I’m breaking the (my own) rules. I’m taking a break and blogging mid-day! I try to avoid doing this because I need my work time to be for work as much as possible and to avoid angry blogging. But this . . . is worth it.
I finally got the “plan” from Chuck Kamp – the Mayor’s office still won’t send it out, despite my telling them that alders deserve to see the proposal, not the spin. And despite the fact they actually have it. I will post it below.
The fact I was trying to confirm was this:
This will be a limited program in that each month when the passes run out, eligible individuals will have to wait until the first of the following month to purchase a pass.
I didn’t see that in the press release and wanted to check the facts!
Here’s what bothers me about it. According to the Neighborhood Indicator’s Project:
Families who received Medical Assistance, Food Stamps or W-2 5,428
The Neighborhood indicators project says “The Census Bureau defines a family as two or more people who reside together and who are related by birth, marriage, or adoption.” So, there is likely more than 5,000 people impacted, but some of them might fit into the senior and disabled programs. So, the numbers are a little sloppy, but you get the point. There are high percentages of people that will not be impacted by this.
That’s all I really wanted to know. If this is serving only 13% of the low income population at best (assuming one person per family wants to buy a low-income pass) is this really a “fix”?? I’d say not. I wonder if all those editorial boards took this into consideration before they jumped on board singing the Mayor’s praises?
While I’m at it – check out these other kinda scary (Dane County) statistics from this site:
2008 Dane County Food Stamp Data: Cases & Recipients
. . . . . . Jan . . . . Feb . . Mar . . Apr . . May . . .Jun . . .Jul . . .Aug . . .Sep . . Oct . . . Nov
Cases 10,216 10,544 10,796 11,151 11,429 11,700 11,893 12,146 12,307 12,725 13,080
People 22,804 23,549 24,019 24,736 25,342 25,871 26,267 26,771 27,147 28,069 28,730
Sorry I didn’t have time to make that look pretty! But check out that increase last year!
Here’s the “summary” of the “proposal” – which I think IS the proposal:
Budget: The first phase of the initiative will involve a program where $100,000 of Metro’s contingency fund will be used to purchase 3600 low-income passes for the remainder of 2009, assuming a fare increase beginning April 1st.
Reduced Fares: The cost of the low-income pass will be half the cost of the adult 31-Day pass. The low-income pass will cost $27.50 if the Transit and Parking Commission (TPC) approves the proposed fare increase.
Qualifications: Individuals who qualify for food stamps will also qualify for the low-income pass.
Specifics: The Mayor is proposing a two-phase approach to the need for low-income individuals to access affordable transportation services for jobs, medical appointments and other essential destinations.
This program will involve eligible individuals purchasing the low-income passes at a limited number of locations including at least Metro Transit, City Hall and the Dane County Job Center. This will be a limited program in that each month when the passes run out, eligible individuals will have to wait until the first of the following month to purchase a pass.
The second phase of the initiative will be developed by a special committee appointed by the Mayor that will include representatives from:
• Mayor’s Office
• Community Development
• United Way
• Porchlight
• Salvation Army
• YWCA
• Dane County Human Services
• Metro Transit
• Transit and Parking Commission
• Other city staffThe charge to this committee will be to develop a sustainable low-income pass program for the Mayor’s consideration in the 2010 budget that would not set a limit each month on the number of passes available.
Ok, back to work!
