WHEN WE FIGHT, WE WIN! In response to concerns raised by community members, riders, ACCESS mob, and PPT, The Port Authority will be holding three community meetings in Braddock, McKeesport, and Duquesne.

Check out the facebook event page for Braddock and information on time and location for all three meetings below:

BRADDOCK
October 2 – 6:30 p.m.
The Avenue Apartments
325 Braddock Ave.
Braddock, PA

On September 13th, House Republicans voted to pass a budget which approved cuts of $11.3 million to transit in Allegheny County. The budget then moved to a vote in the Senate, and PPT, along with the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) headed to Harrisburg to say “NO” to more cuts to transit!

Transit lines are life lines, and thousands of residents rely on public transit every day to get to doctor’s appointments, work, school and many other daily necessities.Transit is not a luxury or a privilege. It’s an absolute necessity!

The Mifflin Estates Transit Campaign celebrated the hard work they put in over the past year, with over 50 residents, bus drivers and PPT activists coming out to eat and find out more about the schedule and service. Thanks to their fight, the 55 will now be running through the community all day and on weekends! There was a shout out in the Trib about the restoration of service and the leaders that made it all possible. Thanks to all who made it such a success!

It is tragic, however, that Mifflin Estates residents had to celebrate in the midst of another attack on transit funding by far right PA legislators in Harrisburg, some of whom voted to defund their own districts’ bus service. Reporter Ryan Deto at the City Paper did an excellent job highlighting the impacts of the proposed budget on our Mifflin Estates campaign and on the potential for bus restoration in places like the North Hills, where community leaders have been pushing for additional transit for the last two years.

Pittsburghers for Public Transit joined residents of Braddock, Duquesne, and Rankin, ACCESS Mob, and transit advocates to tell the Port Authority “No!” to mandatory transfers and service impacts to the disability community.

From the WESA coverage of the event: “The monetary and physical costs of switching buses take a toll on these communities, which tend to be older and have higher concentrations of poverty, said Tina Doose, president of Braddock Borough Council.

‘Going into Oakland, getting off one bus and getting on another bus and waiting for that to happen, that’s a real inconvenience,’ she said. ‘And when you have mobility impairments it’s more than inconvenience, sometimes it’s an impediment to be able to get where you need to go.’”

Picture: Residents and riders gathered around outside. MC Tony Buba is in the center with a microphone. Some residents holding signs that say “Bus Lines are Life Lines” and “Transit is a Right.”

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Thanks to everyone for turning out, and for the powerful speakers Braddock Municipal President Tina Doose, Mayor Elect Nickole Nesby of Duquesne, Gabriel McMoreland on behalf of ACCESS Mob, Braddock Resident Edith Bell, PPT’s own Chandana Cherukupalli, and Filmmaker Tony Buba for MC’ing.

Pictures: (right) Braddock Council President Tina Doose speaking (left) PPT members Sue Scanlon and Emily De Ferrari, holding signs with quotes from residents.

After PPT’s press conference and rally about the impacts of the BRT on communities in the Mon Valley, the Port Authority announced that they will hold the first public meeting in Braddock to lay out information about the impact of the BRT and answer questions. We are encouraging all those who will be impacted by changes to the 61 buses in Rankin, Braddock, Duquesne and Mckeesport to attend.

The meeting will take place at the senior apartment building located at 325 Braddock Avenue on Monday October 2nd at 6:30pm.

Photo credit: Ryan Deto, Pittsburgh CityPaper

“When it comes to building affordable housing, there is no better place to do so than near public transportation. Since low-income people are less likely to own cars than higher-income individuals, good access to public transit is necessary for affordable-housing dwellers to travel to work, visit family and just get around. According to the nonprofit Center for Housing Policy, people in the Pittsburgh Metro area spend 34 percent of their income on transportation, the second highest figure of large U.S. metro areas, just behind Tampa.

And at a Aug. 10 meeting, this thinking led a group of affordable-housing advocates to request that Pittsburgh’s Urban Redevelopment Authority include affordable-housing measures in its pitch to redevelop the Lexington Technology Park, in North Point Breeze.”

From City Paper’s Blog: Advocates call for Lexington Technology Park redevelopment to include affordable housing

Great Press Coverage on Possible BRT Impact on Duquesne and Braddock communities. If you missed the meeting, you can still email comments and concerns around the BRT proposal to brt@portauthority.org.

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Residents and community representatives from Duquesne and Braddock highlighted the consequences of less frequent service along the key 61 A,B,C & D routes, along with the financial and physical burden of mandatory transfers in Oakland to get downtown. The Port Authority has not finalized their service plans for these routes under the BRT, however, it is likely that riders will lose their all day one-seat ride to downtown. Pittsburghers for Public Transit recognizes that there are some benefits to bus riders under the BRT proposal, including improving the experience and efficiency of a heavy transit corridor for riders, bikers and pedestrians, and the transition to a green electric bus fleet. However, Pittsburghers for Public Transit stands along with the Committee for Accessible Transportation and City of Pittsburgh-Allegheny County Task Force on Disabilities in opposing the BRT plan as long as concerns around accessibility and equity are not addressed. Riders and disability advocates have highlighted how the proposed BRT bus-only lanes prevent para-transit vehicles from complying even with ADA minimum curb drop-off standards.

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“Mamadou Ndiaye, an intern for Braddock, said the changes would put a burden on the borough’s many low-income residents traveling Downtown for access to health providers and other services.

“Within the borough, we don’t have many social services for our residents,” Ndiaye told the board. “So to impose a change that would make their commute time even longer … is something we see as being inequitable.”

From the Trib:
http://triblive.com/…/passengers-ask-port-authority-to-reco…

From WESA:
http://wesa.fm/…/braddock-duquesne-residents-voice-concern-…

From WPXI:
http://www.wpxi.com/…/residents-voice-concerns-ov…/574841250

“The group recently presented the authority with a letter calling for the agency to allow groups to participate in the process and identifying the qualities it wants to see in a new CEO.

“We respectfully request that, as an important public asset, the public be given an opportunity to weigh in on the final selection of a CEO,” Laura Weins of Pittsburghers for Public Transit wrote.

Nearly 30 community activists, transit riders and allies gave powerful testimony at today’s Port Authority Board Meeting in opposition to the proposal for armed police to check fares on the T! Speakers addressed concerns around police’s racial profiling of black and brown communities, the criminalization of youth and the poor, the risks of deportation for our immigrant neighbors, and inadequate police training and accountability.

One recurring question posed to the board was “who does this policy make safer, and who is put at risk?”

Ed Blazina from the Post Gazette covered the meeting here: http://www.post-gazette.com/…/Groups-c…/stories/201706300542

PPT presented the following letter to the Port Authority Board today, naming specific qualities that should be looked for in a Port Authority CEO, and requesting a public process to screen candidates for the position:

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To the Port Authority Board and CEO Hiring Committee,

The Port Authority plays a key role in shaping the future of our community, and in ensuring that Southwestern PA is a place that is truly livable and accessible to all. The search for a new Port Authority CEO is an opportunity to build a truly innovative mass transit system, with a holistic vision for the role of public transit and its contribution to the economic, social and environmental wellbeing of our region.

To that end, we at Pittsburghers for Public Transit believe there are a number of key attributes that should be emphasized in the search for a new CEO.

The Port Authority CEO should:

-Demonstrate a commitment to institutional transparency and elevating community voices in planning and decision-making. Riders and drivers, in particular, are experts in our transit system and offer valuable insight into how to best serve the communities in our region.

-Show evidence of a commitment to equity as a guiding principle. The CEO should understand how transportation and housing policy have had a disproportionately negative impact on low-income and minority communities, and work towards reversing that harm.

-Have demonstrable experience leading organizational change, and a willingness to embrace and implement new ways of thinking about transit. An ideal candidate should be a nationally-recognized expert and industry leader in green vehicle technology, equitable transit-oriented development, the first-mile last-mile public transportation “ecosystem” among other transit innovations.

– Be someone who has successfully built and maintained relationships with a diverse set of city and county entities and stakeholders, and will identify overlapping priorities and coordinate with those stakeholders in planning and project initiatives.

-Be a passionate public transit advocate, who recognizes that mass transit is first and foremost a public good, and not a business out to make a profit.

Finally, Pittsburghers for Public Transit believes that it is important for representatives from different stakeholder organizations, including labor, riders, policy advocates, neighborhood groups and foundations to participate in an initial screening to determine finalists for the Port Authority CEO, and that final candidates participate in a public forum and Q&A session. We respectfully request that, as an important public asset, the public be given an opportunity to weigh in on the final selection of a CEO.

Sincerely,

    Laura Wiens

            On Behalf of PPT