Alert: Bus System in Danger

You know, I'd just assumed that Mayor Bing would win in November. After all, even among those who voted against him in the special election in May, who really wants the city to have four mayors within 12 months? Now, I'm not so sure. Less than one month after the grand opening of the Rosa Parks Transit Center, the Detroit Department of Transportation (DDOT) is suggesting cutting back 12 routes, ending Saturday bus service at 6pm, and eliminating Sunday bus service altogether. Check out the details in the article on the Detroit News website.

WHAT?????

The bus drivers' union estimates that 50,000 people ride the bus on Sunday and that 20,000 more would be effected by the Saturday cutback. The News article notes that the DDOT made this announcement a few days after the mayor said he planned to cut the jobs of 1,000 workers.

Maybe the mayor has not noticed, but public transportation in the city is already as bare bones as a dinosaur skeleton. It's 12:30 in the morning and I'm just getting in from the African World Festival--one of the major summer festivals downtown and you might think the city would be a little invested in making transportation available for it. Guess not. I live 12 miles from Hart Plaza, yet took me an hour to get home. And it was only that quick because I walked the last mile and a half rather than wait for a second bus which only runs once an hour (if that) at night. We can't take any more cuts in service and still have a system.

During the weekends, people use the bus to get to work, to church, to family, to shopping. How are they--how are we supposed to do that without the bus? That whole Cash for Clunkers only worked for those of us who a) had a clunker and b) had the cash/credit for the rest of the pricetag. Taxis are too expensive. Does he expect us to walk? When we're traveling over 10 miles? When we need to be there at 8am or get off in the middle of the night? More bus cuts are not an option.

If Tom Barrow really wants Bing's job, he might try riding the bus and talking to folks and then sending his campaign team out to register folks waiting at bus stops and on buses. I can imagine that if this goes any further we just might get more than the approximately 15% voter turnout we enjoyed in May and August.

A DDOT Rider Alert flyer states that public hearings will be held next week at the following locations:

Monday, August 24
10am 12 noon and again 6-8pm
Wayne County Community College
5901 Conner

Tuesday, August 25
10am 12 noon and again 6-8pm
Rosa Parks Transit Center
360 Michigan Ave.

Wednesday, August 25
10am 12 noon and again 6-8pm
Southwest District Neighborhood City Hall
7400 W. Vernor

Thursday, August 26
10am 12 noon and again 6-8pm
Northwest Activities Center
18100 Meyers

In addition, I believe Mayor Bing could benefit from hearing why this is a bad idea from his constituents. You can let him know at:

City of Detroit
Executive Office
Coleman A. Young Municipal Center
2 Woodward Ave., Ste. 1126
Detroit, MI 48226

(313) 224-3400

Go ahead, raise my taxes

Dear Congress,

You may raise my taxes. I figure I could still manage to pay bills and eat if you took another couple percent of my pay in taxes. No, I don't make over $250,000, but I want universal health insurance. I mean I want it in that way that makes me willing to give something up to get it. I have this crazy notion notion that it makes sense to sacrifice something I have for something I really, really want.

So, what do I want?

• every person in this country to have access to quality health care

Oh, this was going to be a bulleted list, but that about sums it up. I want everyone to have the care they need. I don't want preexisting conditions, or unemployment, or a measly employer provided benefits package, or factors like age and gender to keep anyone from having access to health care.

And if the Muttface has to live on store brand dog food and I have to take my lunch to work every day (instead of just most days)...well, we'll adjust.

Sincerely,

A concerned citizen

African World Festival this weekend!

It will be going on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. There's a schedule available at the African World Festival website (http://www.awfdetroit.com/).

Local Currency (again)

"The Plenty", local currency in Pittsboro, NC, where
15,000 are in circulation. (The Abundance Foundation)

A while back, in one of my first posts, I blogged about why I think Detroit needs a local currency. Today, on one of the mailing lists I follow, someone forwarded an article from the LA Times, Local currencies cash in on recession. The article describes several examples in cities and towns across the U.S. (Ithaca, NY, Pittsboro, NC, Mesa, AZ, Portland, ME, and others). Overall, local currency can encourage local economies and increases social capital (social capital is basically the social connections between people that make collective and communal actions possible).

Protectionist that I am (free trade? That benefits whom exactly?), I really don't see a reason not to have local currency in Detroit. Though, unlike how it has been enacted in the article, I want the Detroit currency larger than a group of businesses banding together. I want to see the city itself involved.

Visibility

I'm not a fan of rainbows. Well, actual rainbows, yes. They rank up there with waterfalls for me. What I'm not a fan of is the crayola-colored type of rainbows that have been adopted as a symbol of LGBT pride. They just don't really match my sense of style (or, maybe non-style would be more accurate). But sometimes I feel like I should wear a rainbow pin on my sleeve or maybe just tattoo a rainbow on my forehead. Because coming out gets old. Real fast.

I've had friends accuse me of going so overboard with being private that I cross the line into secretive and almost being in the Witness Protection Program. So I have no compulsion to talk about my sexuality. I'd actually prefer not to.

Except. Well, if you don't talk about it, people will just go ahead and assume you are heterosexual. Yeah, I'm not comfortable with that. I believe in privacy, not closets. Shoot, I have a hard enough time getting my clean laundry from the basement to my closet, there's really no way I can manage to put myself in one.

So I'm thinking that a forehead tattoo would avoid any confusion. You know that woman you see walking her dog around the neighborhood, greeting everyone she passes? Well, look at that! She's romantically attracted to women. You know, her, the one who gave away all those carrots from her garden? She likes women, really likes them. And I think it would be good for all those straight people who don't think they know anyone who sits under the LGBT umbrella. They could note me, with my big sign, going about the quirky, mundane business of my life. Not at all being a threat to the fabric of society (well...hopefully I'm at least occasionally a threat to some social ills, but not the beautiful parts of the fabric).

I like this idea--other than the whole permanent part, but at least it would save me from collapsing into a fit of giggles when someone random person asks me about boyfriends.

Catching up...on blogging and civic responsibility

So this past weekend I was on mad dash to gather information about the candidates in the primary election that was held yesterday. Which is why there's hasn't been much blogging lately. I'm going to try to do better. On both counts.

I was really impressed by one of the candidates for the charter commission: Jenice Mitchell Ford. I really appreciated her answers to the questions posed to candidates by MiVote. I think her video (unlike those of most of the other candidates) was outstanding: she very clearly explained the charter, the charter commission, and specific issues that need to be addressed in the revision. She also did a great job of sharing her qualification and making points about the issues that demonstrated that she had thought about them on more a cursory level.

I could have done without the slogan, though.

Summertime and the reading is easy...

..though apparently not the blogging. I've been trying to write this post since Friday. A little last minute marathon candidate research got in the way (but that, dear people, is another post).

It's amazing! I've actually had enough time to get in some pleasure reading. For the last six weeks or so I've been able to read strictly for the joy of reading. Free time is such a beautiful thing.

I grabbed a few books recommended on an NPR summer reading segment. One was a bust: Laura Rider's Masterpiece. Just eh...I was not feeling the shallow, self-absorbed characters and their little manipulations. The others have been enjoyable. The Stolen Child, by Keith Donohue, was a lovely 20th century Grimms' fairy tale. Okay, lovely might not be the best word, given core of the story: basically, a gang of shapeshifter children steal a child and one of them takes his place. I still think it was lovely and offered some interesting reflection on human connection, growing up, perspective, and group membership.

Kao Kalia Yang's The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir kept me company on vacation. She shares the story of her family as they fled Laos in the aftermath of the Vietnam War, spending several years in refugee camps in Thailand and eventually settling in Minnesota. She offers a very loving portrait of her grandmother and a fascinating snapshot of Hmong people.

I'm currently reading Uruguayan author Eduardo Galeano's Mirrors: Stories of Almost of Everyone. Which is amazing. Most of my summer reading has come to me from library books, including this one (interlibrary loan is such a good idea). However, it's due back tomorrow and someone has a hold on it so I can't renew. Today I ordered a copy online. This book is full of excellent bedtime stories and I want the hardcover on my shelf. These stories are less than a page, often no more than a paragraph, but, oh, the stories. It reads to me like a Brief History of Everything.

I know I've read a lot more, but it's late and I'm sleepy so I'll just share one piece of good news: The Serpent's Gift is back in print!!! The novel by Helen Elaine Lee is one of my favorites. I stopped recommending it to folks when it went out of print and I recently found out it was back after loaning out my copy. This is such a beautiful book: the language, the love among the family members, the imperfect humanity of the wonderful characters.

Still to come: Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South, The Revolution Will Not Be Funded, and whatever else I want because it's summertime and I can.

Now, when I really have some free time, I need to find myself a book club. Oooo...