It’s tough for me to see elected officials from my own party continue to apply an equity-only lens to something that would benefit from an equality lens. By continuing to punt on transit safety, our council runs the risk of alienating union workers (who have likely voted for these elected officials in the past) and people living in poverty (i.e, the majority of riders who rely on Sun Tran but are housed), which is a larger portion of their voting base and constituency than unhoused folks (who they’ve deemed “the most vulnerable”). Our party has for some reason abandoned the every day person in the interest of (mostly) white, (mostly) middle-upper class, bleeding heart liberals whose goal with homelessness is simply to take it easy on folks who simply don’t want resources. At the August meeting when council decided to extend free transit, Councilmember Uhlich said that we shouldn’t reinstate transit fare due solely to the bad behavior of “a couple hundred people” at transit stops. Does that mean, then, that we disregard the majority voice when those couple hundred folks make this (very expensive) resource intolerable? I hope that council at least lets TPD take the lead on enforcement here, because they seem so lost and misguided at this point.
I could be completely out of touch, or wrong, but is fare free bus usage the real reason for all these problems? I hear, drug usage, homelessness, mental health and violence which are problems with or without a free bus fare. Can’t really blame all societal problems on free fares, can we? Yes, money is the crux of it all. Let’s talk about who we elect as our state and federal officials. Since the age of lower tax we’ve seen societal problems rise. Don’t forget, conservatives want to go back to the age of the 1950’s, like Father Know Best, but those were the days of the highest taxes. They like to leave that part out.
It’s tough for me to see elected officials from my own party continue to apply an equity-only lens to something that would benefit from an equality lens. By continuing to punt on transit safety, our council runs the risk of alienating union workers (who have likely voted for these elected officials in the past) and people living in poverty (i.e, the majority of riders who rely on Sun Tran but are housed), which is a larger portion of their voting base and constituency than unhoused folks (who they’ve deemed “the most vulnerable”). Our party has for some reason abandoned the every day person in the interest of (mostly) white, (mostly) middle-upper class, bleeding heart liberals whose goal with homelessness is simply to take it easy on folks who simply don’t want resources. At the August meeting when council decided to extend free transit, Councilmember Uhlich said that we shouldn’t reinstate transit fare due solely to the bad behavior of “a couple hundred people” at transit stops. Does that mean, then, that we disregard the majority voice when those couple hundred folks make this (very expensive) resource intolerable? I hope that council at least lets TPD take the lead on enforcement here, because they seem so lost and misguided at this point.
I could be completely out of touch, or wrong, but is fare free bus usage the real reason for all these problems? I hear, drug usage, homelessness, mental health and violence which are problems with or without a free bus fare. Can’t really blame all societal problems on free fares, can we? Yes, money is the crux of it all. Let’s talk about who we elect as our state and federal officials. Since the age of lower tax we’ve seen societal problems rise. Don’t forget, conservatives want to go back to the age of the 1950’s, like Father Know Best, but those were the days of the highest taxes. They like to leave that part out.