[Ohio-talk] FW: Disabled, Elderly, Join Mass Transit Rally at Ohio Statehouse

[J.W. Smith]

Fyi

Jw


Dr. J. Webster Smith
President, National Federation of the Blind of Ohio
PO Box 458 Athens, OH 45701
740-592-6326

"Changing what it means to be blind"
For more information go to nfbohio.org

-----Original Message-----
From: Sammons, Elizabeth [mailto:Elizabeth.Sammons at rsc.ohio.gov] 
Sent: Friday, June 03, 2011 7:51 AM
To: FREDERICK, KATHRYN CIV DFAS; Mary Hiland; Dr. JW Smith; 'Scott Lissner';
David Cameron; Brent Simonds
Subject: FW: Disabled, Elderly, Join Mass Transit Rally at Ohio Statehouse

All I can say is... amen, brothers!
Elizabeth
 

Disabled, Elderly, Join Mass Transit Rally at Ohio Statehouse

The Ohio Statehouse hosted a discussion Wednesday on the state of
transportation funding in Ohio and the nation, drawing input from U.S.
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and transit labor representatives including the
Transportation Workers Union of America.

Drawing a diverse group of advocates for the elderly, the disabled and the
poor, the "Statewide Conversation on Transportation Equity & Federal Policy"
addressed the disproportionate impact of public transit on minorities and
other disadvantaged groups.

"How can enforcement of civil rights laws break down barriers in our public
transportation system?" Brown asked in a taped presentation to the
Statehouse Atrium crowd.

Executive Director Samuel Gresham Jr. of Ohio Commission on African American
Males picked up on that concern.

"Transportation investment in Ohio has produced an inhospitable landscape
for low-income people, people with disabilities and the elderly...." he
said. "This is the civil rights dilemma for Ohio: Our laws purport to level
the playing field, but our transportation choices have effectively barred
millions of people from getting across it."

As did other participants, including Deputy Director Jack Shaner of the Ohio
Environmental Council and Senior Researcher Jason Reece of the Ohio State
University Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity, Gresham
noted Ohio spends less than 1 percent of its transportation resources on
public transit, with 99 percent going to highways and private transit. He
said that puts the Buckeye State in a special class: 40th in the nation for
public transit, trailed only by rural states averaging 20 percent of Ohio's
population.

Amanda Woodrum of Policy Matters Ohio expanded on that statistic. "Of nearby
states, Pennsylvania spends nearly 40 times more than Ohio on transit,
Illinois spends over 20 times as much, Michigan six times, and Wisconsin
four times. Even Indiana does better (2.5 times better)."

Kentucky, however, provides only a fraction of Ohio's transit funding, she
noted.

"Ohio's historic underinvestment in public transportation has resulted in a
transportation system that requires Ohioans to rely heavily on cars to get
around...." Woodrum said. "For low-income Ohioans, cars are often
prohibitively expensive. For Ohioans who are elderly or have disabilities,
driving a car might not be an option at all."

One of the participants Wednesday, the Ohio Higher Education Rail Network
(OHERN), says for the price of a textbook, the state's higher education
community can solve the problem themselves.

"All 750,000 students and faculty at Ohio's 150 colleges and universities
can create their own statewide passenger rail system by agreeing to a fee of
only $75 a semester," OHERN said.

Said Shaner, "[O]ur state's and nation's over-reliance on single-occupant
cars has left hundreds of thousands of Ohioans by the side of the road of
economic opportunity. It has also left our metropolitan areas vulnerable to
smoggy summer health threats and our entire state and nation dependent on
unstable foreign nations for oil."

He said the cost of public transit is more than outweighed by a range of
savings in reduced road congestion, reduced automobile costs, reduced auto
emissions impacts, human service budgets.
Story originally published in The Hannah Report on June 2, 2011. 
Copyright 2011 Hannah News Service, Inc.



Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
--Martin Luther King Jr

"A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it's the
only thing that ever has." -- Margaret Mead

Mary M. Butler, Systems Change Coordinator Ohio Statewide Independent Living
Council 670 Morrison Road, Suite 200 Gahanna, Ohio 43230
440-864-3495 (cel)