Questions to Ponder for Charlie Dooley

If you are feeling especially feisty, go ahead and ask Charlie Dooley why, if he supports public transit as he repeatedly claims to, the county can find $50 million to redo one single intersection, but not to fund public transit?
http://stlurbanworkshop.blogspot.com/2009/04/mass-transit-for-all-v-one-new.html

St. Louis County has decided to install a "Michigan Left" intersection at Manchester and Hanley Roads. The price tag? $50M.

What else could we do with $50M?

** Free mass transit for 2,800,000 people for one year
** Fully restore mass transit in St. Louis for 2+ years
** Restore minimum service to entire system for 5 years

Metro Solutions Suggested

Our “Metro” public transit system is out of money and cutting service. People can’t get to their jobs. Simultaneously, unemployed people might be willing to drive people to work for a small fee.

Bevis Schock has a solution: Deregulate the taxi business and let anybody drive anybody anywhere for whatever price the parties can agree on. Not a bad idea in desperate times.

A comment from the St. Louis Beacon, http://www.stlbeacon.org/about

Dooley Blames Voters for Metro Situation; Voters Blame Dooley

Business & Media Institute produced a segment that aired on CNN’s March 29 “State of the Union” which looked at some of the cutbacks that will go in effect on March 30 to the St. Louis bus and light rail systems.

According to one St. Louis Democrat featured in the piece, the hardship stems from a penny-pinching electorate and the larger economy.

“The funding gap has local roots. St. Louis County voters rejected a modest tax hike to help the metro system. Local officials like County Executive Charlie Dooley thought it would pass, but say voters suddenly got stingy just before the November election as the stock market tumbled and Washington bailed out big financial firms.”

Dooley chastised voters for not realizing the impact they’re going to have on the workforce. Unfortunately, Dooley is not a popular leader having put his foot in his mouth on more than a few projects. The one that caused voters to reject the Metro vote was the trash program instituted by St. Louis County last year. Voters continue to have a sour taste in their mouths with lawsuits pending in the courts.

County taxpayers are tired of subsidizing a failed government-run transit system. According to the March 29 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the St. Louis Metro system is bleeding money. It faces an operating deficit of $45 million in 2009 – expected to reach $50 million in 2010.

Do you want to voice your disapproval of these cuts? Don't get mad at Metro. Tell your elected officials. Do you want some of your service restored? Write to Charlie Dooley and ask him why he can't give the 10 million dollars in funds to Metro that are no longer needed for 141 rebuilding project?

c/o Charlie Dooley
41 South Central Avenue,9th Floor
Clayton, MO 63105
Email: cdooley@stlouisco.com

PS - Has anyone ever received a reply from Mr. Dooley? Email or letter?

ST. LOUIS PUBLIC TRANSIT TO BE WORSE THAN BEIRUT

The following is from Mark Edwards blog site. See address below.

I'm every bit as concerned about the long term impact these changes are about to have on the St. Louis region. Here's the bottom line. St. Louis becomes a THIRD class mass transit region on March 30th. Metro's years of mismanagement, the horrendous Prop M campaign orchestrated by St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley and his cronies, and lack of honest public education about the economic impact of a horrid public transit system will converge into a perfect storm that will put people out of work, leave employers scrambling to find workers-even in this recession, and make anyone looking to expand or bring a business to St. Louis think twice.

I've said in other forums that St. Louis has a worse public transit system than Beirut. Here's proof.

See the entire article at:
http://markontheweb.blogspot.com/2009/03/st-louis-public-transit-to-be-worse.html

Oakville Call Names County Officials' Unresponsiveness Top Story of 2007

According to the Oakville Call, St. Louis County officials have reawakened a sleeping giant — south county.

The Call's No. 1 story of 2007 actually is a combination of three stories that reflect county government's unresponsiveness to the needs of south county residents — the establishment of trash districts in unincorporated areas, County Counselor Pat Redington's decision to settle a lawsuit with Fred Weber Inc. over the company's plans to build a trash-transfer station in Oakville and a proposed half-cent sales tax to fund MetroLink expansion to west county and north county.

South county residents' dissatisfaction with the county's plan to establish trash districts was compounded last fall when they learned Redington had agreed in October to a settlement with Weber that would permit the company to construct the trash-transfer station at 5219 Baumgartner Road.

Nearby residents had opposed the trash-transfer station since it first was proposed by Weber in 2003. To challenge county officials' actions, two groups have formed in south county — Citizens Against Trashy Government is opposed to the trash districts and the trash-transfer station while Make Your Opinion Count LLC is working on an initiative petition to repeal the trash districts and halt the county's new minimum standards for trash collection.

Another south county group — Citizens Against Prop M — was formed to oppose a half-cent sales-tax increase placed on the Feb. 5 ballot by the County Council to expand MetroLink to west county and north county and provide maintenance to Metro light-rail trains and buses.

Before the group even began its efforts, the County Council removed Proposition M from the ballot after former Metro Chief Operating Officer Larry Salci's well-documented appearance on KTVI-TV's "You Paid for It'' program and after a St. Louis County Circuit Court jury ordered Metro to pay $2.56 million to a group of four firms that the transit agency had sued for $80 million.

But county spokesman Mac Scott has said that Prop M likely will appear in some form on a future ballot. We predict any future MetroLink proposal will receive exactly the same reception as Prop M in south county unless a regional transportation plan is developed that details MetroLink expansion, including costs and a reasonable timetable to bring it here.

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