Category: Uncategorized

September 29th, 2017

Great testimony today at the Port Authority board meeting about why we should not have criminal penalties and Port Authority police doing fare enforcement on the T! Speakers included representatives from The Women and Girls Foundation, Aryse, PIIN, Urban Kind, Fight for LIfers West, LCLAA, the Center for Independent Living and Beechview Area Concerned Citizens.

Additionally, groups that signed onto a letter of support for a civil enforcement process include:

The Hill District Consensus Group
Restaurant Opportunities Center of Pittsburgh
One PA
ACCESS Mob
Pennsylvania Immigration and Citizenship Coalition (PICC)
Bhutanese Community Association of Pittsburgh
Allentown CDC
Zone Three Public Safety Council
Bloomfield Livable Streets
Bike Pittsburgh

See the letter below:

To: Port Authority of Allegheny County

We are writing to demand that the Port Authority of Allegheny County halts the implementation of their fare enforcement policy – “the proof of payment system” – on the light rail, until public concerns have been adequately addressed.  

Our concerns for the implementation of the currently proposed proof of payment policy can be summarized as follows. For the black and brown community, we know that even police officers with the best of intentions practice racial profiling (selective enforcement). Across the country, requiring armed police to have thousands of extra encounters with the public a week has proven to result in unnecessary confrontations and use of force incidents. These disproportionately impact black and brown communities. There have been incidents involving Port Authority police in the past, including but not limited to the murder of Bruce Kelley, Jr. and a confrontation with Somali youth downtown. Many communities still remember the recent and tragic deaths of Oscar Grant and Chad Robertson at the hands of transit police in their own cities.

For the immigrant community: when police run their names to check for prior fare violations, this can trigger contact with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, and begin an unjust and destructive process of detainment and deportation. No one should be detained and deported for the suspicion of failing to pay a $2.50 fare. The recent case of Ariel Vences-Lopez having his immigration status questioned by Metro Transit Police in Minneapolis led to Mr. Vences-Lopez being detained by I.C.E. and scheduled for deportation.  

For youth: many students ride the T to school and after-school activities everyday. If they forget their bus pass 3 times, they are subject to both a Theft of Services and Criminal Trespass charge, which will result in a $300 fine or arrest. In NYC, 70% of arrestees were 16-17 years old. This will worsen the school-to-prison pipeline, lead to constitutional rights violations and future ACLU lawsuits.

In regard to those with mental health challenges, or intellectual disabilities: those with disabilities often respond in ways that police have misinterpreted as threats or defiance, and police have unnecessarily responded with force, leading to injury and death.

Finally, for the poor: this proposal results in the criminalization of an everyday necessity.

We support a civil fare enforcement process, where a civilian “fare ambassador” checks for fare payment, and writes a citation if someone cannot prove payment after several offences. Those citations would ultimately go to a bill collector, similar to the process that the Pittsburgh Parking Authority and Southwest PA Turnpike Commission follow. In addition, we believe that the Port Authority should have a policy limiting coordination and communication with ICE, should implement rigorous racial bias training for Port Authority Police and fare ambassadors, and have transparency and accountability with enforcement data.

There is ample evidence that demonstrates that the U.S. cities that have civilian fare checkers- with non-police powers- do not have a high rate of fare evasion. Our coalition is not proposing to duplicate any of these example cities’ fare enforcement practices entirely, but follow the best proof-of-payment practices that the Transit Cooperative Research Program of the Federal Transit Administration identifies: namely, to have a customer service approach rather than a traditional policing approach. It is important to note that concern over fare evasion is not the reason why PAAC is considering implementation of Proof-of- Payment. The only goal of the proof of payment is to increase efficiency, by allowing riders to board at any door on the T, without waiting in line to pay the driver or off-board fare collector. This goal would be accomplished regardless of whether or not enforcement were performed by Port Authority police or civilian fare ambassadors, and whether or not fare evasion had civil or criminal consequences, without any of the harm we foresee happening under the Port Authority’s current policy proposal.

Sincerely,

The Hill District Consensus Group

Restaurant Opportunities Center of Pittsburgh

One PA

ACCESS Mob

Pennsylvania Immigration and Citizenship Coalition (PICC)

Bhutanese Community Association of Pittsburgh

Allentown CDC

Zone Three Public Safety Council

Bloomfield Livable Streets

Bike Pittsburgh

LCLAA

Fight for Lifers West

Pittsburghers for Public Transit marched with the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) on Monday, September 4th for Labor Day. YES to strong unions! PPT supports a safe, affordable, accessible transit system operated by union drivers paid good living wages and working in safe conditions.

 

WHEN WE FIGHT, WE WIN! In response to concerns raised by community members, riders, ACCESS mob, and PPT, The Port Authority will be holding three community meetings in Braddock, McKeesport, and Duquesne.

Check out the facebook event page for Braddock and information on time and location for all three meetings below:

BRADDOCK
October 2 – 6:30 p.m.
The Avenue Apartments
325 Braddock Ave.
Braddock, PA

On September 13th, House Republicans voted to pass a budget which approved cuts of $11.3 million to transit in Allegheny County. The budget then moved to a vote in the Senate, and PPT, along with the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) headed to Harrisburg to say “NO” to more cuts to transit!

Transit lines are life lines, and thousands of residents rely on public transit every day to get to doctor’s appointments, work, school and many other daily necessities.Transit is not a luxury or a privilege. It’s an absolute necessity!

The Mifflin Estates Transit Campaign celebrated the hard work they put in over the past year, with over 50 residents, bus drivers and PPT activists coming out to eat and find out more about the schedule and service. Thanks to their fight, the 55 will now be running through the community all day and on weekends! There was a shout out in the Trib about the restoration of service and the leaders that made it all possible. Thanks to all who made it such a success!

It is tragic, however, that Mifflin Estates residents had to celebrate in the midst of another attack on transit funding by far right PA legislators in Harrisburg, some of whom voted to defund their own districts’ bus service. Reporter Ryan Deto at the City Paper did an excellent job highlighting the impacts of the proposed budget on our Mifflin Estates campaign and on the potential for bus restoration in places like the North Hills, where community leaders have been pushing for additional transit for the last two years.

 

Pittsburghers for Public Transit joined residents of Braddock, Duquesne, and Rankin, ACCESS Mob, and transit advocates to tell the Port Authority “No!” to mandatory transfers and service impacts to the disability community.

From the WESA coverage of the event: “The monetary and physical costs of switching buses take a toll on these communities, which tend to be older and have higher concentrations of poverty, said Tina Doose, president of Braddock Borough Council.

‘Going into Oakland, getting off one bus and getting on another bus and waiting for that to happen, that’s a real inconvenience,’ she said. ‘And when you have mobility impairments it’s more than inconvenience, sometimes it’s an impediment to be able to get where you need to go.’”

Picture: Residents and riders gathered around outside. MC Tony Buba is in the center with a microphone. Some residents holding signs that say “Bus Lines are Life Lines” and “Transit is a Right.”

 

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Thanks to everyone for turning out, and for the powerful speakers Braddock Municipal President Tina Doose, Mayor Elect Nickole Nesby of Duquesne, Gabriel McMoreland on behalf of ACCESS Mob, Braddock Resident Edith Bell, PPT’s own Chandana Cherukupalli, and Filmmaker Tony Buba for MC’ing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pictures: (right) Braddock Council President Tina Doose speaking (left) PPT members Sue Scanlon and Emily De Ferrari, holding signs with quotes from residents.

After PPT’s press conference and rally about the impacts of the BRT on communities in the Mon Valley, the Port Authority announced that they will hold the first public meeting in Braddock to lay out information about the impact of the BRT and answer questions. We are encouraging all those who will be impacted by changes to the 61 buses in Rankin, Braddock, Duquesne and Mckeesport to attend.

The meeting will take place at the senior apartment building located at 325 Braddock Avenue on Monday October 2nd at 6:30pm.

 

Photo credit: Ryan Deto, Pittsburgh CityPaper

“When it comes to building affordable housing, there is no better place to do so than near public transportation. Since low-income people are less likely to own cars than higher-income individuals, good access to public transit is necessary for affordable-housing dwellers to travel to work, visit family and just get around. According to the nonprofit Center for Housing Policy, people in the Pittsburgh Metro area spend 34 percent of their income on transportation, the second highest figure of large U.S. metro areas, just behind Tampa.

And at a Aug. 10 meeting, this thinking led a group of affordable-housing advocates to request that Pittsburgh’s Urban Redevelopment Authority include affordable-housing measures in its pitch to redevelop the Lexington Technology Park, in North Point Breeze.”

From City Paper’s Blog: Advocates call for Lexington Technology Park redevelopment to include affordable housing

 

Great Press Coverage on Possible BRT Impact on Duquesne and Braddock communities. If you missed the meeting, you can still email comments and concerns around the BRT proposal to brt@portauthority.org.

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Residents and community representatives from Duquesne and Braddock highlighted the consequences of less frequent service along the key 61 A,B,C & D routes, along with the financial and physical burden of mandatory transfers in Oakland to get downtown. The Port Authority has not finalized their service plans for these routes under the BRT, however, it is likely that riders will lose their all day one-seat ride to downtown. Pittsburghers for Public Transit recognizes that there are some benefits to bus riders under the BRT proposal, including improving the experience and efficiency of a heavy transit corridor for riders, bikers and pedestrians, and the transition to a green electric bus fleet. However, Pittsburghers for Public Transit stands along with the Committee for Accessible Transportation and City of Pittsburgh-Allegheny County Task Force on Disabilities in opposing the BRT plan as long as concerns around accessibility and equity are not addressed. Riders and disability advocates have highlighted how the proposed BRT bus-only lanes prevent para-transit vehicles from complying even with ADA minimum curb drop-off standards.

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“Mamadou Ndiaye, an intern for Braddock, said the changes would put a burden on the borough’s many low-income residents traveling Downtown for access to health providers and other services.

“Within the borough, we don’t have many social services for our residents,” Ndiaye told the board. “So to impose a change that would make their commute time even longer … is something we see as being inequitable.”

From the Trib:
http://triblive.com/…/passengers-ask-port-authority-to-reco…

From WESA:
http://wesa.fm/…/braddock-duquesne-residents-voice-concern-…

From WPXI:
http://www.wpxi.com/…/residents-voice-concerns-ov…/574841250