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Published:Tuesday, October 7, 2008
If Saturday’s compelling front-page story about the people who depend on public transportation for their daily living didn’t tug at your heartstrings, we wonder what will.
But by the grace of God go so many of us.
There are a growing number of Mahoning Valley residents who through no fault of their own need the Western Reserve Transit Authority buses to get to work, to the stores and even for such a basic entertainment option as church bingo. Unfortunately, these residents are at the mercy of taxpayers, many of whom have little understanding of the importance of public transportation.
Unlike other parts of the country, the Mahoning Valley remains automobile-centric. That is because there aren’t major employment centers that draw thousands of suburbanites, resulting in traffic jams that last hours on end. Even at rush hour, the travel time from home to work in this area is relatively short.
But, it is a mistake to view the WRTA’s proposed 0.25 percent county-wide sales tax through the prism of an individual’s driving habits.
“I want to be independent, be a productive member of society, and public transportation is an important part of me being able to do that,” 58-year-old Jim Donnan, who is blind, told Vindicator reporter Katie Seminara. “I don’t want to live off the community.”
Independence
Talk to anyone who rides the bus and the one word you’ll hear over and over is independence. Even those with relatives who own cars are reluctant to impose.
Don’t mistake their need to be self-sufficient with pride or arrogance. WRTA riders, many of whom are handicapped, know the value of doing things for themselves.
If Donnan’s testimonial doesn’t impress you, consider what 84-year-old Margaret Agoney told reporter Seminara: “I don’t drive, don’t have a car and I depend on the bus.”
Agoney already has felt the effects of service cutbacks due to the WRTA’s financial difficulties. She had to hand in her bingo cards because night and weekend service was canceled.
Remember, she’s one of the many senior citizens in our area who depend on public transportation not only to fulfill basic needs, but to add some quality to their lives.
Our support for public transportation has been unyielding. Indeed, there are times when we’ve sounded downright preachy about the need for taxpayer support for this important service.
We have used the economic development argument — there are companies in the suburbs that depend on Youngstown residents to fill low-wage jobs — and have discussed the moral imperative of the issue.
We have also couched the debate over the WRTA county-wide tax in terms of the sky high cost of gasoline and the need by many families to find a cheaper alternative,
And, we have tried to tug at residents’ heartstrings. It is true that a majority of the WRTA’s riders live in the city of Youngstown, and that only Youngstown residents now pay the two property taxes that generate $2.6 million a year for the authority.
But it is just as true that there has been a reduction in federal and state financial support, which makes the $2.6 million inadequate to fulfill the WRTA’s needs — even with reduced service.
The reality is that the city does not have a large enough tax base to support public transportation.
There are a couple of other facts that deserve consideration.
First, money from the federal government cannot be used for operations, only for rolling stock and buildings.
Second, the big buses that have been the subject of so much public derision are operationally more cost-effective than the vans that the WRTA also runs.
Finally, the WRTA is a much cheaper option than the special bus services that have been cropping up all over the county. Case in point: When the authority discontinued some service, the Mahoning County Department of Job and Family Services was forced to pick up the slack. It costs $800 a month per client for taxi or van-type transportation, compared with the cost of a monthly ticket on WRTA of $42.
That is why the county commissioners are supporting the county-wide sales tax which will appear on the November general election ballot.
Given that voters already said no to the 0.25 percent tax in the March primary — the vote was 50,570 against, 38,519 for — the prospects of passage next month aren’t good.
Not giving up
But we aren’t giving up on urging residents to think in terms of the common good, and neither should religious organizations, charitable institutions, social service agencies and businesses.
The WRTA issue is about the future.
As a graphic that accompanied Saturday’s Vindicator story detailed, the benefits to be derived from county-wide bus service are many.
To highlight one: There would be door-to-door service with small buses throughout the county.
And, the governing board, now made up of five members appointed by the city, would be expanded to seven. The commissioners would select four and the city three.
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What is sad is that taxpayer money has been put at risk protecting bad investments made by A.I.G. and other institutions but not to help those in need of public transportation. Why does the American taxpayer keep getting left holding the wastebasket of the American economy for its corporate masters instead of helping those who actually do the work?
Keep the "crime element" in the city limits. What happened last week in Boardman at the city line near Prestwick Avenue is the "criminal element crawl" that Boardman and other adjacent communities do not want. That incident could have been the results of two more added Homicides (only to be credited to Boardman and not Youngstown by two Youngstown low-life's). By voting for this WRTA Bus Levy all outlying communities are doing is leap-frogging criminal elements into their suburbs via four-wheels. Ask the merchants at Southern Park Mall and Route 224 if it makes a difference in their profits by having bus service to their places of business. Vote NO for the WRTA Levy and lower shoplifting, purse snatching, and robbery assaults in your community.
So, TLP, can you provide statistics that prove the crime rate in the suburbs has dropped significantly with the drop in bus service?
If the WRTA is eliminated, the "crime element" will just move out to the burbs to be closer to the businesses they need.
I will be voting no in nov for the levy! Along with other levies. These people need to the stick a budget they get. Quit stand with your hand out for everyone to pay more money to you. Everything is on the rise not just gas either, which will be there arguement saying then you won't have to pay for the high gas prices in your cars. But I think these people need to find other ways to fund there levy/levies. We the tax payers are sick of paying more taxes. Especially for things we never use. Raise the very cheap prices on riding the bus, and maybe you'll make some money, and not have to bother the us!
city resident: They are not eliminating the WRTA if the levy is not passed. They want to restore nights and weekend routes. So why not just leave it as is with the hours, day, and routes they have already!
not passing this will not do anything to the ecnonmy. what ever thinks that is wrong and is trying to scare people..
I am voting no. I am not a charity here people. It is not being used by the people in the suburbs, it is used by city residents and they should pay for it. Having a bus service will not bring companies to Youngstown. It hasn't yet and it won't ever no matter what is being said.
AtownParent, I just agreed with you elsewhere, but it doesn't mean we agree on everything, which is fine. The tax hike would cost us, you and I, very little more money in the end each year. Really. And it is simply not only used by city residents, so at the very least when you post things of this nature, you should use a qualifying word like "mostly used by" instead of the definitive "used by" which indicates that it is "only" city residents that use the bus system, and this is simply not true. And also, your facts about "it hasn't yet" are wrong. If you trace the bus system far enough back, when the area was stronger economically, people from all around the city used the bus system, even as far out as Warren. This, too, is an untruth you are spreading, and it would be best if you also stopped saying things like "it won't ever" because you are not all-knowing, are unable to see into the future, and probably you will be proved wrong by that statement, too, at some point down the road.
You can be against the tax, certainly. But when you argue about it, use facts, not opinions, and don't lie (even if you don't realize you're lying. Now you understand your "facts" aren't facts, and should correct the way you speak in the future).
My brother-in-law, due to health issues, no longer drives a car - but he holds a job and needs the WRTA to get to work. The same people who object to the bus levy would also scream and yell if their taxes were to increase so that other state and federal systems would provide transportation. I firmly believe that if there is a system in place to allow people to be independent and hold down a job rather than be forced to retire on disability that it is worth supporting. There are people in the suburbs and outside the city that use public transportation - it is just too easy to ignore the situation if we are not specifically impacted.
I don't use the service, no one in my family does, and those 5 people I see on the bus in the suburbs clearly do not even make it necessary for me to call it "mostly". It is used by city residents almost exclusively. If you don't like that, well then go and pick some of them up and take them around to try and balance out the numbers. It won't ever because Youngstown can not control it's crime problem - that is simply an inevitable truth and if you can't see that then you are ignoring reality. If I care to use opinions to argue about something, that is my first amendment right. It is my opinion that voting yes for a COUNTY WIDE SALES TAX is an asinine waste of money.
80% of these peple are from Younsgotwn,so if they really wanted to pass it have Youngstown and the subarbs of austintown and Boardman vote on it instead of the whole county.
Atownparent, it is your first amendment right to use opinion to argue. It is everyone elses right to call you on that and point out how uninformed your opinions are.
"80% of these peple are from Younsgotwn,so if they really wanted to pass it have Youngstown and the subarbs of austintown and Boardman vote on it instead of the whole county."
How could anyone in the outer suburbs (and most people in Austintown and Boardman for that matter) even ride the bus if they wanted to? There is currently little or no service there because it is funded by the city and is mostly a city service. That's the whole point of passing the county-wide sales tax, to provide that service to the people in the rest of the county who need it but don't have it.
metz87 - this is a Y-town only bus service with a coupkle runs to the burbs of A-town and B-man. Why should any suburb contribute to keep the Y-town buses running? I'll be voting NO here in A-town. Y-town people can pay for their own bus service if they want it so bad.
Westsider writes: "My brother-in-law, due to health issues, no longer drives a car - but he holds a job and needs the WRTA to get to work. The same people who object to the bus levy would also scream and yell if their taxes were to increase so that other state and federal systems would provide transportation."
And I owe your brother in law exactly what? How about, if he can't make his own way to his job, that his family and friends come to his aid, instead of expecting a government handout?
"I firmly believe that if there is a system in place to allow people to be independent and hold down a job rather than be forced to retire on disability that it is worth supporting."
To what extent? The whole country's economics are shaky, and this area's are worse. Should I maybe not buy my kids a new pair of shoes so that your brother in law can go to his job?
My grandma never drove. We her family made sure she got to where ever she needed to go. Whether it was to and from work, the store, doctor's appointments, or bingo. She would even walk to some places. She said she loved the exercise. Familis need to be there for each other to help. Too many selfish people, all about me, me, me! Many people just don't seem to have strong family support or values. The bus levy is something i do not support. I am sure there are many people that use the bus. But on routes pointed out into Boardman or Austintown, I never really see many people on the bus in Boardman. As for Austintown, I never see a bus in Austintown. The bus route servers the Cornerburg area, which is considered Youngstown. Believe me when i worked over there, never really saw a bus and when I did there were not many people on it. If this levy does pass they did say they would restore night and weekend services, and try to expand into other areas with smaller buses, and some more route(stated in a rally on the news by the people asking for the levy). As you can see they know for sure they would give Youngstown back more routes, and as for the rest of the Mahoning County, the said try. Which to me means nothing but something they are not going to do. I was in Cleveland over the weekend and saw the actually meaning for public transportation. The buses and Rapid are used to bring people to and from downtown Cleveland. Not the way it is in Youngstown which is being everyone from the downtown youngstown area to outer laying areas. Maybe people in the burgs don't want it that way so they DO have the right to vote NO, whether you like their reasons or opinions why they are against it.
Cbarzak - You can call me out all you want, truth is you used no facts in defending your case either. If you are going to call someone out, you look a little more credible if you didn't do the exact same thing.
How heartless can you be to suggest that someone disabled should rely exclusively on family in order to maintain mobility and independence? We just a society by how we treat its weakest, poorest people - children, the elderly, the disabled. Yes you absolutely should help poor people maintain the dignity and independence that allows them to work, shop, go to church, and see their friends, by providing public transportation. And as for the poor - wake up! If the banks don't make loans for cars, more and more people will have no other option.
Atownparent, there has been a lot of information provided both by the Vindicator and other posters about why the WRTA is vital to the success of the entire region, not just to Youngstown, and I felt repeating that information would be redundant. If you would like me to reiterate all that has been stated about why a bus system, not just in Youngstown, but an infrastructure for one to be in place throughout the entire county, is important to job creation (as it is in any settled community--and by community, I mean a region, not just a township or not even just one small city) then I will certainly comb through the articles that have already been printed. However, you have commented on all of those articles and declared it useless to you and yours despite the evidence that revitalizing the service to be used by people of all the surrounding communities and in order to attract more jobs to the area (because a bus service is one of the things many employers look at when it comes to whether or not they will locate in your community), so would I not be talking to the proverbial wall by repeating that information here yet again?
What about the elderly and disabled in Ellsworth or Green Township or other outlying areas who can't drive and that will never see a bus? Where is your answer and your bleeding heart for them?
Or is it just that they are good enough to take tax money from, but not good enough for the bus since they don't live in the city?
And anyone here who talks about arguing with hardcore facts in the comments section of a propagandistic article entitled "Passage of WRTA levy is an economic, social and moral imperative" is a hypocrite.
Vote NO. This "where is your heart?" propaganda is just that. They really mean to say "where is your heart for the city residents only" since many disabled, elderly or non-car having people of the county who are expected to pay for this will never benefit from it.
Symapthy is only used to win votes when the facts cannot stand for themselves.
Cbarzak, are you serious in your implication that all this area has to do is pass that WRTA levy and, by golly, all our economic woes will be solved!?? If the WRTA is "vital to the success of the entire region" as you say, then I wish you'd explain exactly how. What will the passage of this additional tax levy do to promote the vitality of the greater Mahoning Valley? What will funding a city-based and city-serving bus system do for the economic well-being of the area?
Face facts: The vast majority of WRTA riders are city residents. Buses only happen to pass through Austintown and Boardman because they're en route to the retail outlets (which have also fled the city, I might point out) in the suburbs. Buses do not penetrate the suburbs beyond their retail destinations, nor those not on their route to said retail outlets.
Has the WRTA had any independent, impartial and non-biased studies done that might show what, if any, areas would be economically feasible as a new, suburban bus route? I haven't heard of any, and I strongly suspect that if they had such a study that showed positive reactions like that, Mr. Ferarro et al would be shouting this information from the rooftops. Further, where is the great support beyond the city limits for the WRTA? Vague, ethereal promises of "possible" or "proposed" bus routes do not even stir a shred of interest from the suburbs. We've been making do without buses for long enough that we've found other ways to get from here to there. I'm old enough to remember buses on certain suburban main thoroughfares. I'd like to observe that those routes are no longer in service because ridership fell off. And that means that they were no longer needed.
There is virtually no "rush hour" on any road at any time in the downtown area, and parking is generally available, if one is willing to pay a few dollars a month to the lot attendant. Clogged traffic and no parking are major reasons for mass transit, but with Youngstown in its current state, these problems are not found.
The suburbs and rural areas do not need, or want, an additional tax to help pay for something we'll get no use out of.
NoBS, I never said that the WRTA will solve the region's economic woes. I said it factors in when employers look at regions as potential places to locate.
Please read more carefully next time.
So I should believe everything I read in the paper right? That the information could not possibly be half of the real story? I don't use it, no one I know uses it, and everyone I know is voting No. There is your proverbial wall.
So by your logic, the people you know are more reliable sources of information on the WRTA than our local news organizations?
To NoBS - You absolutely do not owe my brother-in-law nor anyone else in society anything - so please do vote NO. For the record, our family does make sure he is transported on the days there is no bus service as well as to work on those days (mainly Monday holidays) as well. However, we are all working and cannot regularly transport him during the hours we work. I guess I am pleased to know that you will happily contribute your tax dollars should he need to retire on disability due to lack of transportation. I think it is a shame that people who want to be independent then are unable to be.
Wow George, you seriously missed the point on that one. What I am saying is that the 80,000 or so residents can all vote yes, but all those in the suburbs who want nothing to do with this sales tax are voting No. Pound your head against that wall.
All everyone wants is money. This is getting to be so old. I mean people work to afford a house, food for the their families, and to have children and raise them. If we pass ever levy out there, the workers will have no money to LIVE THEIR LIVES or provide for their KIDS. I love being a stay at home, and have since feb. But if every levy out there is passed, I will have to go back to work, and my kids will be the ones who suffer. I am willing to vote NO and put my family first. I have that right and the responsibility as a parent to put my kids first! That is exactly what I am choosing to do. The buses can keep going as is and just become and stay a city transportation, and that will be fine with me. My vote is NO!!!
Cbarzak, do try to remember (or look up) what you wrote:
"Atownparent, there has been a lot of information provided both by the Vindicator and other posters about why the WRTA is vital to the success of the entire region, not just to Youngstown,. . . " That's a cut and paste. If the WRTA won't solve the economic problems we have here, just why is it so vital to the success of the entire region?
Now please answer the questions and respond to the other points in my previous post.
Oh, and stick your condescending attitude, too.
Westsider, how is one considered to be independent if they rely on others, or on a government handout? Why doesn't your brother in law take it upon himself to move closer to where he works, so transportation won't be an issue?
I find it fascinating that there still has been NO detailed accounting of revenue and expenses for the WRTA. As I stated previously and backed up with their numbers, from just an operational perspective (not including any capital expenses or special grants), the current subsidy level is over $5 per passenger per ride. All in it is likely over $5 per passenger mile.
It appears the city is trying to foist this white elephant on county taxpayers so that mayor Jay and his administration can pay off political obligations with patronage jobs created by the additional revenues. They are already poised for a major capital project on the old Salvation Army grounds.
WRTA refuses to account for the massive Federal, State and local finding it receives now. NEVER trust a bureaucrat with your money when they have never been open with how those monies are spent before.
If the city needs more money to run the WRTA, then sell the Chevy Center.
VOTE NO ON THE WRTA LEVY
Argue all the points you want for this levy until you are blue in the face. The levy will not pass now just like it did not pass before. Period.
NoBS, I think you are imagining a condescending attitude since you can't hear my voice. You can feel free to do that if you want. It doesn't bother me any. Imagine me being condescending. I'll imagine you being as unnecessarily aggressive as you are to people who have different ideas from yours.
Yes, I said what you cut and pasted. I didn't say it was the one and only factor that will help this region, but that it is a factor to economic development, period. It's part of the region's infrastructure, and once you strip it out, it will take a lot more to reconstruct something like it in the future, if we want an area that is more knit together.
If, however, you want to perceive it as something that is only useful to city residents, then you are right, the county should not be responsible for it.
I myself see it as one of the last remaining vestiges of infrastructure that will allow this region to continue economic development in the future, since, as mentioned in many articles here (as well as in economic reports for any city and any region you look at in the nation) public transportation systems are necessary to connect townships and suburbs and cities together in order to build an area up, rather than tear it down. This is a different way of viewing this piece of our region, though.
Vote how you want to. I will vote how I want to as well. That's America.
promises pormises when they do keep them, never. You ahve to be crazy to think they iwll add bus routes out ithe county where no one really uses tem. why waste the gas to pic out a couple of people at best?
cbarzak: Bless you for trying but this region is hopeless. Honestly, I've lived in six metro areas in the Northeast and the South and this is the first place I've ever been that thinks mass transit is evil. The bottom line is the racism and classicism in this area scares folks into thinking those evil Youngstown folks (we all know what this means) will take the buses to the suburbs and commit crimes--because we all know a city bus makes a great getaway vehicle. Ugh--I love my job here but I am definitely looking to get away from this valley and the ignorance and intolerance that settles here like the gray clouds.
While we're at it lets vote off that small levy we all pay for the mental health/disability services too...
Well even the top city leaders in our area are corrupt and hoepless. f they are wh yshould the common folk feel any different. that balck cloud folows us everywhere,think about Chacne the Sheriff and Traficant.