Town Hall Meeting
Thursday, April 3rd
6-8pm
Gleason Auditorium
First floor of the Downtown Library
The Greens have been part of a coalition that has met since April 2006 following some major changes set forth by the Rochester Genesee Regional Transit Authority (RGTA).
These changes had little citizen or bus rider imput and represent a long history of very arrogant and non-responsive management by the RGRTA. As a result there were fee increases that were largely on the backs of city bus riders.
I have been using the bus for two years now (no car) and can speak to the overall disregard by the Authority for concerns of everyday bus riders many of whom are low income persons of color.
We have organized a Town Hall meeting for the purpose of drawing attention to these concerns and to create a citizen review board that would relate to the City and influence the needs of bus riders.
The City has responsibility for the quality of services for the largely city population served. In addition the 13 Commissioners ;who comprise the official Authority Board are largely represented by the counties. Commissioners on the Board are politically appointed and with the exception of one do not routinely ride the buses.
This is just some background leading to encouraging Greens to attend the Town Hall meeting on 4-3-08, 6-8p.m. at the Gleason Auditorium, downtown Library. If we want a more real democracy we will have to insist on it.
Thanks, Bonnie Cannan
2 comments:
SAMPLE LETTER
Re: Community Review Board
To Mayor Robert Duffy
Robert Duffy, Mayor
City of Rochester
City Hall
30 Church Street
Rochester, New York 14614
Dear Mayor Duffy,
I am writing to make you aware of The Green Party of Monroe County's support for the creation of a RTS community review board. I applaud you for your commitment to including affected communities in decision making and I urge you to move forward in creating the board as soon as possible.
The recent cancellation of the token system, the elimination of transfers and the change in the Lift Line fare schedule has caused concern among service providers, bus riders, people with disabilities and community leaders. A structural change is needed in order to insure that the people affected by the RGRTA decisions have a say in the adoption of those policies. We would like to see the creation of a City of Rochester Community Review Board composed of bus riders, people with disabilities, services providers and union representatives. The City Review Board will have the power to direct the City to accept or reject proposed RGRTA changes.
I appreciate your attention to this matter and look forward to the creation of a community review board.
Sincerely,
Maybe the bus company is trying to attract more suburban middle class riders and these changes are aimed at that segment of the population. I don't see anything wrong with that, not all tax dollars have to go to poor urban neighborhoods!
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