Archive for the ‘advocate’ Category

Over the past three weeks, thousands of Transit riders in Charleston, Summerville, Goose Creek and Beaufort have been given an informational flyer on the Congressional Election “We Ride Together, We Vote Together.“ (Downloadable PDF)

If you would like to help hand these flyers out on the buses to other riders, a very powerful way to encourage transit riders to vote, please call William Hamilton at (843) 870-5299.

Voters have the opportunity to choose between Elizabeth Colbert Busch (D) and Mark Sanford (R).  If you have trouble getting to the polls, either campaign will be happy to arrange a ride to the polls for you Monday (for early voting) or Tuesday.

• Colbert Busch- http://colbertbuschforcongress.com/welcome/
• Sanford- http://www.marksanford.com/home/

Many riders have asked how this election is relevant to the quality of public transit we have in the Lowcountry.  The answer is that even basic services like transit are now under constant threat.  While large, well organized lobbies exist for the oil,  automotive and highway construction industry, the thirty million transit riders have only begun organizing themselves into a national political force in the past year, when Congress slashed Transit funding from 20 to 18 percent of the Federal Transportation Budget.  This triggered massive cuts in service across the United States.

What Poor Transit Systems are doing to the Lowcountry

For the people who depend on transit, a number which rose by 6% across the country last year, such cuts have drastic, even lethal effects.  Riders making long walks home form now distant transit stops get hit by cars or become victims of crime.  The elderly find themselves stranded as they age on Daniel Island.  Those who lose their car, often then lose everything.  They can’t ride the bus for a few weeks, scraping up the money for repairs while keeping their job.  I’ve met successful people in Charleston who have confided in me that when they lost their car to a run of bad luck, the bus helped them rebuild their lives.  Some are wealthy today.

In places like Beaufort, where the bus runs only to and from work once a day, entire lives are wasted with people left to do little more than work, wait and sleep.  Shopping, civic and cultural activities are out of reach for people living on St. Helena Island an other rural communities.  ”Going on the Bus” in Beaufort is viewed as a sort of living death in many rural communities   Younger residents would rather leave, so they take their energy and talent elsewhere.  Those who stay and ride have few options for spending their hard earned money.

Even for those who drive, the highway system has reached a point where it’s so large it can no longer be adequately maintained or further expanded with existing revenue.  Younger people are giving up on the automobile altogether in increasing numbers.  It just costs too much and takes up too much time.  Throughout our public information campaign, Republicans and Democrats have both told us they want better transit.

The Congressman elected Tuesday will be the point person for all Federal involvement with local transit issues in the district.  Fixing the problems with the long delayed intermodal center, making sure basic funding remains available, or helping replace some of our aging fleet of transit buses requires a Congressman’s support.  We asked both candidates to ride.  Colbert Busch rode the #41.  Sanford never took a ride on a bus.  We asked both candidates to answer two, relevant but simple questions.  Colbert Busch answered.  Sanford didn’t.  Five Republicans did ride the bus: Moffly, Turner, Larkin, Hoffman & Bryant.  Both candidates received phone calls from many riders asking them to ride and answer.  You can read Colbert Busch’s full answers on the Flyer PDF.  The flyer also provides contact information for the Sanford campaign so you can try to find out what his position is.

Please vote carefully on Tuesday.  It was only eight years ago that CARTA resumed full operations after a disastrous two year near shut down.  People died because the buses stopped running.  We can argue about art in government buildings or how much Ft. Moultrie should be open, but when transit gets cut people lose their jobs, their families and sometimes their lives.

Transit is only one of several important issues in this election, but it touches on the core controversy of our time.  Are we building a society which offers dignity and freedom to more people or are we building a society which concentrates power and wealth in the hands of a few?  Real wealth requires a shared prosperity which has to include opportunities to travel, change jobs, shop, learn and enjoy our golden years for most people.  Even those fortunate enough to be wealthy benefit from customers who can travel, employees who can get to work, patients who can access medial care before it requires an EMS trip, fellow citizens who participate in civic and cultural life and tourists who can enjoy our coast.

Free Markets, Competitive Economies

Free markets mean nothing to an elderly woman stranded on St. Helena Island who can’t get to a store.  If we don’t have transit services which meet these needs, many capable people will relocate to, travel to or invest in other places which do.  I’ve met gifted young people in Portland, Seattle and New York from South Carolina building lives which are rewarding without cars who left South Carolina and have no intention of returning. It wasn’t just about transit, but they abandoned their cars, built lives and they swear they’re not coming back. In the intensely competitive future, SC needs such talent and skill.

On Tuesday, vote like someone’s life depends on it, because it does.

On Tuesday, April 30, 6-7 pm, public transit for Daniel Island advocates will gather at the Daniel Island Library from 6 to 7 pm for a public discussion on bringing full time bus service to the community this year.  The library is located at 2301 Daniel Island Dr Daniel Island, SC 29492.  The public is welcome to attend and participate.  You can sign up for the April 30 meeting on Facebook

You can support this effort by downloading this flyer and distributing copies  inviting Daniel Island Residents to attend this meeting.  A Hungryneck Straphangers outreach team will also be working on Daniel Island prior to the meeting.  Volunteers would be appreciated.  if you need more flyers or posters to promote the meeting, the UPS Store on Daniel Island has the electronic files to print them for you.  We’re a small, volunteer organization and rely on community support like this to make our projects work.  Please help by paying to print a few and share them with your neighbors.

Transit advocates from Hungryneck Straphangers and will meet with stakeholders in the Daniel Island Community about bringing more extensive public transit services to the community there.  We’ll attempt a Skype call with Americans for Transit. After the formal meeting, we’ll gather at the Daniel Island Grill patio for dinner and more discussion.  If you can’t make the meeting, feel free to join us at the Grill for informal discussion.

An outreach team from Americans for Transit visited Daniel Island earlier in April and met for breakfast at the Honeycomb Cafe.  Afterwards two teams visited people on the island with information about transit and the Congressional election.  It became clear from the feedback the canvassers received that the Island wanted and was now able to support a transit development campaign.  Among the people participating in that canvass was Andrew Austin, Executive Director of Americans for Transit.

On April 25, William Hamilton and CARTA Driver Debbie Geise distributed door hanger bags at over one hundred homes and businesses on Daniel Island and met with residents at the Farmers Market.  Nearly all feedback was positive.  The Daniel Island News printed a story on the effort: Group Seeks to Bring Public Transit to DI

Existing Services and Planning Activities on Daniel Is. Transit

• Tri County Link has limited service through Daniel Island now   It runs from Moncks Corner to Mount Pleasant, connecting with the Express 2 and 40 Mount Pleasant at Kmart on Johnnie Dodds Blvd.
• A route connecting Daniel Island, N. Charleston and Mount Pleasant was one of four options considered in a consultant’s report prepared for CARTA in Oct. 2012,  You’ll find the Daniel Island route option on page 9 of the report.
• Last summer, Hungryneck Straphangers  included a proposal for Daniel Island which we submitted to CARTA.  It was one of several options considered and we feel the effort to improve transit connections for the community is moving closer to success.  You can view our N. Charleston to the Beach proposal as a PDF.  The Daniel Island part is on page two.
• The Berkeley, Charleston, Dorchester Council of Governments is working on a new plan for regional transportation now, and will be holding public hearings.  You can sign up for notices and look at their material at http://www.bcdcog.com/transportationPlanning.htm
• Hungryneck Straphangers began work on getting improved transit service to Daniel Island and Cainhoy over two years ago, under the leadership of DI resident Kurt Khelenbeck (who has sinced moved to Mt. Pleasant.).  At the meeting we’ll be looking for a core group of volunters to cotinue this important work.

For more information see www.busec.org/di or call William Hamilton (843) 870-5299

Beaufort County Democrats will join forces with Charleston County public transportation advocates, transit union organizers, South Carolina Progressive Network members, and concerned voters to wage a “Battle for Buses in Beaufort” on Friday, Apr. 19.

“The Battle for Buses in Beaufort” is a unique project with the dual purposes of focusing attention on the need to turn out to vote in the May 7 Special 1st Congressional District Election, and of building community support for increased state and federal funding for affordable public transportation across the Lowcountry.

It’s one of a series of ”Farebox to Ballot Box

” events being held from Apr. 15 to May 6 that range from distribution of voter information cards about 1st Congressional District candidates positions on public transit and voter outreach at bus stops to absentee voting via public transit.

“The Battle for Buses in Beaufort” will kick-off at 6 a.m., on Friday, Apr. 19, at the Palmetto Breeze Terminal in Bluffton, which is located at 25 Benton Field Rd., near the intersection of Burnt Church and Ulmer roads.

Volunteers will handout flyers about the upcoming 1st Congressional District election and 1st Congressional District public transportation funding needs to pre-dawn Palmetto Breeze riders from Beaufort, Jasper, Hampton, Colleton, and Allendale counties, who use the regional public bus system to get to their jobs in Bluffton and Hilton Head Island, according to Atty. William J. Hamilton, III, President of the Hungryneck Straphangers.

“We ride standing up–and we won’t sit down until Beaufort County has better public transportation,” says Hamilton, whose transit riders’ group is co-sponsoring Friday’s Bluffton events with Americans for Transit, the Amalgamated Transit Drivers Union, and the Charleston Chapter of the S.C. Progressive Network.

Friday’s “Battle for Buses in Beaufort” events also include discussions with local businesses whose employees use or could benefit from the use of public transportation, and local residents who want to see expanded public bus service.

A lunch meeting of volunteers is also being planned for 1 p.m. at the Golden Corral, in addition to a return to the Palmetto BreezeTerminal to pass out flyers to afternoon bus riders.

“Today (Apr. 17) we reached over 5,000 voters in Charleston, and they will be turning out to vote on May 7,” Hamilton said of Wednesday’s all day “We Ride, We Care, We Will Vote” outreach to Charleston Area Regional Transit Authority bus riders at bus stops and businesses.

Public transportation advocates invited all 18 1st Congressional District candidates on the March 19 Republican and Democratic primary ballots to ride public transit, and to answer questions about their positions on public transit and funding for the proposed Passenger Intermodal Transit Center in North Charleston.

But only Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch, a Republicans Elizabeth Moffaly, Teddy Turner, Robert Hoffman, Ric Bryant, and Tim Larkin and Green Larry Carter Center rode the bus.

Former Gov. Mark Sanford, who’ll face off against Colbert Busch for the 1st District seat on May 7, has steadfastly declined to ride the bus–despite seven e-mail and in-person requests, according to updates and photos available at http://tinyurl.com/votetransit.

“This is an important effort,” Beaufort County Democratic Party Chairman Blaine Lotz told Beaufort County Democrats in an e-mail urging them to support “The Battle for Buses in Beaufort.” Lotz invited Hamilton to make a presentation about the event at the Apr. 12 BCDP Executive Committee.

“Affordable public transportation is one the most crucial needs in Beaufort County–and has been for years,” says Northern Beaufort County Democratic Club President Theresa White.

“Not having reliable transportation keeps too many people from getting the jobs and education that would improve their quality of life,” explained White, who plans to attend all the “Battle for Buses in Beaufort” events.

Contact: Theresa White, President