May bus newsletter excerpt

“The research has been carefully and thoroughly performed. Independence specifically does qualify for available government public bus transit funding from SAFETEA-LU, TANF, and WtW grants, as well as at least 10 other government grant programs. As a matter of fact, the TANF and WtW offices for all of eastern Jackson County are even located right here in Independence on the #284 Purple route on Noland Road at Partridge.
The work, however, has not been done, because only local government is allowed to apply for government grants for their locality. Private citizens and groups are not permitted to do this for them; it has to come from their grant proposal writers filing for the funding.
According to Mid-America Regional Council, or MARC, of the $85 million Obama’s stimulus plan designated to Missouri for transportation and transit, $51 million of it was allocated to the greater Kansas City area, which specifically includes Independence. According to MARC, John Powell, Public Works Director, was assigned by Independence city officials to participate in the Surface Transportation Program Committee process by representing Independence to vote for fund allocations that city officials wanted. MARC reports that the 2 allocations requested, voted for, and provided were as follows, of the $4,740,000 apportioned to Independence:
►$1,440,000 to pay in full for Jackson Drive and Holke Road to M-78 Highway
►$3,300,000 to partially pay for Little Blue Parkway and RD Mize Road to Necessary Road
Not a penny was requested towards the prorated $132,000 now needed to restore public bus transit in Independence for the remaining 8 months of 2009, covering both the January 2009 and October 2007 cuts.
According to the MARC Missouri Surface Transportation Program Priorities Committee Roles & Responsibilities, the City of Independence qualified for and could have requested this prorated $132,000 now due at the beginning of May or even the prorated $148,500 due at the beginning of April under the following eligible criteria defined as follows:
►Section IV Eligible Uses of Funds:
o       Number 1C: alternative mode projects
o       Number 2A: operational improvements of existing transit systems
o       Number 2A: transit development programs
o       Number 2B: fringe and corridor parking facilities and programs
►Section VI Policy Long-Range Transportation Plan Goals & Objectives for Funds:
o       Number 1B: increase modal choice
o       Number 1C: better integrate projects into the community
o       Number 1D: better manage roadway capacity
The question still remains: Why do Independence city officials insist on not applying for and not using our portion of various available monies? The staunch refusal to apply for that which is available and for which we are eligible is frankly unconscionable. I personally spoke with the leaders in the chains of command in Washington DC and Michigan as well as locally in Jefferson City and our own Region 7 offices. We have now missed out on a DERA (Diesel Emission Reduction Act) grant that would have been for between $500,000 minimum and $5,000,000 maximum in application amount. That expired April 28th. We have now missed out on a TCSP (Transportation & Community & System Preservation) grant that could have been for the full amount of our shortfall. That expires May 6th.
In desperation, I have done the one thing that I could do that city officials should have done. House Bill 21, which has a deadline for inclusion of May 1st, is a plea for emergency public bus transit local shortfall of 2009 funds for St. Louis, Kansas City, and Springfield. On April 28th, I personally e-mailed the following emergency notification to the State officials for any part of Independence:
            Senator Victor Callahan (11th District)
Senator Matt Bartle (8th District)
            Representative Tom McDonald 49th District)
            Representative Ray Salva (51st District)
            Representative Paul Levota (52nd District)
            Representative Curt Dougherty (53rd District)
            Representative Gary Dusenberg (54th District)
            Representative Bryan Pratt (55th District)
and following was my text:
‘Would you please be kind enough to enter Independence (this week before it is too late) as a 4th party to HB21 along with St. Louis, Kansas City, and Springfield for emergency public bus transit local funding shortfall to cover the $132,000 due as required local co-contribution for the remaining 8 months of 2009? The City of Independence paid the KCATA $1,050,000 and was short $198,000 as of the beginning of the year, but the prorated amount of the shortfall to cover from May through December is now only $132,000 and will restore all the damaging service reduction cuts that occurred as a result of the shortfall in bill paid to the KCATA. HB21 is our last and only hope, and we beg to be included for our disabled, fixed-income elderly, and socio-economically disadvantaged and working poor citizenry who are being decimated from the service reduction cuts because of this shortfall. Respectfully submitted 4/28/09.’
It is truly a shame that a private citizen has try to do the job that private citizens elected city officials to do. Perhaps they have done their own will instead of the will of their people for so long that they have forgotten that they were elected to serve others beyond themselves and their personal agendas. Let us hope that they have simply forgotten, and not that they do not care.
Erin Burroughs, CPIBT Chair (Committee to Preserve Independence Bus Transit)
R.O.A.M. (Riders On A Mission)
So many people depend on the bus for work, grocery shopping, and doctor appointments. We need the bus. Carol Farris
We need the buses every day, because they are our only way of traveling and surviving. Verna Hodes
The city officials need to pay the rest due to put the buses back every hour on the hour. Melvin Hodes
I really don’t like how the buses run in the morning with the service disruption, because I have to get my baby up when she should be sleeping, and I am also forced to get to school an hour before it even opens and just sit there in the cold or snow or rain or heat. They should also run in the evening and night so that adult student single mothers like me could work. Alicia O’Neill
I live at Hawthorne and cannot afford having buses cut. I am surviving on disability and have no car, so buses are my only way. Diane Gaston
If there are any open rental properties available in Independence, the city officials are just hurting themselves and their churches and their wealthy friends who own them by cutting busing from people most likely to rent there. Theresa McCleery
They must not cut the buses, because people will no longer be able to get to work to pay to survive. And how are the blind going to make it? Nicole Sleming
Cutting the buses prevents getting to doctor appointments and Court dates (which generate revenue for the city) and to the grocery stores. Sue Sleming
Besides the bad cuts, they don’t run early enough or late enough or often enough to get to where jobs are here and in Blue Springs and Lee’s Summit. They not only need to restore the cuts, but desperately need to expand suburb-to-suburb for this. Charles Crain
When buses do not start until 6:00 a.m. and stop the last run at 5:00 p.m., it does not allow a full-time job of 8 hours, even without taking a lunch, when trying to commute to and from work. With the bad economy and rising fuel costs, more and more people cannot afford to drive every day to and from work, and must have these buses. Michael Savage
If the city officials want to put more money into their coffers, they need to restore service and not cut it. They should even expand it to make more money. Cutting service is a loss of revenue on many levels. Ray Graham
We desperately need service restored and expanded for Sunday needs and demands. Glenn Garvey
With the current bus cuts, to get to my doctor appointments, I am forced to leave 4 hours too early to be there in time, because after the service break in the morning, the next bus would cause me to be too late. I am totally disabled with a serious equilibrium disorder and my knees also collapse me, so I must struggle with a 4-prong walker stick and cannot walk far at all. Dependable busing is life-critical for me. Deborah Kirkendall
Those of us disabled that desperately need to get to our caseworkers at the Social Security Administration to continue to qualify to survive cannot do it because the city won’t fund busing there. None of us disabled can walk the miles there from the closest buses. And to add insult to injury, the city causes what little busing there is to suffer further cuts. This is unfair discrimination against the disabled. Independence is operating like a dictator-run third world country under elitist minority control. Patricia Johnson
The Independence city officials have been tight with their money for many years. If they would think about their people and people in the surrounding communities, and restore and expand the buses, they would be surprised at how much we would come around and support them, and they would enjoy a huge revenue increase. Helen Hirst
The Independence city officials cutting bus service is just a flexing of their ego trip and preferring to fund their own pet projects instead of taking care of the concerns of their people of this great city. If they didn’t have all these TIFs out here, they would have ample revenues for more worthwhile things like public transportation. It is vital and critical for too many people to work and survive to cut the buses, and this need will only steadily increase and grow. Ron True
If you want to solve this recession, you have to have public transportation. You have to be able to get to businesses where you buy things. A person stranded at home cannot locally buy things and contribute sales tax revenue to the local economy, but will buy instead on internet. People looking for jobs also need the bus. In recessions and times of economic downturn, people have to take public transportation, because that’s all they can afford. And it’s an equation. People without buses cannot get to college. People without college cannot develop great careers. People without great careers cannot develop highly successful communities. Basically, public transit is an investment to stimulate the economy. Danny Fye
The cutback changes in transportation are affecting those with mental illness from participating in their recovery programs and meeting their doctor appointments. It deeply affects qualifying for disability to survive by preventing required travel. People with physical problems that prevent them from driving cannot get around to supply their needs. Marie Stephenson
We need buses to go to the doctor and grocery store. Without the bus, we would be stranded, absolutely unable to do anything. It will become a ghost town. Karen Callahan
Without the buses, I cannot go to college and my son cannot attend WIC appointments. I will have to kiss my education and career and future as a CPA good-bye. Without buses, all of these new businesses will suffer, because they are all being built on bus lines being cut. Antonia Diaz”