NEXT MEETING: Sat Nov 17, 2012. 10 am at Thomas Merton Center.
(General membership meetings are the 3rd Saturday of each month)
This website and all our educational materials are currently being redesigned – stay tuned for some big changes.
Here’s a basic summary of the Proposal for Organization, Strategy, Tactics, Activities that was revised and voted for by all participants at the monthly general membership meeting of Pittsburghers for Public Transit on October 20, 2012.
Pittsburghers for Public Transit is a democratic membership organization of those who are in agreement with the Transit Bill of Rights and are prepared to help advance it.
• Meetings will be held at least once a month, and all decisions will be made on the basis of one person, one vote—majority rule. A “voting member” is someone who regularly attends PPT meetings. Proposals should be sent to the community organizer [Helen Gerhardt: helengerhardt1@gmail.com], who will compile and send them to the membership three days in advance of the monthly meeting.
• Sub-committees will be established as needed, by a decision of the membership, and they are answerable to the PPT membership. However, the media sub-committee can make decisions about material without approval of the general membership.
• A coordinating committee of no more than seven persons, answerable to the general membership, will be elected every six months to oversee and facilitate the work of PPT, including the work of any PPT staff and interns. This team will also make decisions–as needed–in between meetings, which can subsequently be reviewed. [Members of the Coordinating Committee will be published in the About section when the new website is completed.]
Currently, our goal is to achieve dedicated funding to secure a mass public transit system that is beneficial to transit riders, transit workers, and our communities. Our strategy – the over-arching “game-plan” to achieve that goal – will be to organize and mobilize popular pressure to persuade the Pennsylvania State Legislature to establish such funding. (If such funding is not forthcoming, we will consider additional efforts for achieving it).
We also aim to convince the general public that mass transit is a human right and necessity that must be supported by the corporations that benefit from its existence.
Finally, we seek to build a truly democratic mass organization to defend and expand public transit.
The PPT also voted on two other strategic and tactical work plans:
Proposal for Legislative Campaign, detailing our plans to inform and engage legislators and their constituents across the state
Proposal for Direct Organizing Campaign, detailing plans to engage, train, and coordinate teams of drivers, riders, and other transit supporters to engage in the political process and to build organizational coalitions for public transit.
Please contact us at pittsburghersforpublictransit@gmail.com if you’d like more information on how you can join our efforts.
