Yesterday I had some links to things about the transit strike, but didn't post them. I thought they needed more commentary and took a little extra time to work on that. So today, there's nothing but transit stuff. Sorry if that doesn't interest you.
- This week’s City Pages wants to Bring Back the Buses with a number of articles. They’re talking again about how the apparent goal of the Governor and the Met Council is to kill off transit entirely here in the Twin Cities. Yeah, maybe the bus-strike hasn’t added any traffic to downtown, but since the buses have stopped running, I haven’t gone to downtown Minneapolis for lunch or shopping, either. I also discovered I don’t have a place that’s an easy walk from home to just hang out. I can head to Dinkytown or East Hennepin, but if I want to just head to the coffeeshop for an hour to unwind from work and spend a little time writing, without the buses, the walk would consume the whole time. And I’ve got it relatively easy. My bus-trips are seldom a matter of need. But people like Jim or Steph who commute downtown to work every day have had their lives more seriously crimped. And the stories in the City Pages are from folks who’ve got it even worse. I guess my point is that if I’m starting to get cranky about the bus-strike, in spite of having plenty of alternatives, Governor Pawlenty and Peter Bell had best start paying some attention.
- Minneapolis mayor R. T. Rybak is asking Does This Bus Stop at the Capitol? and turning up the heat on the Governor and Met Council chair Peter Bell. It’s nice to see him using his bully-pulpit.
- This transit strike isn’t the first shot at Busting the Buses, but this interview with William Millikan provides some background that you probably only would have got if you’d gone to the presentation on Transit Workers’ Struggles, Past and Present that Jim & I went to a while back.
- The Buses sit still while strike debate rolls on, and neither side budges. But students at the U are starting to get fed up with it. Yesterday was the day to phone the governor at (651) 296-3391 or (800) 657-3717, but if you missed it, calling today couldn’t hurt. [daily]
- The Daily’s opinion piece Transit strike harms those already struggling with employment; just look at Lake Street does some reporting, too. It talks about how the strike is affecting unemployed people:
Many of the people who are unemployed can’t even make it to the unemployment office.
[daily] - In another opinion piece, the Daily says that Streetcars are desired in Minneapolis. They’ve got a case, noting the synergy with the LRT (if it ever opens) and the fact that a line down Lake St. would be a good thing. The question they don’t ask is how it would affect the existing bus route on Lake. [daily]
- The Minnesota Legislature focuses on transit issues after 800 calls to the Governor yesterday urged him to settle the transit strike, but the focus was mostly in the DFL-controlled House, and the Republican-controlled Senate is expected to oppose just about everything the House tries to do. [press-patch]
- Jim’s also asked why I support the transit union, given my politics. Well, there’s something you gotta like about a movement that can inspire a song like Neil Young’s Union Man. Yeah! Oh wait. Is that satire? I still like the song.