Twenty people dressed in black and yellow shouted outside Memphis city hall on Tuesday in hopes to end bus budget cuts.
The Amalgamated Transit Union Local 713 and the Memphis Bus Riders Union protested for “transit justice” on Tuesday afternoon before the mayor proposed his 2017 budget plan before Memphis city council.
Both groups claim that the government does not support the bus system, and the budget cuts have caused a lack of service and run down facilities. Both groups met with Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland and asked for $12 million for new buses and operating costs.
The mayor provided $7.5 million for buses in his “balanced budget” plan. $2.5 million is for Memphis Area Transit Authority operating budget, and $5 million to MATA’s Capital Improvement Program. “We are always looking for ways to be better stewards of taxpayers dollars,” Strickland said. “We are committed to a vibrant public transit system.”
The groups also claim that riders wait for a long time for buses often without shelter and this situation can tend to lead to the riders becoming victims of crime and harassment.
The people chanted “No buses. No peace. Whose city? Our city. Whose streets? Our streets. No cuts.”
An officer, who wished to remain unidentified, said that this same group of people protests three times a year.
St. Louis native, Justin Davis, an English junior at Rhodes College, is a member of the Memphis Bus Riders Union and protested on Tuesday afternoon. He said that even though he does not ride the bus, he sympathizes with those who do.
“Memphis is a car driven city,” he said. “It’s important we are reaffirming good transit.”
Davis hoped that they mayor would provide at least $20 million. “We have a bare bone system with a lot of gaps,” he stated.
In the city council meeting, Strickland said that public safety was a priority because he wants to make Memphis “a more livable city,” and attract more people to live in Memphis.
“Poverty goes up when you don’t have transit,” said Bennett Foster, treasurer of the Memphis Bus Riders Union. He said that even if he did not ride the bus daily that the city should invest their money in the bus system to prevent crime instead of spending more money on police. “The budget is two thirds public safety,” he stated. He said that as we increase police pay we also decrease funding for public service.
Foster said even if it did not affect him, it affected those around him and that the entire community should have an equal opportunity.
In Strickland’s proposed budget he said that he planned to fund public safety by increasing the police’s pay and funding the Memphis police department with $3.8 million dollars. He also said that city firefighters would receive a two percent increase in pay in their $1.9 million funding.
Strickland also said that $5 million of his public safety budget was for paving streets to “give Memphians the streets they deserve.”
Members of the Memphis Bus Riders Union protested outside City Hall Tuesday afternoon with signs and chanting, saying they wanted more money for Memphis’ public transit system.
Mayor Jim Strickland watched a scene from the The Color Purple that illustrated the living conditions in community centers that are in dire need of replacement but have yet to be replaced in Tuesday’s city council meeting.
