A press conference called by Pittsburghers for Public Transit (PPT) for Tuesday, January 22 at 9:30am a.m. will draw together representatives of Pittsburgh City Council, the Allegheny County Labor Council, Americans for Transit, the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 85, the Pennsylvania Interfaith Impact Network and others to announce a multi-faceted campaign to save and expand public transit in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
 
PPT and its partners note that the funding from Harrisburg last year was a temporary fix. That money is scheduled to run out in August 2013.  The clock is ticking!   Without dedicated transit funding, in September we will again be facing severe cuts to service, which will deeply damage our region’s communities and economies.  They also charge that Governor Corbett’s lift of a cap on the gas tax provides no long-term solution – and some of the “privateers” appointed to his Advisory Council on Privatization and Innovation stand to make substantial profits at the public expense through proposals for privatizing transportation infrastructure.
 
PPT spokesperson Molly Nichols will provide information on the launch of a statewide campaign, as well as local organizing efforts, to defend and expand our public transit system.  Andrew Austin, Executive-Director of the national Americans for Public Transit, will outline a projected statewide mobilization for public transit.  Councilwoman Natalia Rudiak will speak on the importance of critical transportation investments in the South Pittsburgh neighborhoods she represents.  Dave Vinski will be speaking on behalf of the Allegheny Country Labor Council.
 
Pittsburghers for Public Transit invite our neighbors to work together to advocate for these rights:
 
Transit Bill of Rights

Members of our community need public mass transit for basic mobility and access to work, school, hospitals, shopping areas, recreational facilities, polling places, places of worship and family and friends. Public mass transit is a vital part of any healthy metropolitan area. It is essential infrastructure – just like roads, bridges, tunnels, airports and utilities – that is crucial to the economic, social, and environmental wellbeing of our region.

We have a right to a public mass transit system that includes:

1. Safe, reliable, environmentally-sustainable, adn affordable transit that is accessible to all
2. Living wages, benefits, safe working conditions, and union rights for transit workers 
3. Dedicated and sustainable funding for public transit      
4. Equitable distribution of transit costs with corporations paying their fair share 
5. Transit that meets the needs of each community with no communities left out

For more information, call Community Organizer, Helen Gerhardt – 412-518-7387  

Our next general membership meeting will be this Saturday, January 19th at 10 am at the Human Services Building, One Smithfield St, in the Liberty Conference Room on the ground floor. There’s free parking – just hit the call button at the gate and someone will let you in.

Here’s big stuff coming up that we’ll be talking about and that you can be part of:

• January 22nd press conference at City-Council building to launch our legislative and direct organizing campaigns. Out onto the buses and into the streets!
• February 11, Harrisburg rally to support dedicated funding for mass transit with statewide coalition partners: free buses leaving at 7:30 am, rally at 2pm, coming back the same day.
• Volunteer training on Sunday, January 27th  from 1-3 pm.
• We got the Sprout grant! Thanks to the creativity and hard work of our partners Bricolage Production Company and PCRG, our teams will soon be launching out to collect your bus stories and to develop interactive community theater! Stories will be regularly featured at the City Paper Blogh in a range of media.
• This website is being developed even as I post this information. Keep checking in as we evolve from our old dinosaur days.
• Transit Tuesdays: regular meetings downtown between 3-5pm to flyer at the bus stops and on buses, including helping promote our allies’ events
• Nominations of new Coordinating Committee members, Angela Howze, community organizer for the Hill District Consensus Group, and Bob Schmitt of the Committee for Accessible Transit.

The PPT General Membership meeting is this Saturday, November 17th at 10am  at the Thomas Merton Center, 5129 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15224.

Agenda includes:

• Up/down vote on nominations for Coordinating Committee: Paul O’Hanlon and Mel Packer
• Report from subgroups: outreach, media, direct organizing, etc.
• Reports on Hill Consensus Group meeting, PCRG forums on Transit Oriented Development, the Make It My UPMC “fair share” Campaign, MOVEPGH community feedback session, Intermodal Transportation planning meeting, and the City Council post agenda hearing on the proposed Billboard Tax Legislation
• Legislative campaign: upcoming meeting of local and statewide coalition partners, survey for legislators and transit score card
• Bylaws: revision and vote
• Consideration and vote on joining coalitions

At the last general membership meeting on October 20th, Pittsburghers for Public Transit voted on a Transit Bill of Rights:

Members of our community need public mass transit for basic mobility and access to work, school, hospitals, shopping areas, recreational facilities, polling places, places of worship, and families and friends. Public mass transit is a vital part of any healthy metropolitan area. It is essential infrastructure—just like roads, bridges, tunnels, airports, and utilities—that is crucial to the economic, social, and environmental wellbeing of our region.

We have a right to a public mass transit system that includes:
1. Safe, reliable, environmentally-sustainable, and affordable transit that is accessible to all
2. Living wages, benefits, safe working conditions, and union rights for transit workers
3. Dedicated and sustainable funding for public transit
4. Equitable distribution of public transit costs with corporations paying their fair share
5. Transit that meets the needs of each community with no communities left out

Join Pittsburghers for Public Transit in affirming this Transit Bill of Rights.

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.