what's to come

ON the 23rd of October the board of directed did what they do best. They rubber stamped a policy decision that will affect all the transit riders in Pittsburgh. In the near future these route changes will be seen for what they are a shrinking of the coverage area provided by the Port Authority and a reason to implement a regional transit authority. We'll soon be hearing of another funding crisis, legacy costs, and more service cuts. Soon our tax dollars will be going into the hands of a private concern running our authority in one form or another all in the name of efficiency. Ever since Dan Onorato's begining of his first term he's been quite clear of changing transit as we know it in this area. Time interrupts me to delve into this subject any further at this time but future blogs will document how this has started from the first weeks of this administration in January of 2005 to the present.

You're Lying!

Dear Mr. Bland,



Please start telling the citizens of Allegheny County the truth. Since you arrived here from the giant metropolitan area of Albany, NY you have done nothing but weaken the transit system in our region. You have insulted the intelligence of our good people. First by trying to ram service cuts down our throats, and when you couldn't achieve the goal you wanted, you went to school and found your "veil" in the form of Nelson/Nygaard. You brought them in to "assess" our transit system. Needless to say if anyone has the time or the or the will to do any investigating, they will find that in two years and 1.3 million dollars of the taxpayers money later, all that Nelson/Nygaard has done is disguise the (almost exact) doomsday service cuts of 2007. Rename every route to have the appearance that they changed the whole system. Last but not least this should outrage the citizens of Allegheny County, only one, yes one new route has been created in this region. Every other change has been either a service cut or a so-called consolidation that will absolutely leave people in certain areas stranded. Thank you Steve for your dedication to destruction. Now lets all sit back and see how long it takes for the private sector to step in and fill the gaps left in the county. The State Legislators, County Council, and the citizens of this County aren't even going to know what hit them when the Port Authority's Board of "Directed" approves this worthless Transit Development Plan. It's not too late. We'll stand up and FIGHT!


Cowboy Neal Cassady

son of the greatest generation

Well here we go again with another exciting episode of, Watch the Port Authority of Allegheny County mislead the public, starring Dan Onoratto, co-starring Steve Bland, and the special guest appearance of Nelson-Nygaard. When last we left off the storyline, the big issue was just how do we fund a transit system without a dedicated source of revenue. Alas the star of our show Danny Onoratto rode in his limo and called out to the state legislature. Please, please give us a dedicated source for transit, and I have a great idea to achieve this without pissing off anyone politically. After years of striving for a dedicated source of revenue the administration of Onoratto was rewarded with a 10% drink tax on alchoholic beverages in Allegheny County to fund his transit system. Well here we are caught up to the storyline, and once again the transit system of our metropolis is in flux. Am I missing something here? Wasn't it just recently that Steve and Dan were touting the historic savings in a newly negotiated transit contract with the evil bus drivers union? Wasn't it just recently that we right sized our transit system to adjust for the population decreases over the last quarter century? Now we get the all Knowing consulting firm from San Francisco at a small cost of 1.3 million to decrease service further. A long time ago my father told me if it smells like it, and looks like it, don't step in it. That's exactly the crap thats being fed to us, a transit overhaul that will improve service for most of us. Just who exactly are most of us anyway? Someone who lives in the inner city? and already has a transit ride every 30 seconds. The only thing I know that's a certainty in life is, if it's not there, it's not there. Let's get real MR. Onoratto, if your taking my bus ride from me and countless others it is in fact a ELIMINATION. It's not an improvement for me a tax paying citizen of this county who happened to buy his home near a transit stop. What's next Danny? no more electrical lines to my home? Maybe the water company feels i'm too far from the pumping station to serve me and they'll cut that service too. The one thing I know for sure in politics is that the candidate who raises the most money is always the one who's sold his soul to the highest bidder. Haven't you raised the most money so far of any Democrat in the Governor's race? Who is it Dan that's bought you off and stands to profit from the transit system cuts and surely other things we're not aware of ? Surely sometime in the future the ugly head of Pittsburgh transportation group ( http://www.veoliatransportation.com/index ) a subsidiary of Veolia transit will show its head as the driving force behind this so called transit devolopment plan. But those of us who live here from one generation to the next we'll still be here trying to fix the mess you've left behind as you travel down the road of political whore.

Public vs Private

Over at the Allegheny Conference, The Big "Z" (Ken Zapinski) admits the importance of public transportation to the vitality of a vibrant urban core. So it seems our differences lie not in providing the necessary service but in who is better in providing it, the public or private sector?

Let's examine the differences. The private sector exists to make a profit that's as American as apple pie, however as stated in it's corporate charter a profit must be first and foremost on the minds of it's directors, and how we go about making that profit is secondary to showing a profit in other words the ends justify the means.

Not exactly what the citizenry wants when it comes to a necessary service. The public sector on the other hand exists to provide a service for all it's citizens as economically feasible as possible and is held accountable thru the ballot box and not by it's shareholders.

We both agree that Public transportation can't exist without taxpayer subsidies which is why the Port Authority was formed in the first place, and no knowledgeable person disagrees with that fact. So it seems our differences would lie in cost containment. Most uninformed people at first glance would agree with The Big "Z" that the private sector would win this discussion but is this true?

The first example I'll cite would be the city of Pittsburgh's experimenting with contracting out of waste services in the south hills of the city. After extensive bidding on the contract and extensive studies being done it was found that the Public Sector was more efficient in providing the service and now the suburbs are contracting out with the city to provide waste hauling at less cost.

Arguments against the Public Sector in providing these services lie in the argument of soft budget constraints that the Public Employee's Unions will drink at an endless trough. To say that this is true you are also saying that an American Democracy is also a failure since we've shown the ownership of said services is the voting public, but what is also missing from this argument is that if the private sector takes over necessary services they also have soft budget constraints and will drink from the so called trough that they accuse Public Employees of with a vast difference of instead of being responsible to the taxpayers they serve, their loyalties lie to their shareholders who by law they must exist to show a profit thru what ever means are necessary. In the end it comes down to a profit motive for the private hauler whereas for the Public Sector it's all about providing the service to it's electorate that motivates it.

For the Private Sector to operate 1 of 2 things must happen a raising of subsidies to support it's existence or the obliteration of it's services, the public be dammed. The fact that their is absolutely no risk for the Private Sector to take over necessary services should raise a huge flag to all interested parties. The biggest risk to a private transportation provider is the network distribution (busways,buses,insurance,fuel costs,emergency services,rail lines) all the things that the public has already bought and will continue to pay for. State owned enterprises are shown to be superior wherever a natural monopoly exists this refers to the situation where technological conditions dictate that having only one supplier is the most efficient way to serve the market place. Electricity,water, gas,public transit,land phones,emergency services, are examples of natural monopolies. In these industries the main cost of the services as fore mentioned are the distribution network and therefore the unit costs of provision go down if the number of customers that uses the network increases.

In contrast having multiple suppliers each with it's own distribution network as Pre-Port Authority 1964 increases the costs to it's public. Historically in every large city there were competing transit companies but these were then consolidated into large monopolies for efficiencies sake. When a private company owns a monopoly it can charge what ever it wishes and serve wherever it wishes to the dismay of our most vulnerable citizens who reside in our county and allow us to plunge deeper into what seems to be the goal of certain leaders, 3rd world status.

Don't be fooled by the arguments that we're hearing out there, there is an all out assault by the corporations to take our tax money and use it for their benefits under the guise of Public-Private Partnerships. When ever one goes into business there is a certain amount of risk involved but the reason private companies love these arrangements is that the risk is not theirs but ours thru our taxes. Great deal if you're in on it bad deal if you're the one who funds it which one are you?

LABOR DAY

From The People Who Brought You The Weekend!

Cowboy Neil Cassady and The Son of the Greatest Generation would like to thank all the men and women who made the selfless sacrifices so that our families could have a chance at the American Dream, and we will continue the fight for all future generations of working families to enjoy the same.

Open Your Eyes

You know, it's a sad day when you hear every day ordinary people echoing comments that are usually made by the likes of the Allegheny Institute / Allegheny Conference. (slash, because they all work together and look out for their own pocket books not to help tax payers as they may attempt to suggest. Follow the money, see who funds them).

The fact that people buy into their dog whistle politics are whats wrong with this country. It hit me very hard while enjoying a cup coffee with a few old friends, when unexpectedly the conversation turned into discussion about the drink tax.

The four of us grew up together in a working-class, (predominantly Italian) neighborhood in the city of Pittsburgh. We were all raised by union families. Many of us went to Catholic schools, paid for by our parents' union wages. Most of our parents are living secure retirements, because of their union pensions. Three of us are union members now. It was therefore, shocking and depressing to me when the fourth one of us, declared that they should privatize the Port Authority and that he didn't think it was fair that the public has to pay for the Port Authority with the drink tax.

It was like my heart broke to hear him say that.

The complete line of bull that is being fed to the people of Allegheny County by the media in this town about the Port Authority & ATU Local 85 contract talks sickens me.

Why is the local media (irresponsibly) feeding the citizens of Allegheny County the idea that Local 85 is going on strike-- like it is inevitable?

Why is it OK for the media to fill the heads of the tax payers of this region with lies?

Why is it OK for local news papers to print "plant stories" by Port Authority Management?

Why is it OK for all the mismanagement over the years to be taken out on the workers?

Fear, Jealousy, and Misinformation is the key to their success. Just when ridership is on the steady up rise they want to put the fear of a work stoppage in the public's head.

They try to make people jealous by posting salaries of drivers and maintenance workers, because they know that many people who ride public transit are victims of our low-wage economy. To people who are struggling to make it in a non-union job, our salary can seem like a lot. In reality, bus drivers are making enough to live a decent life, not an extravagant life. Very few of us are able to sacrifice our personal and family time to work the amount of over time you have to work to exceed than the 40,000 average salary.

They constantly give misinformation on ATU member's pensions and the supposed cuts in management jobs.

Why are Jake Haulk of the Allegheny Institute and Ken Zapinski of the Allegheny Conference so motivated to constantly take a one sided approach to this topic. What is their motivation to rip off the blue collar, hard working, people of Allegheny County who use public transit.

Or, maybe it's just the (over-paid, lazy) Unionized workers that they're after.These people are here for good old fashioned UNION BUSTING, and they need your help. They want to enrage ordinary people to help them further their agenda:

• They want you to write letters to the editor, send emails and and write comments agreeing with them on their blogs about the overpaid bus drivers.
  
• They want you to stand around the office water cooler with your co-workers and bad mouth "Union Workers".

What's sad is that these horrible Union Workers are your family, friends, your neighbors. They are the fireman, the policeman, your mailman, your garbage man, your kid's school teacher, and your bus driver-- (even the nice ones).

Come on, who are the Allegheny Conference, or groups who want to privatize transit like the Allegheny Institute looking out for?? Is it you? Is it me?

Most union members appreciate their union and would not deny another worker the right to have a union-- that's why it's called the Labor Movement. But the Allegheny Institute and the Allegheny Conference want you believe Unions are what is destroying America. They are pitting us against one another while every day their Big Business, Corporate backed Think Tank mentality tears the middle class apart.

Please stop and think the next time you hear them spew their evil venom on the hard working people of this great Commonwealth. This Country was built by hard working people, don't let them divide us any longer.

TRUE LIES

Isn't it amazing how the free hand of the market takes care
of the most-vulnerable? Isn't it amazing how Private
Corporations look out for the taxpayer? Isn't it amazing
how our free press continually pushes for the corporate
control of our taxpayer services? Of course we're being a
little sarcastic in the amazing abilities of the free market
when it comes to taxpayer provided services. The sad truth
of the matter is that we're being hoodwinked by interests that
care of themselves and not of the public good. The biggest lie
that the American Public has ever been told are the virtues of
a Public Private Enterprise. Oh yea they're great if your the
private party (no risk) guaranteed money (through your taxes)
guaranteed profit (through your taxes) is the one involved.

However for the rest of us (the Taxpayers) our services will
continually be whittled away until the profit margin is all
that will remain of our endeavors. This is what the Politicians
of our transit agency (Dan Onorato)have in mind.

A public-private partnership sounds great in theory until the
facts are laid out in front of us. There is not one single
place in the U.S. where this model has worked for the benefit
of its citizenry. (Name one) The office of the County Executive
has continually used as an example the transit agency of Denver
Colorado. Upon further review the facts show what a failure it
has been for the people of the Mile High City.

Unreliable service, Higher costs to the electorate, more
congestion in the inner city and suburbs and no answers to the
traffic problem that befuddle commuters. On the other hand the
private service provider has become extremely wealthy thanks
to the taxpayers of Denver. We have to ask ourselves are we in
this together? Are we in this for Veolia? Are we in this for
our children? A sense of Community is as American as Apple Pie.
Let's reject this empowerment that our polls are imposing upon
us with their campaign contributions from outside sources who
wish to enrich themselves with OUR TAXES and show them we believe
in ourselves through an American Democracy that we the people
elect. The Alternative will undoubtedly be endless transit
cutbacks and ever growing profits for a Private Concern.

(THE COMMONS ARE FOR EVERYONE NOT THE PRIVILEGED FEW)