Hats off to our members and allies!

from Michelle Dibblee, Senior Organizer

Thank you! TLC’s members and allies filled the room at House Transportation Committee meetings on Monday, March 21, 2011. Your presence and spirited testimony reminded legislators of the many people who use our buses and trains. Many of you also testified at the Senate Transportation Committee meetings or joined us for our press conference at the Capitol on March 31.

Your compelling testimony was personal, passionate, thoughtful, informed!! Here are just a few of the points you made:

Riders without options:

“I chose to ride the bus from the Maplewood Transit station to get here today, parking in the lot and boarding directly to the bus.  Not everyone I rode with had that option. I didn’t shiver in the damp wind waiting with an infant. I didn’t struggle to swing up my leg with the walking cast onto the bus. Those of us who have resources have options – these other people didn’t. They needed the bus to get where they were going. Please find some other way than increasing fares and decreasing service.” – Helen D., White Bear Lake

Dane Smith, Growth & Justice; TLC and Sierra Club member Helen Duritsa and a young friend

Students:

“Without transit, I wouldn’t have been able to keep my job over the summer when I moved back home to Apple Valley. Each morning, I rode my bike to the transit station and loaded it up on the bus so I could get in to go to work.”—Emma W., U of M student.

Natalie Tungsvik and Emma Wright, members of MPIRG

Suburban residents:

“I just retired because of a severe concussion and returned to Minnetonka to be close to my parents. I grew up riding bikes and taking the #12 on Excelsior Blvd. When I came back, I saw the bus benches and stops, but my neighbors told me it doesn’t run any more. My family, friends, and neighbors are rooting for me today – they really, really want the bus [the #12 no longer runs] and the light rail.”—Mary Kay W., retired flight attendant and volunteer, Minnetonka

LaShella Simms, MICAH, and TLC members Mike Madden and Joe Foss

The economy:

“Our family transit system is our one car. One of us takes the other to work and does the reverse at night so we can eat out and go to local shops. Our transportation choices help the local economy. Let’s plan for and build other options – not more roads that will be congested over time. Let’s move forward, not back.” –Jason W., MICAH and ISAIAH

“Public transportation for many people is a necessity, while for others it is an option. Both of those [groups] are critical for Minnesota’s long-term outlook and for who we are as a society…. As we continue to underfund mass transit, we are increasing expenses for other forms of transit. [We] cannot continue to build roads to solve congestion. . . .  There are long-term implications for your decisions today.”—Raymond D., Northside Transportation Network

TLC and Sierra Club member David Howd; TLC members James Jacobs and George Burtness

Clean environment:

“When our first daughter was born, I was working for minimum wage. I had to provide the basics, but I also thought about what I wanted to build for her for the future. I think the state has to take a similar perspective. In these economically hard times we have to look to what kind of future we are building and how we will get there. I want our kids to have a clean and safe environment to live in. Transit, to me, is a really critical part of our future.”—Ruby S., Minneapolis

“I have had a bus card since I started working downtown in 1983 – I have not owned a car since 1986 when it became apparent to me that I and the environment could not afford it.”—Joanne B., St. Paul

Packed house at hearing