Ohio City Denies Public Transit To Area Residents!

Greater Dayton Regional Transit Authority and local riders demand bus service to Beavercreek, a nearby suburb. The city refuses to allow bus service to Dayton area malls.

I reside in the Rust Belt city of Dayton, Ohio. The city is seeing a gradual decrease in its population due to the loss of manufacturing, white flight and urban sprawl. The Midwestern city is caught between Cincinnati, Indianapolis and Columbus, three cities that has most of the area's major attractions. Dayton's basically surviving on the military's continuation of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and the health care industry.

Beavercreek, Ohio is a city in Greene, County that's approximately 6 miles from Dayton, Ohio. The city is one of suburbs that has an issue with the Greater Dayton Regional Transit Authority. The RTA has a bus line that goes to Wright State University in Fairborn, Ohio and is at least 2 miles away from the Mall of Fairfield Commons. Many riders want access to the Mall at Fairfield Commons and The Greene, an outdoor shopping mall.

Beavercreek continues to deny the RTA the access to their city.

The Department of Transportation and Justice are looking into complaints made by local riders against the city.

The residents of Beavercreek are pretty conservative. The area appears to favor Republicans over Democrats in the last elections. It was the hometown of former Ohio Congressman Steve Austria, the three term Republican who resigned from office in 2013.

The Republicans in the state house once again have the power of congressional districts and thanks to the Tea Party and fear-mongering from those in the conservative agitating media, Republicans have stronger advantages in state legislature and the U.S. House of Representatives.

The Greene is an outdoor mall located in the Dayton suburb of Beavercreek, Ohio.

Current area Congressman Mike Turner (R-Ohio) and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) represent the Miami Valley, a mixture of communities centered around Dayton.

Turner was the former mayor of Dayton. He became a U.S. Representative after conservative Democrat Tony Hall resigned in protest after Republicans gerrymandered his district away from stronger Democratic regions and put his district in a competitive region. Turner represents Dayton and recently areas absorbed by the former congressman Steve Austria.

Boehner, a former lawyer and lobbyist has been in Congress since former Republican congressman Buzz Luken, Jr. resigned in shame after a sex scandal. Boehner dreamed of being a big player in the Republican Party. He was part of the major leadership in the Republican Party.

When the Democrats took back the House of Representatives briefly, Boehner was chosen to be the Minority Leader. After the 2010 U.S. midterm elections in which Republicans took the House of Representatives and state governorships, Boehner became the current House Speaker replacing Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (D-California), the first woman to ever hold that post. Boehner represents West Chester, Troy, and now parts of Springfield, Ohio.

Boehner is considered a joke among the politicos in Washington. He's taunted for being too emotional and his often glowing tans. But his supporters state that he's a great leader and handles a crisis effectively.

Well here a crisis that our local congressmen failed at solving.

Equal rights for those who travel by public transit.

The Greene County Transit Authority and Greater Dayton Transit Authority have often clashed with Beavercreek city leaders over installing bus stops near the Mall at Fairfield Commons, The Greene, the new Soin Hospital and the Ervin J. Nutter Center, an indoor entertainment facility.

Beavercreek refuses because of perceptions of violent crime and a rise in theft around the mall.

They have major concerns about loitering by riders and those who may solicit for money near stops.

A civil rights group in Ohio say otherwise. The group believes that due to the local leaders and the extremely conservative views of most residents in the city, they feel that race and class perceive a bias in their decisions.

The outdoor sign for The Mall at Fairfield Commons in Beavercreek, Ohio.

The civil rights group have asked for action to matter by contacting the Department of Transportation secretary Ray LaHood and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to solve this matter.

The Greater Dayton Regional Transit Authority (previously known as the Miami Valley RTA) serves the metro Dayton, Ohio area. The RTA has over 30 routes that serve most of Montgomery County (Dayton being its county seat) and portions of Greene County. The city of Dayton is one of the last cities to have overhead trolley buses.

The RTA doesn't provide bus serve to nearby suburb Fairborn, the Dayton International Airport, The Mall At Fairfield Commons or areas that connect to other areas within a 25 mile radius.

The RTA only travel through Fairborn and Beavercreek for access to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and Wright State University.

Dayton is the smallest city that has overhead trolley service. Other cities include Seattle, San Francisco, Boston and Philadelphia have trolley service.

Philadelphia, Boston, Seattle and San Francisco are cities with populations that reach over 300,000. The city of Dayton most recent population is 141,000 as of 2010.

The city of Dayton still have issues with race. Dayton's population declined rapidly after the manufacturing bust by General Motors, and government facilities closing up in the city. The city was left with a large presence of boarded homes and abandoned businesses. Local shopping centers are bare and major retailers are moving further and further from the city. Most suburban shopping centers felt the bust as well. The two shopping complexes the Town & Country Shopping Center that's located in Kettering and the Dayton Mall are the only shopping areas with bus services. They both express concern about the public transportation.

They were concerned that fights, theft and panhandling would plague the malls. They concluded that the Salem Mall in Trotwood went out of business due to public transportation. The Salem Mall was the first Dayton mall. The mall was demolished years ago after many of its shops closed up! The residents of Trotwood blamed the bus for allowing criminals ruin a mall and the region.

The RTA have tried to calm the bad publicity. They've opened up transit centers that provide connecting services from Dayton to many area suburbs. They've partnered up with the Dayton Police and the county sheriff to provide adequate security for all RTA properties and the safety of all riders.

Dayton is bounded by the Great Miami River which separates the city from east to west.

Interstate 75 a major north-south highway passes through Dayton. It begins from the U.S.- Canada border to near Miami, Florida.

Dayton is an urban rust city. Manufacturing dried up! White flight left the city with a nearly minority-majority population. The city is caught between major cities within a few hours drive. Most of the major attractions aren't near the city, they're either in the suburbs or the somewhere else.

Dayton has a long way to go in order to solve its racial issues! Hopefully it will for the better!