calling Jim Schulz's bluff...

Jennifer Clark, Director of Community Development, was approached me after I spoke to the City Council on May 4th with an invitation to actively try to actually apply for some public bus transit funding at the next available dispensation. Most of the available grants such as the Region 7 DERA and SAFETEA-LU TCSP are now past application deadline, and while it is unfortunate that these opportunities were missed, one of which would have provided between $500,000 and $5,000,000 for transit operations, one must always assume that it is always better to be late than never.
Back on December 15th when I spoke to the City Council, we handed out to the Mayor and Council members a packet of color-coded public bus route maps and the corresponding points served, including all the TANF-qualifying PHA and low-income various venues listed. Every single route had between 1 and 11 TANF-qualifiers as well as qualifiers for other grant venues. I was even able to provide the city manager with the spare that Councilwoman Young declined to receive when Councilman Schulz asked that he also get a copy. Unfortunately, no positive activity was taken with regard to this attempt to provide helpful connections with which to work conjointly with local TANF to qualify for grant funding.
 
After I spoke on April 20th to the City Council, Councilman Schulz stated outdoors after session end that he now cared about public bus service reductions and would like to see the funding problem remedied for restoration of services. So with these new offerings of possible cooperation and real action being offered, we now handed out the color-coded packets again on May 18th, this time specifically to Jennifer Clark and Councilman Schulz, who specifically asked for material upon which to act to at least obtain the next possible available grant funding date for application and subsequent receipt of monies. This time, I even included a few summary sheets with handy other tips and descriptive connections to help speed up the process of getting to the right place at the correct time. This included TANF and WtW information as well as CCAM information. This also included information about real Para-Transit in a similar city as regards population and citizen need in Missouri. They have, and will share “how-to” information with the city staff grant proposal writers, for achieving real results as they have done that allow for 8 lift-equipped para-transit mini-buses that carried 27,000 riders in 2008 alone, in addition to all their regular public bus transit. We can and must emulate them.
 
Also, on April 29th, the American Lung Association ranked the greater KC Metro area as #22 out of the 25 absolutely worst air polluted areas in the whole USA. That should allow the city to refile a grant proposal with CMAC for funds dispensation as soon as they become available, if they act now. I am hoping that they are truly serious now and will actively move forward, but we will see very shortly if this was real sincerity or more lip service.
                                                                    
Finally, after I spoke to the City Council on May 4th, the city manager said he called Dick Jarrold at the KCATA about House Bill 29 and was told that it was for transit capital expenditures only. I am not quite sure why or how Mr. Jarrold’s end of the conversation transpired that way, because Mr. Jarrold and I both are aware that House Bill 29 is a bill strictly addressing inmate populations and marshals that is not on the calendar or up for hearing. That said, House Bill 22 was a bill for transit capital expenditures only, hence I never bothered with it. I did work intensely to try to rescue Kansas City and add Independence for 2009 on House Bill 21, and many thousands helped and participated, but it passed with only St. Louis and Springfield benefiting.
 
Erin Burroughs, CPIBT Chair
Committee to Preserve Independence Bus Transit