Community-Wide Meeting to Plan Defense of Public Transit

Saturday, August 17 at 10am

One Smithfield St, Human Services Building

Downtown Pittsburgh

You’re invited to attend a community-wide meeting to plan our fall actions to defend our public transportation.

At the meeting, we will discuss:

New PPT neighborhood chapters have launched this month. We’ll consider how we can build wider support for their upcoming action plans, proposals and meetings with their elected officials.
Starting new chapters in your own neighborhoods to educate your neighbors and elected officials on how transit cuts would affect your community and to mobilize for protective action.
PPT show of broad support for public transit at Special Port Authority Board Meeting on Friday, August 23rd at 9:30 a.m. at 345 6th Ave. We must be sure the public is included in deliberations – we will coordinate our messages and sign up to speak.
Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission public comment session on August 27th to discuss amendments to Transportation Improvement Program – showing wider support for PPT Hill Chapter comments and concerns.
Transit Tales project: recording and broadcasting stories from riders, drivers and other supporters on why public transit is so important to our communities.
Fundraising to maintain staff and launch our campaigns across the county and state.
Building coalitions among our communities, businessess, and organizations that benefit from public transit: upcoming actions.

Neighborhood Chapters begin to launch

Because PA Senate Bill 1 to fund transportation failed to pass, and because we have little confirmed current information about public transit funding over the next two years, at our last General Membership meeting on July 20th, Pittsburghers for Public Transit resolved to build chapters committees and networks in neighborhoods that will be impacted by potential transit cuts. This networking will allow transit advocates to more effectively mobilize our diverse communities to respond to the next round of cuts should they be announced in 2014 or 2015.

PPT will work to lay the groundwork not only to defend, but to expand public transit. We hope not only to resist cuts in service, fare hikes, and layoffs, but to become a proactive organization that is capable of advocating for increased service, fare reductions, and the practical enactment of the Transit Bill of Rights.

PPT will begin by helping to launch five community chapters of at least 15-20 active riders and drivers in neighborhoods that will be impacted by potential transit cuts. These core members will help inform and mobilize their own fellow riders, drivers, neighbors, transit dependent businesses, churches and other community organizations. We will help those active members recruit 100 total new supporters in the community for more powerful and effective mobilization, education campaigns, political actions and communications with elected officials.

· Each community chapter will work to identify and communicate the impacts of current and potential future public transit service cuts in their neighborhoods. They will develop proposals for education and action, both within their own groups and to present to the larger membership for wider support and mobilization.

Our first neighborhood chapter in Troy Hill is holding their first meeting this Friday, August 9th, at 7pm at the Grace Lutheran Church, 1701 Hatteras St.

Please contact us if you want to start a chapter in your own community!

MASS MEETING TO PLAN FALL ACTIONS FOR PUBLIC TRANSIT

Our state legislature did not pass a transportation bill which would have sustained public transit. So, we are again facing truly devastating cuts to Port Authority routes and service in the next few upcoming years. We must act decisively – too much damage will be done to our economy and our communities if we lose more service. We must build a more powerful mass movement in support of public transit and the health of our communities.

We are extending an invitation all across Allegheny County to riders, drivers, and other transit supporters to a special mass meeting in downtown Pittsburgh on Saturday, July 20th at 10 am at the Human Services Building at One Smithfield St.

We ask your help in spreading the word. We ask you bring your own communities’ special concerns, and your own ideas for new directions. We ask you to bring your friends, co-workers, fellow riders and drivers. We ask you to join in building a truly mass movement that can move us all forward together.

Thanks to you all.

JOIN PITTSBURGHERS FOR PUBLIC TRANSIT IN THE FIGHT TO

DEFEND AND EXPAND OUR PUBLIC TRANSIT LIFELINES!

IMMEDIATE ACTION ALERT: PUBLIC TRANSIT FUNDING IN DANGER.

The state legislature must pass public transit funding this year, or we will face big cuts in routes and service next year. We have less that two weeks before the budget is due and we must act together to demand dedicated funding for public transit.

JOIN A PRESS CONFERENCE AND PICKET FOR PUBLIC TRANSIT FUNDING, ON TUESDAY, JUNE 25TH AT NOON AT THE GOVERNOR’S OFFICE, 301 5TH AVENUE.
HELP DELIVER OVER 5000 LOCAL SIGNATURES IN SUPPORT OF PUBLIC TRANSIT
OPPOSE PRIVATIZING OUR PUBLIC TRANSIT FOR CORPORATE PROFIT.

We will speak out FOR dedicated funding for accessible, affordable public mass transit and AGAINST corporate privatization of crucial public transportation infrastructure.

Demand dedicated state funding for transportation: Ask your representatives to act now and back legislation that would provide an adequate, stable source of revenue for public transit.

Find your state representative(s) here.

And join at us at our mass meeting on Saturday, July 20th at 10 am at One Smithfield St. in downtown Pittsburgh to plan our fall actions.

For more information or to find out how you can help, email us at info@pittsburghforpublictransit.org or call 412-518-7387.

General Membership Meeting on June 15

You’re invited to join us for our monthly General Membership Meeting on Saturday, June 15th from 10-11:30 a.m. at the Allegheny County Human Services Building, One Smithfield St, in downtown Pittsburgh. This month we’ll be in the Homestead Grays conference room on the ground floor.

Here’s the agenda:

Discussion of Transportation Senate Bills 1 and Senate B700. How should PPT respond to concerns of privatization and regressive taxation of workers even as corporate tax rates are cut again?
Transit Tales updates
Discussion of new directions for PPT’s future
Organizing a much larger General Membership Meeting, using the thousands of new contacts from petitions to invite participation
Grants and other fundraising
Initial discussion of proposal for pay-what-you-wish monthly dues for voting membership.

Just one week away until the RUMBLE…

On June 4th, a convoy of buses will rumble from across Pennsylvania toward the Capitol Rotunda in Harrisburg. We’ll deliver solid information at the offices of every single one of our state legislators about why public transit is crucial to the health of all of our communities. Then we’ll raise a mighty human rumble up to the tip-top of the Rotunda dome at a rally, with speakers that include State Senators and Representatives, as well as riders and drivers from across Pennsylvania.

Please join us! Port Authority buses will be leaving on Tuesday morning, at 7:30 am from two locations;

Freedom Corner in the Hill District, at the corner of Crawford and Centre.
David Lawrence Convention Center underpass, near the intersection of 10th St. and Penn Ave and 10th St. Directions are on this web page.

You can reserve your free meal and spot on the buses to Harrisburg here. You can take an 82 bus from downtown to Freedom Corner; for the 82 schedule, click here. You can find multiple buses which will bring you within close proximity to the Convention Center pickup location here: portauthority.org.

Please pass on the invitation to your friends, family, co-workers, and to your fellow transit riders and drivers!

General Membership meeting this Saturday, May 18th

We’re in the home stretch before the Harrisburg rally on June 4th in support of public transit funding legislation. Please join us for our General Membership meeting on Saturday at 10 am at One Smithfield in the Human Services Building. Help us plan how to fill the buses to rumble the rotunda!

Here’s the agenda:

1. Harrisburg rally planning
2. Petition drive: upcoming signature collection events
3. Transit Tales story recording – sign up to tell your own experiences of our public transit system
4. Fundraising

PPT celebrates Transit Day!

Pittsburghers for Public Transit joined GoBurgh to help kick off the first annual Transit Day in Market Square on Thursday, May 9th. We helped distribute “Transit YES!” pins while collecting signatures for our Transit Bill of Rights. Thanks to the organizers and everyone who turned out and signed up to help support the push for sustainable, dedicated funding for public transportation!

You can help us keep the pressure on our government officials to stop the cuts and create more, better, and cheaper public transportation by joining PPT and our coalition partners statewide to Rumble the Rotunda in Harrisburg on June 4! Register today by clicking on the “Rally Registration” in our top menu.

Even if you can’t make the rally, you can still aid in our efforts by signing onto the Transit Bill of Rights Petition and getting your friends and family, neighbors and coworkers to do the same! You can easily do so right now online by clicking on the above tab. More transit, not less!

Transit Day is May 9th!

To draw attention to this crucial public infrastructure, both the Pittsburgh City Council and Allegheny County Council will be proclaiming May 9th to be Transit Day!

To celebrate our public transit system, Josh Verbanets of local band Meeting of Important People will rock Market Square at noon on May 9th, along with GoBurgh, Pittsburghers for Public Transit, the ATU, the Pennsylvania Interfaith Impact Network, the Committee for Accessible Transit and many other coalition partner community organizations and businesses.

Speakers will include County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, ATU Local 85 President Steve Palonis, and State Senators Jay Costa (D) and Randy Vulakovich (R).

GoBurgh and Pittsburghers for Public Transit invite all transit supporters to join us for music and rally to call on all our elected officials at both local and state levels to support the public transit so crucial to the health of our communities!

B.Y.O.B. Build Your Own Bus on May 5th

On May 5th, from 2-5pm, we’re having an art party at Assemble, 5125 Penn Ave, to make creative signs and a fleet of cardboard buses to rumble through the Capitol Rotunda during our big June rally in Harrisburg in support of public transit.

Even if you can’t come to the rally, you can make a visual splash in support of public transit!

Assemble (art + technology space) and Pittsburghers for Public Transit will offer paints, markers, crayons, glitter, scissors, glue, poster board and all sorts of other goodies. On May 5th, please do bring your own creative ideas to 5125 Penn Ave, right next to the Merton Center on Saturday, Feb. 9th from 1-4pm.

Everybody of all ages is welcome as long as they want to help keep our buses rolling! And there will be pizza from Spaks, too!