METRO'S SECURITY CONTRACT WITH THE ST. LOUIS P.D.

Metro's honor system is a sweet deal for St. Louis police and sheriffs.  Police have their fingers in Metro's pie, too. Not just for writing tickets, but for getting more shifts, and the bosses get to skim the contract for their private slush funds.

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

Note in the article, Gore was "assigned to the Metrolink detail."

KENNY NAWLING'S TAKES ON SERCO

I don't know who Kenny Nawling's is, and the article doesn't mention where we can hear his radio show, but this dude is already my hero.

http://www.kmov.com/special-coverage-002/Man-handcuffs-self-to-door-of-controversial-ACA-contractor-in-protest-268666342.html

“I would like to talk to the highest ranking official in this office, so you’re not willing to get someone to talk to me,” Nawling said. “What I’m going to do is handcuff myself to this door until someone comes out to talk to me.”

Residents of other nations have protested Serco as well. People have staged protests over the company in Australia. In the United Kingdom, the company is also embroiled in controversy over government contracts. 

He handcuffed himself to Serco's front door!  (This is the company that sabotaged ACA applications to the tune of $1.3 Billion dollars of taxpayer money-- 1.2 billion for the contract, and another 98 million extension to pay them to actually process the applications they sabotaged! My previous post about them: http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/07/serco-is-about-lot-more-than-sabotaging.html)

St. Louis needs more people like Kenny Nawling!

METRO'S NEW GATEWAY CARD: HOW METRO COULD ATTRACT MORE RIDERS AND REALLY SERVE THE PUBLIC

Metro has a new Transit Debit card they are bringing out in 2015.  As usual, it is just enough to produce reams of self-congratulating marketing propaganda, but not really anything new, useful or revolutionary.

http://www.mygatewaycard.com/

It's the third story down on this article:
http://www.stltoday.com/news/traffic/along-for-the-ride/03700176-1c14-50c0-aab3-7a74ebddf147.html

That's great that it the card will "tap out" at $7.50 but to really do something useful, they need to have it tap out at $78 every month (the price of the monthly pass).

Moreover, as OPTINSTL keeps reminding people, WHETHER YOU RIDE METRO OR NOT, YOU PAY FOR IT!  Metro needs to be separated from Bi-State Development Agency and it needs to be community or communally owned by the cities and municipalities and counties it serves. 

EVERYONE should get a Gateway card, and it wouldn't be a bad idea to have people's names on it.  EVERYONE should get two free rides (two hour passes) a year on the card.

And EVERY ELECTION DAY and the FOURTH OF JULY should be FREE FARE DAYS.

If Metro was run by people whose only purpose was to make public transit serve the needs of the public, instead of being a funnel for massive government funds for Bi-State to use in leveraging "business development" and making private contractors rich, and thereby padding the CEO's future political ambitions, these changes would have already been made.

We would already have a North-South Metrolink (instead of those worn-out reconditioned 64 foot buses at $1.5 million each).  And that $5 million a year fare increase would have been paid for with the funds currently going to "Contributions to Outside Entities" (that's political campaign donations).

CALL METRO, CALL THE GOVERNOR, CALL MAYOR SLAY AND YOUR LOCAL REPRESENTATIVES AND DEMAND A BETTER GATEWAY CARD, FREE FARE DAYS, AND AN END TO THE PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP OF METRO AND BI-STATE DEVELOPMENT AGENCY!

MUGGINGS AT CIVIC CENTER METROLINK

http://www.kmov.com/news/crime/Downtown-Metrolink-station-faced-with-two-alleged--267437541.html

So, according to police only one of these is verified.  It happened   The details on the other one are very murky.

Metro says they don't have video of anything occurring on the platform.  Maybe they just don't know what they are looking for.  They don't say whether they have footage of anyone being near the victim that reported the crime.

And I might have called the police before saying anything to Metro security.  I don't want to call anyone a liar, but this is a strange story.

The second one happened on Sunday night.  Both involved guns.

This story was just reported today.  The article I had been reading before this one was:

http://fox2now.com/2014/07/17/man-sleeping-in-trash-container-dumped-into-truck/

Eliminate poverty and see how dramatically the crime drops.  Sure there will still be greedy thugs---the greatest and most successful thugs are entities and people like the I.R.S. and U.S. Government, and the Koch Brothers, and the banking and Wall Street "leaders"--- but all crime that stems from desperation and poverty will disappear.

I will say one thing about public transit, while violent crime may occur around transit, violent criminals rarely use public transit in the commission of crimes.

Bank robbers don't run to catch the 'getaway bus'. 

THE COPS ARE ROBBERS, AND THE ARCH RENOVATORS ARE THIEVES

(EDIT: I changed the title of this post.  The title was "The Police are theives, and the arch renovators are robbers"... I was thinking of the song "Police and Thieves."  Then I realized robbery is done with a gun, and the new title was more accurate.  The blog post address still reflects the old title.  Sorry.)

The Arch Grounds Renovation and the new Police Headquarters can tell transit riders a lot.

Metro is a private-public partnership.  Public-private partnerships are really just another way for business developers to get more government funding for their own purposes.

And the City Arch River foundation is a great example of the "boondogglery" and misinformation that accompany these partnerships.

http://www.cityarchriver.org/about-the-project/about-us/http://www.cityarchriver.org/about-the-project/about-us/

What is really shocking is how little real investigation is done by the media.  I get that global entities like Serco are difficult to track, but just skimming these articles the misinformation and statistical manipulation leaps out at the reader.  And these are all locally recognizable names and companies.

Take a wee peek at the people that are on the Board, and the companies that benefit.  Do the Ralston Purina heirs really need their names plastered anywhere else?  Look at the blatant pleas for more "donor recognition."

The biggest lie about the Arch Grounds Renovation is this:

"The lion's share of the funding is coming from private sources."

Take a close look at the actual private monies being donated --not a lion's share, by any means, and not actual money or even the "investors" own money, in the case of tax credits. Out of a $380 million dollar budget, private sources were supposed to donate $209 million.  $91 million comes from federal funding, and the rest-- and a whole lot more, about $500 million, for many, many years after the renovation is completed-- comes from that Prop P sales tax increase.  (They are gonna milk that cash cow to death.)

Now, kick in 14 months behind schedule, lagging private donations and additional $15 million dollar tax credit incentive (the government gives the donor a big tax credit, say for a million dollars, and the donor sells that credit for seventy cents on the dollar and kicks in a matching contribution... and the government wonders why they are insolvent??? Take the money to the racetrack and they'd get better odds and payoffs).

And, the truth is, the Arch is really not that vital to our city.  Sorry.  For real, read this link even if you don't read any of the others: http://nextstl.com/2013/03/the-missing-conversation-about-arch-grounds-attendance/

This is outright theft.  

The money from the tax and the federal funds could be used for something the city really needs: a north to south Metrolink.  The budget for that is $800 million.  (I believe that estimate is deliberately inflated, but regardless, that $718 million would pay for most of it, and Prop A's county proceeds in 14 months would cover the rest.)

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/missouri-taxpayers-may-kick-in-million-for-arch-museum-renovation/article_88adab79-c4ae-5ba8-be22-eae487adc0f1.html

http://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/missouri-development-finance-board-approves-15-million-tax-credits-museum-under-gateway-arch

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/key-part-of-gateway-arch-grounds-renovation-underway/article_67cef0cd-4528-5564-a61c-c2326b24533a.html

http://www.stltoday.com/news/opinion/editorial-close-the-taxpayers-spigot-for-the-arch-grounds-project/article_a0a9122b-014e-5b4d-95fc-8dab9ba6027a.html

http://www.stltoday.com/news/opinion/columns/the-platform/editorial-a-million-little-pieces-to-arch-parks-project-and/article_05e140d2-02f8-5cb7-b8dc-028611168804.html

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/arch-grounds-renovation-now-months-behind-schedule/article_bd34b21d-77da-50e6-aeb9-fef32a10993e.html

http://www.stltoday.com/news/opinion/columns/the-platform/editorial-a-million-little-pieces-to-arch-parks-project-and/article_05e140d2-02f8-5cb7-b8dc-028611168804.html

That Roy Blunt supports public-private partnerships is just another confirmation they are a very bad idea:
http://www.stltoday.com/news/opinion/columns/second-century-of-our-national-parks-should-be-defined-by/article_8db27654-c764-55db-9be9-dda85e9a8564.html

Now, about that new police headquarters.  Here is another term for theft that a lot of people aren't aware of: asset forfeiture money.

The department bought a nine-story building once used by financial services firm A.G. Edwards for $2.7 million using asset forfeiture money.

http://www.kmov.com/news/local/New-police-headquarters-to-open-in-St-Louis-267144381.html

http://www.kmov.com/news/local/New-headquarters-being-built-for-St-Louis-police-without-taxpayer-money-267252551.html

With asset forfeiture, your money is guilty until proven innocent.  It is outright theft.  And as with all theft, it is the poorest who are most vulnerable.

The police don't have to report the money.  If they think your money is "dirty" they can keep it. And good luck getting it back. 

http://www.policestateusa.com/2014/tan-nguyen-nevada/
 
http://www.legal-aid.org/en/ineedhelp/ineedhelp/criminalproblem/faq/howdoigetmystuffback.aspx

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/20/asset-forfeiture-wisconsin-bail-confiscated_n_1522328.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asset_forfeiture

http://www.ij.org/policing-for-profit-the-abuse-of-civil-asset-forfeiture-4

http://www.npr.org/series/91856663/dirty-money-asset-seizures-and-forfeitures

https://www.aclu.org/criminal-law-reform/civil-asset-forfeiture

Hey, St. Louis, do you like being robbed?

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

WHAT STL METRO COULD LEARN FROM LA METRO'S BLUE LINE

I find it really shocking how dismissive Metro executives are about their terrible surveys.  (Once a year, on the Metrolink only.)  They are really clueless about the actual transit needs of their riders.

Without meaningful, accurate data, from a large representative group of patrons, no business or entity can make decisions or do planning.

It is only because Metro is not a completely private, for profit business that they can get away with this.  (And there is very little chance that any public transit agency is every going to be lucrative enough for a private company to want to own one.   All of these agencies are really just funnels for government funds to be used in "business development."  And to further political careers of CEO's and top executives. "Hey I mismanaged Metro's 350 million dollar budget, I can mismanage the state's budget just as well."  Um, yes, that was sarcasm.)

This article about Los Angeles' Metro's Blue Line is a real eye opener if you know how to read between the lines.

http://www.citylab.com/commute/2014/07/when-las-blue-line-was-new/374421/

It was a big deal, perhaps even more so than the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority (LACMTA) expected. Originally projected to have a daily ridership of 5,000, the Blue Line was carrying 32,000 riders a day by the end of 1990. As of last May, the system's oldest line has an average weekday ridership of 86,065.

THAT'S RIGHT! Expected versus actual ridership BEGAN at SIX TIMES the agency's estimate!  And is now, what? SEVENTEEN TIMES the estimate??? 

The Blue Line runs through South Central and down to Long Beach.  It definitely covers LA's most transit dependent areas. 

When public transit takes people where they need to go, in a timely manner, the sky is the limit.

You know, OPTINSTL's survey for Metro to use is modelled from the Los Angeles Metro's semi-annual survey. For an entire week, on every single bus and train, LA Metro has survey takers handing out and collecting lengthy, detailed questionnaires to every rider. 

http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/04/what-metros-new-survey-should-be.html

St. Louis Metro relies on general population and employment statistics.  And those once a year, five question, Metrolink-only surveys.

Of course, business developers and local politicians don't really want Metro to provide good service to the people that need it the most.  St. Charles demonstrated that most blatantly when they shot down the proposed Metrolink ten years ago. 

http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-apalling-racist-fiasco-of-2005-and.html

What they want is bus service that will actually get a person to a low wage job, but not convenient enough for those workers to come spend their free time in the "nice areas". 

Incarceration by lack of decent public transit is a very effective way of cordoning off parts of the city using federal funds to do so.

If St. Louis Metro actually surveyed their riders, a north-south metrolink would be the obvious top-priority.  But then it would be easier and faster for transit riders to get around.

And that is exactly what they don't want.

ST LOUIS SPIKES

There was a Metro bus crash yesterday because a passenger attacked the driver. 

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/metro-bus-crashes-downtown-after-passenger-assaults-driver/article_b7f39fe2-f03a-5bce-ab54-5a84646ac304.html

http://www.kmov.com/news/crime/Metro-Bus-driver-hospitalized-after-being-assaulted-while-driving-266954791.html

If I had to guess which bus line I'd say the #41.  And as the union comments, this type of thing is far too common on buses. 

Bus driver's take all the anger for everything that is wrong with Metro, and the heat for a lot of what is wrong in the city.

These spikes in violence and crime seem to be so bewildering to our "leaders".  It's as if they live in a completely different city, in fact, a different WORLD, than the rest of us.

Look at the crime maps of St. Louis, and it is obvious that these spikes are happening in the poorest and most downtrodden parts of the city.

The financial crisis of 2008, which we supposedly are "recovering" from, is not over.  In fact, it hasn't even begun.  The bank bailouts did NOTHING to fix the economy.  The bailouts simply shifted the problem.

And all of this screaming you hear about our roads and infrastructure, the insolvency of our state and government bodies, where do you think this money crunch is being felt the most?

At the bottom. 

Yes, you can keep taking a few dollars a week from SNAP recipients, make unemployment benefits harder to obtain, raise sales taxes, ignore our failing school systems, and keep adding more police to already overly-policed neighborhoods (more cops make bad neighborhoods worse), and all of us will pay the price.

This city treats North St. Louis like a concentration camp.  Half of this city doesn't exist, except for the crime reports (and the poor of this city making our legal system and lawyers and private prison owners wealthier).

And the more desperate the people become, the harder the state cracks down, the more explosive it is going to get.  The less they will be able to "contain" the spikes to the areas where no "decent" person will go.

I wish that not only were Metro officials required to ride the buses, I wish all the local politicians were required to actually walk the streets and ride transit and talk to people. 

And police should be required to "walk the beat" and get to know the people in the communities they police.

And, yes, Metro needs more security.  And they need to pay their drivers more.  Bus drivers take a lot of crap, and while some of them are jerks-- or jerks sometimes, they are people, after all, like the rest of us-- they deserve to be treated with more respect, not just from riders, but from the company that employs them.

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!
 

DEAR METRO: RIDERS NEED DRINKING FOUNTAINS AS WELL AS TOILETS

Sitting at the Delmar Metrolink the other day, in the hot sun, was a woman waiting for a bus that runs every 40 minutes.  She was 60ish, African-American, in somewhat fragile health, and on that day, dry as dust.

"Why don't they have a drinking fountain?" she asked.  "All this money we pay, and we can't get a drinking fountain."  She didn't have even a quarter to buy water from one of the local restaurants.

"We need bathrooms, too," I commented. 

"Yes, but right now, I am so dry, I couldn't even go to the bathroom," she said.  "I need a drink of water!"
 
The need for bathrooms has already been well documented on this blog.

http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/03/metro-bus-and-train-stations-need-more.html

But we need drinking fountains, too.  Riding your buses is thirsty work.  There is rarely enough shade at bus stops and terminals, and often there is no shade.  Too often there are no places nearby where a person can get a drink of water for free.  If you want water you will need to pay at least a quarter to get a cup from a fountain machine, or buy a plastic bottle of water. Of course, that is the same as needing the toilet.  You have to buy something at most places. 

If I were driving a car for an hour and a half on the highways, there would be ample rest stops where I could get water and go to the bathroom.  But during my daily three hour trip on the buses (90 minutes one way, on three bus lines each way, with at least a 20 minute wait between one of those transfers) there is no consideration for my most basic needs.

It's the 21st Century and we can send a man to outer space, but we don't have public facilities in our earthbound cities.  Legislators, lawmakers, and the media argue endlessly over when life begins in a woman's uterus.  Corporations are ruled to be "persons".

But the one thing that all people have in common (except for corporate "persons") is a bladder and bowels.  One thing we all need to survive is water.

Our city and nation, our entire planet, is ruled by shareholders and executives seeking profits for themselves.  They don't care about us, and they never have.  We are cash cows to be milked for labor and then again for taxes.

We, the people, pay for everything but get very little in return.

Maybe when we are all thirsty and incontinent enough, we will begin to demand our fair share.

Let's start with public toilets and drinking fountains at St. Louis Metro transfer centers, and go from there.