We need action for transit funding

Allegheny County Transit Council: "We all know the Port Authority doesn’t have the funding needed for adequate service. We’ve been complaining about that for months – for years.
Finally, something has happened in Harrisburg which may be a step to solving the problem of adequate funding statewide, for bridges and roads as well as public transportation. Now we can DO something." read more at http://actransitcouncil.blogspot.com/

Cars are killing us

A transportation system based on the private car has so powerfully transformed the American environment that a new human species is emerging, say the authors of a new book. Homo Automotivis is less social, more aggressive, weaker, poorer and worships at the Church of Automobility, say Bianca Mugyenyi and Yves Engler, the authors of Stop Signs — Cars and Capitalism on the Road to Economic, Social and Ecological Decay.

Anything but the car: Funding transit: Stu's plan

Anything but the car: Funding transit: Stu's plan: "Belief #1: I chose transit as my primary means of transportation over 20 years ago when I still owned four cars. Doing so allowed me to shed three of them over a couple of years, thus saving my household $100,000 in the time since. In that time, I've devoted thousands of hours to thinking how best to get around when a single car must be shared by multiple family members, and countless hours more trying to convince people that the $5K/year I save by using transit is real, worth the trouble, and something anyone can do if they put their mind to it. Short of being forced, most don't care about transit, and the never-ending political battles only serve to deter anyone from wanting to try using it. I believe the battles must cease entirely if we want transit to succeed." ...keep reading

We are fighting over Medicare costs, while the automobile continues to kill and maim

ThinkProgress » Paul Ryan’s Plan To End Medicare Stirs Anger At Pennsylvania Town Hall Event: "Yesterday, Scott Keyes reported that Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) effort to sell his budget proposal was not going over well with conservative constituents in his district. During a town hall meeting in Milton, attendees booed Ryan for rejecting the notion that the top income earners should be taxed more.
Last night, Rep. Lou Barletta (R-PA) received a similarly hostile reception from constituents during a public forum in Carbon County, as he tried to (incorrectly) reassure the group that Ryan’s budget would not affect the Medicare benefits of those over the age of 55."

Photo Link

Read more of the above Carbon County anger at the GOP Medicare plans at thinkprogress. The GOP has been taken over by the fossil-fuel industry and is now the Gas and Oil Party. They have bankrupted us with the auto-sprawl system, and now want to take away medical coverage so they will have more money to fuel traffic jams and parking lots and to fight energy wars in the Middle East, North Africa, and the Caspian Sea region. The USA is NOT Broke! There is plenty of money. It is all concentrated in the hands of a very small number of people.

Re-Imagine Today

Here are 15 Very Simple Things You Can Do to Make Your City a Better Place to Live Today

Re-Imagine Today: "1. Shop at local businesses FIRST: Keep money in the local economy, in the pockets of your neighbors, rather than in the hands of a distant corporation.

2. If you drive a motorized vehicle or bicycle, stop at crosswalks: Let people walking take priority. Their time is just as important as yours.

3. Try walking or biking to work. You’ll get some exercise, see your city from a different, more detailed perspective… all while doing your part to ease traffic congestion!"

Keep Reading at Re-Imagine Today

Study: Gas from ‘fracking’ worse than coal on climate - The Hill's E2-Wire

Study: Gas from ‘fracking’ worse than coal on climate - The Hill's E2-Wire: "Cornell University professors will soon publish research that concludes natural gas produced with a drilling method called “hydraulic fracturing” contributes to global warming as much as coal, or even more.

The conclusion is explosive because natural gas enjoys broad political support – including White House backing – due to its domestic abundance and lower carbon dioxide emissions when burned than other fossil fuels.

Cornell Prof. Robert Howarth, however, argues that development of gas from shale rock formations produced through hydraulic fracturing – dubbed “fracking” – brings far more methane emissions than conventional gas production."

Pittsburghers for Public Transit Meeting - Next Steps

Pittsburghers for Public Transit Meeting - Next Steps:
Time
Sunday, April 3 · 12:00pm - 1:30pm
Location
Room 5201 Posvar Hall, Pitt's Campus, Oakland
Entrances on Bouquet Street, Forbes Avenue, or Schenley Drive
Pittsburgh, PA
Created By
Pittsburghers for Public Transit (facebook)
More Info
Join PPT as we discuss our next steps in the struggle to protect and expand public transit in Allegheny County. In the wake of the cuts, we need to lay the groundwork for a fight to restore our transit service and to prevent future cuts that are being prepared as we speak. We have only begun to fight! All are welcome! If you have any questions or suggestions, please e-mail SavePGHTransit@Gmail.com.

See you there!