Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Metro Wastes MORE Money


The fine people at St. Louis' Metro Public Transit Agency covered the bus stop I use to get to and from my office with this snappy cover.

Not trying to sound like a "banner geek", but having bought a number of banners over the years, I was struck by the high quality of the cover. Heavy weight vinyl, metal grommets, sewn edges, held in place by multiple zip ties. First class all the way. NOT an inexpensive item, and I'm told they put these on some 2300 bus stops in the St. Louis area.

Metro is making it impossible for thousands of people to get to their jobs after March 30th, but they can pay a pile of money for these "temporary" Bus Stop Sign Covers. Another absurd use of money by a horrendously mismanaged part of the inept St. Louis government system.

All of this while Metro continues to spread false hope that the Federal Government is going to give them money to continue suburban transit. The St. Louis Beacon fell victim to reporting the pipe dreams of Metro's Chief Operating Officer that through a complicated slight of hand move, Metro might get a few bucks to keep running buses to bring people from the city to their much needed jobs in the suburbs.

I wonder how many actual bus lines Metro could have kept running with the huge amount of money they spent to have these "temporary" covers made?

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Metro To St. Louis suburbs: Pay Up Or Shut Up. County Official To Mayors: Drop Dead

Click above to read an article from the St. Louis Beacon Website about the local transit agency's response to mayors who want to find a way to get workers from the City of St. Louis to jobs in the suburbs.

For a real laugh riot, pay special attention to the comments from the representative of the St. Louis County government. Nice level of concern for both the region's citizens and its economy.

I've said it before and I have to say it again. Without adequate public transit, the St. Louis region is destined to drop to second class status when it comes to attracting and keeping businesses. Its a crime.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

A Prophetic Look Back

I'm no fan of Osama Bin Laden, so please don't think of this as any kind of an endorsement of him or his actions.


That being said, I found an interesting story on Brian Sullivan's FriendFeed that was just plain eerie. Click the link above and read a story from CNN on November 1, 2004.


You think someone should have paid more attention to that story when it ran? W? Dick? Donald?

Maybe you don't have to fly planes into buildings to bring a country to its collective knees.