Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Feds: Ohio City Better Get That Bus Out There Or Else!

Greater Dayton Regional Transit Authority continues fight with suburb over bus stops.

I want to share with you an issue coming from my hometown. The liberal agitators are now zeroing in on the Dayton area. The city is in the spotlight over an issue in one of its suburbs.

A bit of good news for the public transit in Dayton. After 20 years, there will be buses that serve the Dayton International Airport. Residents have longed complained about the buses not going to the airport. Now that's one chapter closed in the ongoing battle for equal rights.

One chapter hasn't been closed and it's driving me to post another article about it.

The public bus service, the Greater Dayton Regional Transit Authority (RTA) have a longstanding feud with the city of Beavercreek, Ohio. The suburb has tried to block every attempt to have the buses out by the Mall at Fairfield Commons, The Greene and the Soin Hospital. Areas that surround the Interstate 675 bypass.

Me and S. Baldwin have covered this controversy for the longest time. Now it's starting to get national attention.

Beavercreek is accused of violating the civil rights of riders. Many riders complained that in order to get to nearby business and the malls, you would have to travel at least 4 miles to the nearest point of interest.

This occurs in Beavercreek and nearby Fairborn as well. Both cities are located approximately 6 miles from Dayton and carry some of the city's major attractions.

The Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation and U.S. Justice Department warned the city of Beavercreek to get buses out there or face losing funds.

The Greene County Area Transit (Greene CATS) and the Dayton RTA have long complained about this.

They're not backing down. They have taken it to the federal court. The public transit companies are hoping that this issue will be settled before the end of the year.

The residents and city council are going to find even more ways to delay the buses. Risking even the potential of having lawsuits, Beavercreek isn't looking forward to having a bus service in their region.

The city is extremely conservative. And it's looks like it's going to be that way for a long time.


Ohio Republicans have the statehouse and governorship. John Kasich, the governor signed off this controversial redistricting plan in which it gave Republicans an advantage in elections. The Republicans have 12 members and the Democrats have 4 members.

Congressman Michael Turner (R-Ohio), represents the 10th District. His district absorbed the previous 7th District that was represented by Steve Austria. The Dayton area is strongly Democratic but the areas surrounding it are strongly Republican.

Turner served as Dayton, Ohio mayor for two terms before he was defeated by Ohio senate member Rhine McLin, a Democrat. He would later run for Congress and successfully won three terms as a legislator.

The 10th District covers Dayton, Beavercreek, Miamisburg, Centerville, Kettering, Xenia, Huber Heights, Washington Court House, Sabina, Jamestown, Clayton, Trotwood and the Wright Patterson Air Force Base.

It's ranked in the Cook Political Report as a +13. Meaning it's a "STRONGLY REPUBLICAN" district.

The only area that tilts for Democrats besides Dayton is the village of Yellow Springs.

The RTA have tried to expand its services into Greene, Miami, Warren and Clark County. Each area has tried to block each request to have it serve the needs of the people.

Really there is an issue here with the city of Beavercreek and RTA.

Dayton has been on the ground of death for the last 30 years. The city is caught between bigger cities like Cincinnati, Columbus and Indianapolis. Each city outside of Dayton has the attractions that many tourist visit.

Dayton, Ohio is the business of sex tourism and long forgotten legacies.

The population of the city is 137,000 and still declining.

The city has trolley buses. The smallest city in the United States to continue service with overhead wire trolleys. Five other cities with populations over 500,000 still maintain trolley service.

Dayton and Columbus wanted to have Amtrak to serve their areas respectively. That was squashed after Kasich signed off legislation to put transportation funds into GOP-friendly businesses.

The RTA can't even migrate into other counties. Besides the partial coverage of Greene County because of the Wright Patterson Air Force Base and Wright State University, the bus service only serves Dayton and the Montgomery County region.

You see that Southwestern Ohio Regional Transit Authority (Queen City Metro), Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA) and the Transit Authority Of Northern Kentucky (TANK) have routes that extend into other areas. Each public transit service has expanded or grown in the past 10 years.
Protesters demand bus service into Beavercreek, Ohio.
The Queen City Metro covers the Greater Cincinnati region. It has bus routes that serve Hamilton County, Warren County, Butler County, and Clermont County. The bus even goes to King's Island, one of the country's major amusement parks.

The buses cover the University of Cincinnati, the Horseshoe Casino, the Union Terminal, the Cincinnati Premium Outlet Mall, the township of West Chester, Great American Ballpark, Paul Brown Stadium and the Kenwood Mall.

The TANK have buses that link the city of Cincinnati with suburbs Covington and Newport in Kentucky.

The TANK covers Kenton County, Boone County, Campbell County in Kentucky and Hamilton County in Ohio. The TANK links with Queen City Metro in Cinncinnati. There are buses that serve the Cincinnati Northern Kentucky International Airport. The buses cover the Newport on The Leeve, Turfway Horsetrack, and the Florence Mall.

COTA has bus services that cover the metro Columbus area. Buses serve Franklin County, Delaware County, Delaware County, Union County, Licking County, and Fairfield County.

The public transit covers the Port Columbus International Airport, the Columbus Zoo and Zoombezi Bay, Ohio State University, The Easton, Polaris Mall and the Hollywood Casino.

These public transit services are considering light rail transit to serve the needs of tourists and the community.

Dayton has not even thought of bringing light rail transit to the area.

Who would want to take a light rail train to a city of blight and despair?

Dayton has added truck stops to the area. Flying J's and Love's are planning on opening up shop in the city.

Hollywood Casino is going to build a horse track and casino in the area. It's going to be on the grounds of a former Delphi/GM plant.

Dayton wants to raze neighborhoods to built a town center near it's minor league baseball stadium.

The Dayton Dragons baseball team is probably the only thing left in the city besides the sex tourism.

Okay what's your take on the matter?

Do you think that Beavercreek discriminates against bus riders by denying service to the malls?



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