[tabi] Re: FW: Nova 2010
- From: "Charles Atkins" <catkins@xxxxxxx>
- To: <tabi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 19 Feb 2010 13:51:33 -0500
Excellent!
Indeed!
----- Original Message -----
From: Chip Orange
To: tabi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Friday, February 19, 2010 1:31 PM
Subject: [tabi] FW: Nova 2010
I just received a copy of this most excellently written letter from Owen
McCaul, and thought I should share it with this list.
Chip Orange
------------------------------
Chip Orange
Database Administrator
Florida Public Service Commission
Chip.Orange@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
(850) 413-6314
(Any opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not
necessarily reflect those of the Florida Public Service Commission.)
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From: mccaulo@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:mccaulo@xxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Friday, February 19, 2010 1:13 PM
To: commissioners@xxxxxxxxxx; anita.favors.thompson@xxxxxxxxxx;
ronald.garrison@xxxxxxxxxx; Chip Orange
Subject: Nova 2010
Dear Commissioners,
At the Target Issues Workshop held on February 17, 2010, StarMetro
consultants cited the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority as an example of the
glories of bus route decentralization. I have once again attached a copy of
Transportation for America's "Dangerous by Design" study. Please take an
opportunity to review this informative report. I would draw your attention to
Table 1 on page 13, labeled The Most Dangerous Metro Areas for Pedestrians
(Over 1 Million Residents). Please note that Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater is
number 2 on the list of the country's most dangerous places for pedestrians.
The Pedestrian Danger Index is 205.5. Tallahassee's Pedestrian Danger Index,
found on page 47, is 109.4. So... Tallahassee's streets are more than twice as
dangerous as the national average and it would appear that Pinellas County's
streets are nearly twice as dangerous as Tallahassee. Do you really want to
follow this example?
At the January 21, 2010 meeting of the Transit Advisory Committee,
StarMetro Senior Planner Sam Scheib said that the "Dangerous by Design" study
did not tell StarMetro staff anything that they did not already know. This
means that StarMetro planners INTENTIONALLY designed a system that requires bus
patrons to cross streets more than twice as dangerous as the national average
to change buses. I hope you can forgive my incredulity, but I fail to see how
an even moderately responsible public servant could think this was a good idea.
I struggled with this for the longest time; when the answer finally occurred to
me it was painfully obvious. StarMetro's highly paid executive director,
planners and consultants will not be the ones risking their lives on a daily
basis to change buses. Respectfully, commissioners, you won't be risking your
lives on a daily basis, either. It will be the poor, the elderly, the disabled
and anyone else who does not have a choice in the matter. When Nova 2010 is
implemented, it will not be a question of if someone gets hurt or killed, it is
a question of when. Then everyone will have the opportunity to remark upon the
tragedy and hope that no one realizes that it could have been prevented.
StarMetro's planners and consultants would have you believe that the way
they have set up Nova 2010 is the only way to go about this decentralization.
It is not. Please, look at Madison, Wisconsin. Madison's decentralization
efforts were not without difficulty but at least they did not send the poor,
the elderly and the disabled out to take their chances in city traffic. The
Pedestrian Danger Index for Madison, by the way, is a mere 7.8 compared to
Tallahassee's 109.4 and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater's is 205.5. Perhaps
Madison is on to something....
Sincerely, I am
Owen B. McCaul
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