Public hearing for proposed City Bus route changes

I had a pretty open mind coming into this public transportation meeting. Lucky for me, a friend was available to drive me to campus. Although really this public transit meeting was of personal importance to me, because I hate being a burden. I certainly know I incurred this life of not having a car on myself, rather ruthlessly.

Of course the first time I had actually gotten on a bus was the day before. It was a beautiful sunny day, and I wasn’t in any hurry. Which is why I decided to embark on the adventure to begin with.

After further consideration, I realized that this is a problem that is not getting a fair voice.

I realize why. It is so easy to get trapped in an endless cycle of addictive behavior. Poverty breeds misery. JK Rowling said in her commencement address to harvard.

http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2008/06/text-of-j-k-rowling-speech/

Poverty entails fear, and stress, and sometimes depression; it means a thousand petty humiliations and hardships. Climbing out of poverty by your own efforts, that is indeed something on which to pride yourself, but poverty itself is romanticised only by fools.

She goes onto talk about the importance of imagination. Unlike any other creature on this planet, humans can learn and understand, without having experienced. They can think themselves into other people’s places.

Getting around has been nothing but an adventure to me, since declaring to the world that I would write a blog about what it is like to be a pedestrian in this city. What this meeting made me realize, was that my imagination is probably one of the most amazing gifts God has given me. It has allowed me to think myself into the place of minorities I don’t even identify with.

The bosses of the public transit system had an opening presentation which sounded awesome. They really had me sold that they were doing their best to make this system more user friendly and accessible to everyone. What a relief! I had heard nothing but terrible things about what this transportation system has to offer. I had only been on it once myself, and while a cheerful experience, certainly was not easy, or accessible. I was just grateful for the sunshine, and some unworldly patience I had been praying on recently.

I might sound a little bitchy, but I have a lot of experience in what it is like working for less than a living wage in this city. I have always been hard working and generally ambitious, so I have a general sense of what entry level, non degree seeking jobs look like in this town. After years of stumbling along my way I have found a little relief in some fine dining establishments I have had the pleasure of working for.

Americans with Disabilities are real people, who are trying every day to not be a burden on society. A society that does not want to assign independence to them. That would be scary for all sides of the equation.

That is why the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 is a law that was enacted by the U.S. Congress in 1990. Wikipedia gave me everything I needed to know with great ease and accessibility. The ADA is a wide-ranging civil rights law that is intended to protect against discrimination based on disability.

Reality is, if you take away Route 9 from stopping at the main campus at UCCS, you will be severely limiting, anyone with a disability from having access to an education.

I have witnessed a few students with some severe handicap’s, who had very loving supportive… I won’t assign labels to those angels. Helping them get too and from class. But not everyone has that same sort of support.

Listening to one girl was horrifying. The last time they took away the bus route outside of her home it was like being on house arrest. All of a sudden she could not go anywhere, didn’t have access to anything. They didn’t care. Move they said. If route 9 stops going to the main hub at UCCS, her ability to finish her degree is directly at risk. She can’t just move every time the transit system makes a change to the way they operate. It is extremely expensive to outfit any apartment she wants to live in with equipment necessary to be mobile. To be independent.

A little voice whispered in my ear. The emotional appeals don’t matter. These are giant corporations. She doesn’t even have to pay for her bus pass, she gets it for free. Her life does not matter at all to the people in charge. You have to look at their business plan, you have to align your goals with their goals. Make them see why it is profitable to take care of a minority.

It certainly seemed like that was what the audience was trying to do at that meeting.

The official stance from UCCS chancellor is that the proposed changes to this bus route are not supported by the university. A lot of people, that are a lot smarter then I am, had a lot to say about all of the reasons the proposed changes are a bad idea. Both for your bottom line as a business, and for the general impact of creating a sustainable mass transit system is for the success of our economy. Long term.

I have a few points that no one was going to give me the platform for at the meeting. (I honestly had no idea what I was getting into and was unprepared. I promise I won’t be at the next meeting.) It’s going to be challenging for Colorado Springs to hear the mountain lions roar about how terrible this change in the transit system will be. Lucky you have me hear recording all of my observations to share.

No one wants to look at the most obvious problem to me. Hours of operation. This is certainly not the first time I was wishing I didn’t have to have the responsibility of a car, just the first time I have had the opportunity to act on it.

My time trying to scrape together a living wage in this town can tell you, that hours of operation do not end at 8 or 9. This town forces anyone trying to get a job, to own and maintain a vehicle. Literally making us all slaves to a car payment. The Colorado Springs public transit system is not only stopping people from recklessly using their system to not drink and drive. They are also prohibiting anyone that works in the service industry, in almost any capacity, to rely on public transportation to get too and from work.

Forgiveness, compassion, empathy might save us all at the end of the day.

So how can I be the bridge between an older wiser generation, that is trying to direct the future of a generation that will never listen? A generation that just seems disengaged, unappreciative, and unaware on a good day?

Maybe I can start by pointing out to the powers that be, that minorities do matter. That it is in the interest of the minority of the people, who hold the majority of the wealth in the world, to care about those, that are not directly lining their pocket books.

Can I appeal to generativity?

— Google, in case ya’ll needed some reference. “In Erik Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development, generativity is a struggle against stagnation that ascends during adulthood. Generativity in the psychosocial sense refers to the concern for establishing and guiding the next generation and is said to stem from a sense of optimism about humanity.”

Can I somehow appeal to a large corporation, that enabling my generation to get to school. Will somehow help them achieve their financial goals as an institution?

I would start to get nervous about the intent of those I am going up against.

There are a few solutions that students have thought of. Inspired by other cities across the nation, and the world that have public transportation systems that work.

Why doesn’t the Student Government Association take a portion of our student fees, and use them to pay for a bus pass, that is attached to our student ID’s?

Honestly, I vote that you attach it to our tuition from a larger institutional level. I’m not much of a gambler, but I am willing to bet the majority of the students won’t notice. They are just taking out student loans to pay for all of that anyways. But I will certainly fight to work within the constraints, I have as a student, if I have to. I certainly won’t let the fact that I am only a student limit my voice or my potential.

Especially when I know that my voice is representing every minority in this town.

Apparently this was proposed to the Colorado Springs board of whatever was running the public transportation system. The public transportation commission said that they were afraid that UCCS students might abuse the system. They never defined what abusing the system looks like.

I suppose they thought that students might take the bus home instead of drinking and driving. More likely, they realized, that if they empowered students to not have a car payment. They might not take out student loans. If they enable minorities to have a voice, to get an education, to be independent, then they might be left with a generation that does not owe them anything.

Eastern cultures have found ways to overcome this beat. Elders impress upon their children that it is their responsibility to care for them when they are older. When they can no longer take care of themselves.

Ultimately isn’t that what we all fear as we grow old? That moment when we can no longer take care of ourselves? That moment we might have to owe something to someone else. That moment when we realize that the next generation should really be our only motivation to do anything, if life is to be worth living at all.

What was the point of this meeting? Did you just come here to tell me what you think I want to hear?

It starts by enabling each individual to be an independent, free thinking citizen. By making education a priority. How could any corporation, build a business model, that does not enable as many students to get to class on time as possible? Especially if we want to talk about issues in terms of sustainability.

You have to embrace social media. It is the platform that my generation is using to communicate with one another. So if you want to communicate with us, you will learn how to use it effectively. So I suppose part of my responsibility, as an educator, is to teach you the value this form of marketing really is. I have to remember to be empathetic, you didn’t grow up knowing what a valuable resource it is.

Awareness seems to be the cause of many of the problems that I am witnessing. Everyone with the money can’t hear what it’s actually like to be a pedestrian in this city. All of the people consumed with trying to make a living, are too busy to notice the Drake Power plant everyday.

We are all students and we are all teachers. Or we are doing it wrong. How do we bridge the gap between generations so we are leaving something better for our children, instead of eating all of the resources we have left?

My time in the military taught me this. We are only defined by our weakest link. The more you enable a person to be independent, the more they will have to contribute to society. The more everyone is contributing to the common good, the further any society will go.

My day rounded out with me downtown, trying to use public transportation to get myself home from this public transit meeting. There was not a bus available to take me home once I reached the downtown transfer station. I started to get a little nervous that I was in heals and walking home was a little more than I could actually chew.

Super lucky I have a stable of Knights in Shining armor waiting to rescue a damsel in distress stuck downtown in heals at night.

But I was nervous for just a second.

Shouldn’t the goal be to get Trinity back and forth to school safely everyday? How can I help? I can’t do everything, certainly will not elect into a car, a financial responsibility no one could expect me to own up to as a 24 year old about to graduate with no student loans next year.

Empathy really might save us all, if you give it a chance.