Kissing 2008 Goodbye

Back in May 2007, when the car wouldn't start and I decided to make better use of my time than waiting around for AAA to show up, I never would have imagined that over a year and a 1/2 later, I'd be without a car -- on purpose. Yes, I often ask myself, "Why am I doing this completely insane and very time-consuming experiment??" The truth is that I'm having a whole lot of fun while doing it.

As 2008 comes to a close, it's time for me to jump on the year-end reflection bus... below are a few things TQL noted in 2008.

1. The CDTA Trip Planner seemed nifty when it was first introduced. On closer examination, I noticed it was rather clunky and didn't provide clear information on the shuttle stops.

2. The CDTA monthly pass (called the Swiper) could be a lot more consumer-friendly by (i) changing the valid dates to be good 30 days from the first day of use, rather than based on the calendar month, and (ii) offering refunds for lost or stolen cards. Both of these are standard over at the MTA.

3. My good friend took me grocery shopping at the Slingerlands Chopper. We noticed some major disparities in customer service between the city and the 'burbs. I've since traveled back there a few times via bus. The best thing about letting CDTA take me to the Slingerlands Price Chopper is that I don't have to get confused by the obtuse signage of the Slingerlands roundabouts.

4. I experienced the overcrowded Route 5 corridor first-hand one Sunday night when I was late picking my daughter up from a friend's house.

5. In the final days of my relationship with CDTA's Trip Planner, I noted that CDTA didn't program the Trip Planner with the holiday schedule over Memorial Day. I was thrilled to start something new with Google Transit which seemed to make my life easier. When Labor Day rolled around, I ran another test of inter-office communication, which yielded different results than the Memorial Day experiment.

6. I dreamt of light rail, contemplated car sharing, and kvetched about CDTA's circular reasoning (which they occasionally dismantle, but not consistently).

7. I'm not nearly as productive a blogger as I could be, and I've been happy to share info with the fab folks at AOA -- including CDTA's new jingle and the innovative partnership between the Affordable Housing Partnership and CDTA that my friend "Lucy" tipped me off about.

8. I highlighted a few bus adventures and encounters. Some fun. Some not so fun. I contemplated neighborhood planning and learned a bit of Albany's trolley history from my friends, Nancy and Gregg.

9. Gun violence surged in the city. The death of a 10-year old girl sixteen blocks from my home in May and the killing of a college student two blocks from home in October spoke volumes to me about how Albany's neighborhoods have been neglected.

10. I worked with a bunch of great people to fight CDTA's fare hike. The fun all started when I called my friend Roger November 30 to discuss taking action against the hike. I dragged an anti-automobile boy to the public hearing on December 4 (with the plan to get some Crisan gelato after the hearing no matter how cold it was outside), and we met a few people who were ready to work to Stop the Hike. Unfortunately, the board passed the revised fare increase without considering that they could have real options not far ahead if they would only push for them (yes, the 7th Avenue subway line needs help-- but Capital Region residents and visitors deserve affordable mass transit too!) ... still, I look forward to working with Ray Melleady and the CDTA crew in the future.

As for my thoughts for 2009 - check out what I told my friends at All Over Albany.

Happy New Year.

Capital Region Transit Advocates Launches Blog

Check it out.

There's a link to an online petition.

iRide Green when weStop the Hike

I've been busy pondering the fare hike - talking to friends, shooting emails back and forth, and trying to focus on the core issues that a broad coalition of transit supporters (with varying pet peeves) can agree upon when it comes to taking a position on CDTA's proposed fare increases and its impact on riders. (Yes, I wrote that article.)

We're getting a petition together (hoping to have it available in hard copy and online by the weekend) which we'll submit to CDTA on December 12 - the last day to submit written comments.

Here are the points we're focusing on:

1. The proposed 50% fare hike and service cuts are too steep and will hurt low income people who depend on CDTA as their primary mode of transportation.

2. The proposed 50% fare hike will likely send many of CDTA's new riders who take the bus by choice, right back to their cars.

3. CDTA argues that higher fuel costs are part of what is driving up operating costs, with the recent drastic drop in fuel costs, it doesn't appear that a 50% fare hike can be justified.

Our coalition understands that CDTA is under-funded, and we are calling for government to make an investment in mass transit so that fares stay affordable for those who depend on it, and attractive to those who might want to give the bus a whirl.

Public Hearings have started already -- they were held Monday in Saratoga County, yesterday in Rensselaer County... if you've got reports from either of those locations, send in comments. I'm eager to hear about the turnout and the fare increase feedback from the public.

Tomorrow is Albany County - 4:30 - 8 p.m. at the Main Branch of the Albany Public Library. Your so-called transit riding superhero will be there.

Monday, December 8 is Schenectady - 4:30 - 8 p.m. at the Schenectady County Public Library.

I was under the impression that the hearings would provide details on the proposed service cuts. But I've seen no reports, there's nothing about the specifics on the website, and when I asked a bus driver this morning if he'd heard about pending service cuts, he said he'd heard nothing. So... when are they going to tell us? If you know, please share.

Albany transit: present, past, future...

The fall conference of the New York Public Transportation Association (NYPTA) doesn't usually get mentioned in a New York Times op-ed. While reporters at the conference were hoping for info about Hillary's place on the Obama short list for Secretary of State, I'm more interested in the following:

• Where was my invitation to the affair? Lost in the mail, I assume. Actually, transit riders, including so-called superheroes, are not standard NYPTA members.



• CDTA's Executive Director, Ray Melleady's rise to the President of this organization. I hear before he came to our neck of the woods, Melleady started out as a mechanic for a Pennsylvania transit authority.



• Whether anyone from Rochester Transit shared their strategies for reducing bus fares to $1 per ride...looking at the program, the answer to that question would be, "Not this time around."
  

Can anyone tell me if the wonders of modern day trolleys were discussed at the meeting? I know trolley, train or other transit service that moves us along faster than our current system, is part of my hope for the future of public transportation for our region.

Speaking of trolleys, I learned some Albany history from my good friends Gregg and Nancy on a recent night out. They told me my favorite CDTA bus line, the Number 3, follows the route of one of Albany's original trolley lines - and I was totally unaware that I walk by one of the old electrical posts every day on Quail Street. [UPDATE: Greg's comment below reminded me that I neglected to mention the location on Quail Street where you can find the old trolley post - it's near the corner of Western Avenue - on the south west side of Quail Street. I also learned from the historically astute Nancy and Gregg that there's one other old trolley post still hanging around on Hamilton Street just off Lark, thanks to some vociferous neighborhood preservation folk.]

Meanwhile, in current local transit news, Roger Green tells us that Citizens for Public Transportation will hold their monthly meeting this Wednesday, November 19, at 7 p.m. at the Albany Public Library. Topic: Fare Hike.

Consider this your invitation to the meeting. I'll be there to put in my two cents about CDTA's proposed 50% fare hike -I hope you will too.

A Night with my Daughter

Most election nights, I go out and watch the returns with my fellow campaigners.

This year was different. My daughter declared the first week of school, "I'm studying Barack Obama and John McCain." And so it was...the first Presidential election where she was engaged in the race -- big time. My child was much more certain than I was of an Obama victory; all of her polling told her so. There were only 2 kids in her class of sixteen supporting McCain. The 4th and 5th grades held a mock election at school and Obama won by an overwhelming majority. Finally, she argued, according to the Nick online poll, Obama won -- so duh, Mom... Obama was clearly going to be our next President.

My African American daughter heard me talk of the Bradley effect, but really, she doesn't get racism...yet. Not the way that I do, certainly not the way that her dad does, absolutely not the way her grandparents, who grew up "Negroes" in the segregated south do.

Priorities. I made a decision to stay home and watch the returns from the couch with the kid.

Early in the night, I was feeling hopeful. The news from Pennsylvania -- a good indicator of things to come. In addition to the Presidential race, we were interested in a number of local elections, as the 4 remaining lawn signs on the little patch of grass in front of our house indicated. At one point, there were 5 signs. Our Obama sign was stolen about 3 weeks before the election.

My kid was confident and tired. She fell asleep around 10 p.m. on the couch.

I was the lone awake one in the house, t.v. going in the living room, NPR in the kitchen. At 11:01, I was keeping busy in the kitchen when I heard the news of a declaration of our President-Elect. Followed by a burst of hoorahs from someplace outside. I smiled. The last time I heard hoorahs in the streets was for a Yankees victory in the World Series. I ran into the living room to tell my sleeping beauty the good news. She seemed to acknowledge me, but was more interested in continuing her dream.

And so, I waited for the great orator to give his speech. And watched. And sat at the computer, checking the TU site. And sent "Yes we can" texts to a few of my friends. And I was elated.

I thought about the conversation I'd had that afternoon with a woman who called me to discuss the school board race. I was supporting two candidates (one of them, the only African American candidate in the race), and she had questions. This is a very intelligent and very idealistic white woman. This is a woman who has trouble believing people are still judged by the color of their skin. She told me she hoped with this election, that would end. I told her I thought it would take more than this election, but that if Obama were elected, it would be another very good step in the right direction.

I thought about the conversation I'd had that day with an African American male friend whose young children moved to a rural Capital Region town with their white mother. As soon as the family moved in, confederate flags went up at certain houses.

I know there's still racism. It can be scarily subtle and it can be in-your-face-obvious.

The beautiful thing is that we outnumbered them at the polls on November 4th. Not that I believe every vote for McCain was cast out of racism, but I've heard enough to know, that (to tweak PE for a minute) Fear of a Black President brought many to vote against Obama because of race.

November 5th, I was walking on air. The first time ever in a Presidential election year, that every single vote I cast was a winning one-- from the school board, to a local proposition, right on up to the President! It was one of those days where nothing was going to get me down. I walked my daughter to the bus stop in the morning, newspaper in hand. I asked one of the kids with a great big smile on my face, "Who's going to be the next President?"

"Obama!" he responded.

One girl asked, "We know who the President is already??"

I showed her the front page of the newspaper, and I watched her young face light up as she looked at it.

That afternoon, I got on the Number 10 at the end of my workday, and I noticed a bright red seat directly behind the driver's seat. I'd seen the seat before, but had never paid attention.

Then I noticed there was more than a seat... there was a commemorative plaque.

The plaque noted the red seat was in honor of Rosa Parks.

A very good reminder that the Presidential victory of the previous day was only possible because of the courage of Ms. Parks and thousands of other Americans whose names I'll never know.

VOTE in Today's Historic General Election

Considering the number of hits to this site yesterday from people looking for polling times - here you go:

In Albany County, the polls are open from 6 a.m. until 9 p.m. If you are unsure of your polling location, you can use this quirky tool on the Albany County Board of Elections website, or call the Board of Elections at (518) 487-5060.

Voting in the City of Albany? Don't forget Proposition 2 and the school board race. The school board candidates and the proposition will not be in the obvious upper left section of the ballot with all the "big stuff" -- so you really need to look for them.

What to do Election Eve? Check out this cool FREE film...

The Pine Hills Neighborhood Association is screening Contested Streets tonight at Steamer 10 Theater - 500 Western Avenue -7 p.m. It's FREE.

Looks cool.

Wish I could make it there.