Brutal Days Ahead Could Awaken New Jobless

Last November, residents in St. Louis County overwhelmingly ignored pleas from government officials, private entities, local clergy leaders, as well as those in the media who reported facts regarding the statistics handed over by the region's mass transit system, Metro, and cast their votes against a measure which would have funded buses and lightrail through the next fiscal year and beyond.

The derailing of this ballot issue, Proposition M, came at a key time when the overall economy was in worse shape than the federal government had claimed for months.

It's five months later and the economic picture in St. Louis is believed to be mediocre, with vast portions of DIM and few areas of "light and breezy". The national economic picture is "iffy" at best. As you've no doubt heard before, "It's brutal out there!"

But we all face reality together --- St. Louis really should not be about the pseudo-rich vs the quite-poor, the county versus the city, the automobile owner versus the person without even one car. Proposition-M failed when it least made sense to stop helping the lifeblood coarsing through our region. Now with large cuts casting large shadows of doubt, the pseudo-rich are finding out how close to the quite-poor they can become in a very short time.

But, what do I mean by this? Residents of St. Louis County who have lost their jobs over the past four months will be among those who suddenly have a new perspective on the impact the "loss" of "Proposition M" truly means to the regional economy. One part of this is going to remain obvious: it came with a portion of "Highway 40/I-64" closed. This still hampers travelers who go from Ballwin or Wildwood or Chesterfield or St. Albans to downtown St. Louis. And it is also true that some commuters have found Metro bus service more convenient than driving through and around the closed highway. But there remains more to this picture that is just starting to come into focus.

Many of those recently "laid off indefinitely" are among the voters in the county who failed to heed warnings about the deep cuts in service to MetroLink and Metro Bus service which would occur if the referendum did not pass. SOOOOOOOOOOO ---- there goes the drive from Manchester and 109 over to the Shrewsbury MetroLink station and that subsequent ride to Busch Stadium with the spouse and kids to save 20 bucks. Along with that ride, maybe 40 times per year because someone already spent their money at Christmas on "season tickets" to see the Cards, here is another missed opportunity: savings on the same trip in the early morning hours from a rapid transit stop outside the "270 loop" to the MetroLink station downtown and subsequent short ride around downtown on another bus close to the new employer. This ride would replace the short drive to a business in, for example, Maryland Heights, to their $95K job. Yes, in tough economic times, when dad's lost his job, now it's mom going back to work at a more menial job just to keep food on the table. And these bus cuts are going to hurt the bottom line. There will be no rapid bus stop, no bus to downtown --- but let's just say she got a ride to Union Station because her driving friend works there. Well, that's nice --- until she finds that once she is east of 14th street she'd better have good walking shoes because she's not getting a bus east of 14th Street to the corner of Washington and 8th Street. She can take MetroLink to the Convention Center station, but mom doesn't want to pay the new higher fare for the monthly bus pass. It sounds like she'll be in much better shape, but her feet will hurt at the day's end.

These telltale signs were ignored by the pseudo-rich. But, suddenly, without these "possible routes" --- they exist now but are gone after March 30th --- here comes the fun for those county voters who are now jobless.

"Where can I go to find work and not have to drive 35 minutes into downtown?"
I'm sure there is someone thinking that. After all, this is the Show-Me attitude, right?

You know this thought on economics: "Show me how to save money and I'll do it!"

Do these people outside the I-270 loop who are suddenly wishing they could take a bus to downtown St. Louis from their West County homes want a "take back" vote? Can they NOW see the error of their ways?

I'm rather betting that it is THESE TYPES of county residents who are to feel the pinch as much as ANY city dwellers who face losing their bus ride and job in west county. Possibly moreso because the city dwellers who seek work will still have options of using the transit system within the I-270 loop. And there are jobs to be had within the 270 loop, and likely more on the way as soon as some of those who look at statistics realize where those who want to work are situated... And, um, "Joe Countyvoter", the answer to your question "And where would THAT be, joker?" is simple: near a bus stop. And, with the price of a gallon of gasoline again EXPECTED to rise over $2.00/gallon by July, many of these former "no" voters will be looking "as far away as downtown St. Louis."

I, for one, am glad I never moved to far-out west county from my inside-the-loop dwellings. But, after a ten-year stay in the city of St. Louis, last year I moved just far enough into St. Louis County (you can be assured I voted IN FAVOR of Proposition M) that I have a mere four block walk to a bus depot. See, I know the value of being near a route. My favorite routes are actually being eliminated, but I still have three nearby so I can get to work on a snowy day next December.

One thing is for certain --- the economy of St. Louis COUNTY will lag behind other similar-sized counties across the country as a result of the service cuts to the buses and lightrail system. The economy in the county cannot improve rapidly without such service. The deep cuts will take effect, and EVERYONE who uses the system will soon find out the difficulties that those short-sighted county voters have thrust upon our metropolitan area.

And EVERYONE WHO DOES NOT USE THE TRANSIT SYSTEM will find additional traffic delays mounting quickly because MORE CARS AND TRUCKS WILL BE ON THE ROAD at the same time each morning. Oh yeah...the highway shut down continues until fall, too.

AND FINALLY:

There's not one SHRED of doubt in my mind: It will SUCK for tens of thousands of commuters come April 1st: it won't be a FUNNY April Fools' Day on the roads or on the transit system in St. Louis.

Q: Is there anyone who will be in disagreement with that statement come August 1st?
A: No!!!

Eventually, I think others will see that I've been correct all along, and the fools who voted no on Proposition M - by November 2009 - will know how foolish they were by being spendthrifts at their polling places in November 2008.