By: Diane Benjamin
You already know it if you read this story: https://blnnews.com/2023/11/29/connect-transit-wants-you-to-love-them/
The whole messaging campaign is supposed to be a secret until they develop some slogan EVERYONE can repeat over and over and over. They want a planned rollout.
I bet you can’t wait to see how they counter all the “disinformation”. (like the buses are empty)
The Board can talk openly because the public isn’t engaged. I haven’t seen any media report on the meeting. The Open Meetings Act doesn’t allow them to form policy in secret, so now their propaganda campaign is public.
They don’t meet in December. The consultant will be back at the February meeting.
One more note: This Board is full of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion – there is no diversity of thought however. It’s perfectly normal to them to lose way over a million a month. They have grants. (your money)
If you want to hear David Braun explain why Mobility riders should get free rides on the huge buses, just hit play. Continue listening to hear Julie Hile’s scolding. Braun will be meeting with each board member, it will be fun to see if he convinces most to go along with his plans. If you listen long enough you will hear Ryan Whitehouse say “Connect to the Future” is not a plan that can’t be changed.
The board needs to start from this difficult premise and work from there:
People do not want to and/or can’t live their lives on bus routes in Bloomington/Normal.
No matter how much you would like massive buses to be packed like they are in big cities, they will NEVER be able to in this community. Stop wasting money, coming up with silly ideas. Start your planning there.
Mass transit works in large metropolitan areas where cars are a pain due to traffic and parking headaches. Bloomington/Normal does not fit that model.
Forcing people out of cars and into buses by authoritarian engineering is an even worse path. So that makes your job even more difficult. Innovate!
One more thing. Why do only 2 or 3 of the board members talk? The rest look like they’re not sure why they are there until the end when they give congratulatory speeches and vote to support whatever it was that others said. Give the multimillion dollar loses by this board, hard questions need to asked and answered. If something doesn’t make sense don’t be quiet.
Slogan 1: “We Steal a million dollars of taxpayer money every month. Ride with us.”
Slogan 2: “Our inefficiency is our brand. We’ll take you there.”
There are so many others. Let’s all get creative and send them our slogans.
We Take You Where We Go