Transparency

Obama has talked

(Constantly)
about Transparency.

But the Facebook grassroots campaign and the "openness" of the new administration seem to be a thing of the past. Immediately after being elected, Obama hedged on his promises to do a great number of things quickly within his first term. His "transparency" allowed only 4 reporters to the re-do of the oath Wednesday.  Senior officials refused to be referenced by name (until the Press Secretary made a blunder and referred to one by his first name.)  Only one outlet was given an inauguration interview: one that donated to his campaign. Does this sound like Change and Transparency?

But this is not the first time a leader has come in with promises of Change, promises to fix a broken economy. To change the standing of a people in the international world. Think of 1933 Germany.

Transparency was the unique promise Obama gave to the American people: we could follow the change in our country like we were a part of it, somehow. It was part of the reason Obama became the media's darling. Now that the campaign is over, so is that Transparency. But people are still following, some blindly, without thought to the Change within Obama himself and all his previous promises.

Right now, the only transparency for Obama are ice sculptures like the one Wash. U. commissioned for its campus.

(picture taken by me, outside the Student Center)

Public transportation: Creating its own problems

The true mark of a city is the presence of public transportation: subways, buses, trains. It keeps the streets clearer, lowers pollution and gives people who do not have cars access to the city. But in Chicago and St. Louis these systems are self-destructing, raising fares, cutting service and subsequently being dumbfounded with the lower passenger rates that requires further cuts and increases.

As of 2009, the Chicago Transit Authority has increased prices to $2.25 for a bus ride, up 25 cents from the previous year. For the increase, they cited in November the rising gas prices and the possibility of them increasing over 2009. Understandable at the time, perhaps, but with the gas prices down to $2, taking public transportation is less and less appealing. With the increase in prices, the system is creating a large disincentive to stand and wait for a bus, and thus the prices continue to increase in an attempt to cut losses.

The public transportation system failure is similar to the government's dedication to raising taxes to stem economic problems. It seems that the laffer curve was never taught to the officials in charge. (The public school systems of both cities is another blog post altogether though.) With gas prices low and public transportation costs high, buses and trains are becoming considerably less appealing.

St. Louis has a Metrolink and bus system, which are facing huge service cuts this year. The Metrolink, the subway railsystem, does not have a system to insure that all riders have passes; in fact, most ride for free for the majority of the time. A few conductors are occasionally on hand to check tickets, but this usually only for games and large events. They have focused too much on unnecessary and unprofitable westward expansion instead of consolidating the useful routes and services. Instead of contriving a way to enforce payment, with turnstiles or more conductors (or having those who ARE paid actually checking tickets) the Metrolink begged for a sales tax increase in November in the form of the band-aid Proposition M. It was defeated in the polls; instead of facing the real issues of the abysmally low purchase rate, Metrolink decided to lower service which even they contend will only cause a downward spiral.

Chicago needs to launch a public advertising campaign for the public transportation system. It needs to streamline routes so that they are more reliable and give incentives for people to ride; raising the price is the opposite of what should be done. St. Louis needs to enforce tickets for those who do ride, in addition to encouraging more riders to use the system. Perhaps this is a simplified explanation of a large problem, but both Chicago and St. Louis need to stop contributing to the destructions of their own public transportation systems, or there will be no public transportation left.