Given the recent details surrounding the TriMet board meeting and the tabling of an ordinance to extend transfer times (read up on the background here),
it is apparent that there is continued failure to recognize the social
ramifications of the board’s action. There is no doubt that any change
in policy will have consequences. And as is often the case, the
communities that feel the greatest impact from these decisions are the
ones most reliant on the region’s public transportation system. These
are the underserved and underrepresented individuals that do not simply
see the bus as a means of getting from point A to point B. It is their
food security, their employment, their health care, their education. In
denying public testimony on the matter of transfer changes, TriMet
ignored these communities, continuing to practice the long-standing
tradition of partnership in the name of publicity, not progress.
These issues remain at the heart of the nation as well. During his
State of the Union address earlier this week, President Obama stressed
the need for a new transportation bill. The online environmental journal
Grist provides a great article
detailing the impact transportation has on communities of color and how
such inconsistencies divide the country along racial, ethnic, and
economic lines. “When only certain segments of the population can easily
access economic resources for advancement, that’s not opportunity.
That’s called privilege.” When the voices that are heard belong to those
who have the least at stake, that is privilege. When equity is
forfeited in the name of politics, that is an extension of privilege.
TriMet’s actions last week demonstrate a privilege that comes from a
place of stability, from the knowledge that their lives are not measured
in times tables and transfer slips. TriMet needs to adopt the practice
of active listening in order to transform policies of privilege into
campaigns of equity. Until then, communications will result in ethical
and political standstill. Click the link here for the full story.
2 comments:
Trimet's treatment of OPAL is a very good example of how Trimet is all talk and no action.
They have been stringing out OPAL for 3 years now.
As I've always said, it's not what Trimet officials say, it's what you see actually happening.
I guess since they believe that they made Opal who they are by using them in their fake outreach, they figure they can unmake them into irrelevantcy.....time will tell.
HB
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