St. Louis Transit Transition: Political Enemies Made

I cannot fairly and accurately weigh-in thus far in the earlygoing of St. Louis latest and greatest debacle regarding its mass transit: the deep cuts in service to Metro bus service and MetroLink light rail service, especially in St. Louis County. This is because I have had a vehicle thus far and have not had to deal with the headaches that have beset many of my fellow "regular" Metro riders. I'm sure I'll be riding either later this week, this weekend (when it will REALLY be different), or next week. However, I can weigh-in on how it will effect some of the politicians --- those who opposed Proposition M in St. Louis County are going to find themselves in a critical position: having to defend their actions to voters. And it won't be pretty because of the drastic changes which have come as a result of Proposition M's failure last November.

Cuts were inevitable because in 2008 when new Metro CEO Robert Baer told the public of the severe financial problems which were forcing his transit agency to ask public officials to a ballot measure before the voters of St. Louis County and City. Proposition M, as it was labled, was going to help keep most of the major routes intact --- although Baer and Metro officials had already spread the word that cuts were coming after they had inherited a financial mess leftover from lawsuits surrounding the MetroLink line which runs between Forest Park and Shrewsbury in South St. Louis County. Those cuts would be much less if Proposition M passed last November. Voters were going to have a single chance to help keep the transit system at operating levels somewhat similar to what had been ongoing since the Shrewsbury MetroLink line was opened in 2006. Without the money which would come from the voters, management would be making such deep cuts to service that many bus routes would simply cease to exist.

County Executive Charlie Dooley supported, even helped introduce Proposition M. However it appears he didn't do enough talking to the citizens of the county - at least the ones who have half a brain about how thinking regionally will keep the region strong. Perhaps people like County councilman Greg Quinn of Ballwin and John Campisi of South County and Mehlville Fire Protection District Board of Directors member Aaron Hilmer only thought Metro was threatening such drastic cuts. They were clearly in the public eye opposing the measure. Hilmer, Quinn and Campisi spoke to various local media about their views. Hilmer clearly didn't want another one-half cent tax to help his residents be able to leave and go to downtown to shop. I guess Hilmer didn't want anyone from Ballwin to ride the buses down Lindbergh to get to South County Center --- nor, apparently, did Quinn. Hilmer may be one of the most vocal, but was far from the only short-sighted individual who opposed keeping the region's transit system fully functional. Quinn's area --- Ballwin --- no longer has bus service as of this week. Once Metro gets wise to Hilmer and Campisi's opposition, watch them completely cut service to South County. I WOULD CUT SERVICE TO SOUTH COUNTY NOW --- if I were a manager at Metro transit in St. Louis. Why wait? Since it's politics being played --- play the politics game right back. Ending service to South County Center may be necessary in order to kill off another suburban mall. Why not? I'd guess Hilmer would be happy about that because he would get fewer calls to the mall, thus saving his fire protection district money.

Look --- I will give Charlie Dooley credit for supporting Proposition M within government entities, but he also did not do enough on behalf of Metro as the November election became near. And he's been obviously MISHANDLING the situation with is Police Chief Jerry Lee, a completely different subject which has upset many county residents. But at least Dooley realized the regional need for a good mass transit system.

Which brings me to the point I'd like to make. The REGION will see some changes, or transitions, as the 21st Century unfolds further. The Metro cuts will cause St. Louis County some serious problems. Repeating: the Metro cuts will cause St. Louis County some SERIOUS PROBLEMS.

Doing research for this blog, I came across the website of one Cloria Brown of St. Louis County. She is apparently all about being critical of County Executive Dooley --- but her website shows how ignorant she is about the needs of the many who are now without transportation. She is already outwardly critical of Dooley and the County Council proposing that the taxing measure be put back onto the April ballot in 2010 in an effort to get mass transit back on track. Cloria Brown is quite obviously short-sighted if not ignorant about the needs of the region. But if she reads blogs like this or Steve Patterson's www.urbanreviewstl.com , she likely thinks people who pay attention to trends and find statistics which confirm our viewpoints on transportation and transit are just making it all up anyway! Reality doesn't hit these people in the face right away --- it will over time --- but many of these "anti" mass transit supporters will only move away from the very region where they "helped" vote down such measures anyway. In other words, they continue the flight away from metropolitan areas, instead of help qwell the problem. But sometimes there is hope for real understanding. Let's take the Highway 40/I-64 construction project. If the folks at Gateway Constructors had not instilled the fear of God into the minds of commuters, traffic jams around St. Louis midsection would have been MUCH worse over the past 15 months. Yes, some people actually heard THAT message and took heart.

A TV story about Ridefinders aired the other day, and it shows that few people have heard the news about the drastic cuts to service and how they will effect the average county resident in the path of those cuts. The folks at Ridefinders say they have only added a few new vanpools since the announcement of the service cuts to Metro bus lines. What this tells me is that there has not been enough publicity talking about the problems about to befall this region. St. Louisans who regularly ride the buses are finding the greatest problems this week and next, but they are not the only ones who will find things growing more difficult.

Who is going to be having the worst time? County commuters who want to go from West County to the city of St. Louis. As it should be, save those who supported Proposition M --- they don't deserve the blame.

Perhaps Councilmen John Campisi and Greg Quinn, and probably Mehlville FPD Board member Aaron Hilmer, will realize they made permanent enemies of THE PEOPLE when they lobbied against keeping the transit system functioning well through supporting Proposition M. The first drastic cuts took place this week.

Next election cycle for those gentlemen, their opponents will surely prove to their constituents that mass transit cuts were not only caused by the voters' ignorance, but also by the actions of these three men --- three lame duck candidates.

I'm saying they're going to be lame duck candidates now, but I'm not certain that's the case yet. That's because former Metro CEO Larry Salci (he of big mouth and even bigger debacles) could always file for office against one of these men and easily lose an election.

I would think that an uninformed person like Cloria Brown would back Larry Salci against Charlie Dooley. Well, unless she heard the message from others that Larry Salci caused the Metro debacle in the first place. Either way --- bet she'll vote against the measure that replaced Proposition M.

Former KMOX nighttime At Your Service host Jim White is right that "You can't fix stupid."

I wonder what it will take to correct the massive wrong ONE VOTE has assured for the moment.