Saving the MTS from the Governor’s Budget
Cuts
by Clarence
Schadegg
I am blind, I am a
guide dog user, and I am a bus rider. I’ve
often wondered why, as I age, I must fight harder: 1) to become
and stay employed; 2) to rely on public transportation systems
to take me to work and other appointments; and, 3) to exercise
my civil rights as a human being. Even though I have a Master’s
Degree in Adult Education and have taught college level and public
school classes for almost twenty years, my hard work hasn’t
paid off in making my life easier over the years.
If the proposed transportation cuts and service reductions become
a reality, what is in store for disabled people who use the Metro
Transit System? As a blind person, I use the city buses on a daily
basis to get to work, make appointments, get to classes, and shop
for groceries.
During the bus strike
in 2004, I had to walk to and from my appointments with my dog
guide. The longest walk we had was three miles one way. I’m
no youngster as I am in my fifties. My dog is eleven-years-old.
Within a mile of my home, my service animal did something he never
did before. My dog guide crossed diagonally between east and west
traffic at Nicollet Avenue and 66th Street. My dog guide gave me
his best, but he was just too old and too tired to perform as he
should have. Our lives were put at risk because of the lack of
bus service.
I am too dependent on the buses and I cannot afford to go through
the loss of bus service again. If the issue of funding ends up
being a repeat of what happened in 2004, I will either have to
pay huge cab fares or be forced to suffer the effects of sore feet
because of all the long walks my dog guide and I will have to take
to get anywhere.
As Chuck Campbell
stated in his article from a year ago, “For
many of those who can’t walk or afford a cab, the strike
amounts to house arrest.” (Metro
Transit Bus Strike Deal Strikes Out, Access Press, April 10, 2004) It is unrealistic to
expect someone like me, who has limited income, to daily afford
$40 cab rides. Must I risk losing my job because I’m forced
to stay home due to an inability to afford cabs? If I incur increased
medical bills because I may have to receive doctor’s care
for my sore feet, will the savings from the transit cuts just end
up being transferred into higher medical costs?
Kimberley Barreda
states, “In our system, ‘the disabled’ stay
home with the rent paid by a government check. We don’t want
to let any more of ‘them’ in because according to our ‘solution,’ there
is no real opportunity to be self supporting. We just can not afford
it…the ‘burden on society’ factor is a real
issue and it legitimately applies to some people…the terminally
ill and those with profound disabilities who are truly not employable
are givens, as are some seniors - we make allowances for them as
a society. Yes, it’s expensive, but we’re a compassionate
people and we don’t penalize people for things that are out
of their control…it’s not disabled people who are
the burdens on society, it’s our outdated attitudes.” (disTHIS,
the Cripculture Experience, Burden on Society, By Kimberley Barreda)
In an October 2004 administration newsletter, Admin-utes, Administration
Commissioner Dana Badgerow presented information on alternative
fuel technologies, such as hybrids, that will help reduce petroleum
consumption, and stated that the Metro Transit will be adding 20
hybrid buses to its fleet by 2008.
What are disabled
bus riders supposed to do in the meantime until these changes
are implemented? Isn’t it contradictory to
cut the Metropolitan Transit budget on the one hand only to increase
funding to purchase a fleet of buses in the future? I don’t
understand this line of logic.
According to Pioneer Press writer Charles Laszewski, “Metro
Transit bus and Light Rail riders can expect a 25-cents-a-ride
fare hike and dramatic service cutbacks in the bus system ...
The package…is designed to plug a $60 million hole in
Metro Transit’s budget, caused by higher-than-expected
costs for fuel and employee health care and lower-than-expected
funds from the state’s motor vehicle sales tax,” said
council staff member Dave Christianson. “It’s also
based on Governor Tim Pawlenty’s budget proposal, which
provides for no increases to the bus system over the next two
years.” (Metro Transit,
still smarting from falling ridership after last year’s
strike, looks at service cuts, too, By
Charles Laszewski, Pioneer Press)
I propose that Governor Pawlenty and the House of Representatives
wear sleep shades while they are at work, while they travel long
distances, and while they attend functions. If they had to do this
for five years, I believe they would begin to develop a better
understanding of the daily struggles disabled people experience
and how the proposed Metro Transit cuts will add to all of our
difficulties.
My challenge to the
Governor’s administration is to act
on plans that include the disabled in every aspect of community
life (this includes public transportation) rather then to exclude
the rich culturally diverse populations of disabled people from
normal life activities.
I’ve testified at the capital, and I’ve written letters
to my state representatives. The statements I heard from state
representatives and from articles I’ve read emphasize improving
road conditions and building the Northstar corridor rather then
to make life easier for disabled people who use the public transportation
system. Once again, a barrier such as a reduction of public transportation
services is in place to test our endurance, resolution and determination.
As long as Governor
Pawlenty has been in office, I’ve heard
him repeatedly state he was not in favor of any form of taxation,
so why did he flip flop on the tax issue? According to Associated
Press writer Brian Bakst, “Republican Governor Pawlenty said
the proposal struck him as ‘reasonable’ but said he
would prefer that the sales tax hike of 15 cents on every $100
spent in the county be put to a public referendum. Meanwhile, Pawlenty
and leading lawmakers said the Twins bill should sit on the shelf
at the Capitol until legislators finish work on the state budget.
The 2005 session must adjourn by May 23, and the House and Senate
have most of their budget bills left to pass.” Pohlad said, “It
is a cannot lose stadium deal.”
Brian Bakst, Associated Press
April 26, 2005: “Can we trust Governor Pawlenty’s
judgement on his obvious waffle on the stadium issue? How will
Pawlenty’s short sightedness affect disabled working Americans
in the short term and long term? Is Governor Pawlenty about to
strike out on the stadium issue and how are fans supposed to
get to this new stadium if there are no buses to bring them?
Let’s remind the Governor and the House of Representatives
that they were elected to office to represent all of us and they
can be elected out of their position by us if we all exercise
our voting rights. It doesn’t make any sense to eliminate
and/or limit the bus service to such a large population of people.
It makes even less sense to put entertainment as a higher priority
then employment.
