doing, but that doesn't mean they are doing what they SHOULD BE doing.

Metro needs to be re-structured. It needs another public audit. REAL SOLUTIONS need to be found. Those solutions might be unique to St. Louis. Metro likes to brag that it is the only public transit agency of its' kind in the country (still trying to figure out exactly what this means-- something about the way they are structured and the partnership with the two states). If it is the only one of its' kind it shouldn't be too difficult to actually make it work for the people that ride it.

And actually, right now, it is not working for anyone.