Organized Action

March 6, 2015
As time winds down, efforts step up.

I was at a high-speed rail conference a number of years back and during the lunch & learn the focus was on understanding the strategies of the opposition, primarily the far Right and the Tea Party.

The message was that they are a well-orchestrated machine, always out in the forefront, sending a consistent message. If you’re reading this magazine, you know public transportation is often a target they see as wasteful spending. The call to action was that the proponents of transit should get as organized and as vocal.

Expiration of current federal transportation funding is months away and the Highway Trust Fund won’t have the funds for highway and transit funding. And you can see the opposition out in force as it gets closer to the deadline, as well.

Recently Transportation & Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-PA) and U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx held a “town hall” meeting over Twitter, responding to people’s transportation questions via the hashtag #StuckInTraffic.

During the live chat, in addition to the questions there were people tweeting their opinions and perspectives on transportation and transportation funding. Included in that was a series of the same four or five tweets from a variety of people, all with information from the Heritage Foundation. One of the points being made was for adoption of the Transportation Empowerment Act.

One of the things that asks for is empowering states to set transportation spending priorities, stating decisions like this are best made at the local level, where the people know what’s best for their areas.

Breaking things up into smaller fragments — especially something so critical to the national framework like transportation of people and cargo — seems like trouble in the making. It makes me think of James Robertson of Detroit, Michigan, who you’ve most likely read about somewhere as the 21-mile walking commuter because communities opted out of the (Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation) SMART transit millage so much of his commute doesn’t have transit. ww.masstransitmag.com/11838957

Communities have the option to opt-out of transit services and 51 communities have done just that. Best quote I read on that matter was saying it’s like a community having the option of opting out of the Interstate system. 

As the end of the transportation bill draws nearer, efforts will be ramped up on all sides and getting your message to legislators is critical.