By: Diane Benjamin
US representative Darin Lahood must know about the BILLIONS the federal government is throwing at public transportation. The local bus services only loses $900,000 every month, but many cities lose more. The federal government is wasting our tax dollars evidently for votes. Seriously folks, people can’t be transported locally for less money than running empty buses all over town?
From the March Connect Transit minutes: March – PDF page 6
It gets worse:
At tomorrow’s meeting the Board will vote for this: PDF page 36
I bet Darin Lahood will make sure they get the money!
Of course, this is YOUR money, after the Feds and the State take “administration costs”, Connect can get whats left.
This note is on the same page:
Maybe Lahood needs to hear from the people paying for this nonsense.
Darin Lahood phone number:
Local: 309-205-9556
Washington DC: (202) 225-6201
Don’t email – you won’t get a response for months and it will sound like nobody read what you wrote.
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I’m guessing the grant money, if received, will be put toward the Downtown Bloomington transfer station. Wonder what the cost of the application process is.
Queue the photo op of LaHood and Renner cutting the ribbon and taking a ride on the first bus leaving the new transfer station. Remember the media pic of Koos and the Chamber stooges riding the bus when CT announced expanded routes? How many of them have taken the bus since then?
He’s done a photo shot on a bus, Council in tow.
Here is a link to LaHood’s photo op. Renner and Hauman can be seen as well.
🐥
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjEkLSKoJfbAhVoxFQKHUVcBhAQjRx6BAgBEAU&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinterest.com%2Fpin%2F406449935103290207%2F&psig=AOvVaw3Wh3SCdrSnzolFHoZPA0ps&ust=1527007418420987
Good find, Tweetiebird! These frauds actually celebrate this as economic development. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Long sigh………………the wasted money just never ever ends, and while I can understnd the city providing buses, surely, surely, these “smart people” should be able to come up with something less costly/wasteful – but oh no, they just continue to congratulate themselves endlessly on their wasteful failed ideas.
Transfer station! That will solve everything, people will FLOOD the buses!
Downtown will thrive too with all the new people downtown.
LOL LOL I’m SURE you’re right
Diane, thanks for the heads up and providing Congressman LaHood’s number. I called and left a message with his office expressing my opposition to spending any more tax dollars on Connect Transit.
Realizing the cost of this service, it is painful every time I pass one of those empty buses. And….to think this level of waste is being duplicated across the country.
So if the bus system loses $900,000 a month that means in a 30 day period it loses $1250 an hour… which means it goes through approximately 62 twenty dollar bills an hour 24 hours a day… So our city leadership is flushing 62 twenty dollar bills an hour down the toilet. That is 62 twenty dollar bills that the taxpayers earned and gave to them to use for the public good. Is my math right? That seems like a lot of money to cart around a few poor or handicapped people….Could we just buy them all new cars and hire chauffeurs instead?
The local city leaders view the money as “free” because it is from State and Federal funding.