 |
 Civil Rights Gets on the BusBy Janny CastilloIt is unjust and discriminatory to provide adequate services for one segment of society while ignoring and isolating the other. Sylvia Darensburg, Lead Plaintiff
The suit accuses MTC of discriminating against minority riders, both intentionally and by the impact of its decisions. "The Bay Area has two separate and unequal transit systems; an expanding state-of-the-art rail system; Caltrain and BART, for predominantly white, relatively affluent communities, and a shrinking bus system; AC Transit, for low-income people of color. What we're seeking is not to shut down Caltrain and BART but to have equity." said Bill Lann Lee, lead attorney for the plaintiffs. Some of the data that supports the suit comes from the National Transit Database, 1989-2003
Sylvia Darensburg, the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit is a single mother to three teenagers. She works as a medical administrative assistant in Downtown Oakland and also takes classes in Hayward. She relies on public transit every day. Due to budget cuts routes have been shortened or eliminated, it takes her an hour to get to work and an hour and 45 minutes to get to school. After school, she has to walk home through an unsafe area, a direct result of evening service being canceled near her home. Being born in the 70's, Sylvia knows first hand the impact of coming together under one voice. She said, "I am in a population that gets out there and does the work and we do not have what we need. (Speaking to transportation inequality in East Oakland) The white community expects their busses to run on time, we, people of color, who represent 80% of A.C. Transit riders, expect the same. We need buses to come on time every day, not just one or two days out of the week. We know it is possible, BART runs on time, why can t A.C. Transit get the funding to provide that quality of service. In the 70's they had a world class bus system. We need to have that again." Long hours on the bus have a negative impact on the mental and physical health of its riders. This impact is multiplied by the experiences of violence, people under the influence and gang related disturbances. By the time parents get home they are mentally and physically exhausted. For Sylvia, she has less energy to devote to her teenagers and is often irritable and frustrated. While AC Transit has been shrinking and scaling back service, BART and Caltrain have been expanding every year. A.C. Transit is looking into ways to offset their budget deficit. One of the proposals is to eliminate the student bus passes which would cause Sylvia s $150 a month transportation bill to double. She has gotten a positive response from community members who are sympathetic to the issues in the law suit. Other mothers have come forward wanting to tell their stories and express their concerns. She feels the community is listening. Sylvia s message: It is unjust and discriminatory to provide adequate services for one segment of society while ignoring and isolating the other. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of three East Oakland and Richmond minority riders, nonprofit Communities for a Better Environment and the Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 192. Ways To Get Involved in Transportation Justice Kids First / Real Hard, a downtown Oakland nonprofit is advocating for AC Transit to preserve or reduce the youth buss passes for middle and high school students. They need volunteers to input data from a county wide survey. Please call Julie at 510 452-2043. Kids First and the TJWG (Transportation Justice Working Group) would like all interested persons to attend a public hearing on Wednesday, May 18, 2005. The public meeting will be held on Wednesday, May 18, 2005. There are two meeting times on this day. The first is at 3:00 pm and the second will be at 6:00 pm. Both meetings will take place at the Scottish Rite Center.
The Scottish Rite Center is located at 1547 Lakeside Drive near 17th
Street. Lines 13 and 14 operate nearby on 14th Street. Line 59/59A
operates nearby on Jackson Street. These lines run until approximately
7:00pm. The proposals are available on the AC Transit Website (http://www.actransit.org). Contact the BOSS COT by any of the following methods:
How to Comment You may also comment directly to AC Transit in the following ways:
|
||||||||||||
|
|
2065 Kittredge Street, Suite E Berkeley, CA 94704 | phone: (510) 649-1930 | fax: (510) 649-0627 | staff@createpeaceathome.org |
A Civil Rights law suit was filed Tuesday, April 19th against MTC, The
Metropolitan Transportation Commission The nine-county Bay Area s
transportation planning, financing and coordinating agency funnels 1
billion dollars annually to state and federal money to local transit
agencies including A.C. Transit. 
back
top