Comments on Advance Indiana™: Mass Transit Whore Columnist Strikes Again

CCS: Your opposition to mass transit reeks of thi...

2013-04-11T07:52:39.912-05:00

CCS: Your opposition to mass transit reeks of thinly-veiled racism, whether you acknowledge it or not. If I think I am demonizing you, you're right.

Uncivil might be the distilled advocacy by one who...

2013-03-24T12:29:50.919-05:00

Uncivil might be the distilled advocacy by one who is supposed to be a journalist or present both sides, Flogger's reference to critical thought.

Uncivil might also be ongoing & unsubstantiated claims by the party of "responsible & smaller government." Where does that party exist? It's likely that ~8M registered but nonparticipating voters in the 2012 election are no longer waiting for the answer.

A successful private developer once said, "If you want a monument go to Crown Hill." As Legoland fantasies are fashioned into asset draining era marking monuments, it may occur to people that all subsidies lead to Rome.

The teen-agers are already hanging out at all thes...

2013-03-24T09:35:21.853-05:00

The teen-agers are already hanging out at all these malls. That's one of the reasons you don't see Simon building new enclosed malls; they're going with the outdoor approach at Clay Terrace to cut down on the loitering by teens.

Back a long time ago, (1961-64) a part of my 8th G...

2013-03-24T09:30:27.875-05:00

Back a long time ago, (1961-64) a part of my 8th Grade and 9th Grade curriculum was, we would call it today Critical Thinking.

We had a class room debate on if we should have dropped "the bombs" on Japan.

The expectation was you would consider the different sides of an issue.

The people who run The Star must not have had a Critical Thinking Class. The Star as it has been pointed out numerous times does not present views or opinions that diverge from its chosen opinion. The Star has tried to portray itself as champion of Free Market Capitalism. However, when Free Market Capitalism will not respond to the needs of billionaires who need stadiums built for them or some direct or indirect subsidy for "Downtown" then Crony Capitalism or Corporatism will do just fine. Through some convoluted thinking it is OK to toss the Free Market in the trash when it fails to produce the desired result and impose a subsidy tax on all of us to benefit the Chosen Few.

My only curiosity is do the Star Reporters have any independence in the writing or is all dictated to them from high???

Just what the Greenwood Mall needs is a bunch of t...

2013-03-24T08:58:12.911-05:00

Just what the Greenwood Mall needs is a bunch of teenagers cruising in from the south side of Indy hanging out in their mall.

What's offensive is that a columnist for a new...

2013-03-24T08:04:45.778-05:00

What's offensive is that a columnist for a newspaper is allowed to use her column as a lobbyist for special interests. An occasional opinion piece here and there reflecting the columnist's political views on a single issue isn't a problem, but the continual returning to the same issue week after week during the legislative session shows that her purpose is intended to be more than just expressing a viewpoint. It's apparently totally permissible for the columnist to demonize those with whom she politically disagrees, but she's a victim when the tables are turned on her with the use of unflattering analogies. Jon, do you think her comparison of Gov. Pence to Capt. Ahab is apropo? Heavens, he didn't even say he would veto the legislation; he only said he had reservatations about it.

I believe the Chicago Sun-Times learned about Erik...

2013-03-24T05:21:38.838-05:00

I believe the Chicago Sun-Times learned about Erika Smith's propaganda piece and they in turn wrote the balancing story today. In the Sun-Times story today, there is documentation of political corruption and how public transportation is used by violent criminals to facilitate their activity throughout the metropolitan area. I previously posted how it would a appear that a Metropolitan Transit Board of political appointees (loyal to their appointing elected official, not the public) smells of corruption. It gives the elected official the ability to receive special interest contributions from those connected to the Metropolitan Transit Board by contract and still fill out ethics forms that indicate they did not receive contributions from anyone with a contract from their own municipality.

Chicago is the closest city with regional mass transit to us. Today's Sun-Times offers balance to the propaganda of Smith's Gannett piece:

"Metra, the system of 11 rail lines connecting Chicago to six counties and 241 stations in Northeastern Illinois, may not be as safe as you think it is.

“We have been derailed by understaffing, poor equipment and leadership without a mission,” said a Metra police source. 'If you think you are safe on a Metra train, you are not,' he said.

Rattled by the death of former Metra Chief Phil Pagano, who committed suicide by stepping in front of a train in 2010 after the disclosure he personally misused Metra funds, the transit agency has limped on after spending a ton of cash to track Pagano’s fraud.

Metra crime is up at the Electric District, the train line’s most dangerous route, with at least six robberies in March.

'Metra will assign one solitary police officer with one car to patrol the locations of recent crimes on weekends — but they will bring in special operations and many officers working around the clock should any Metra materials (like copper wire) be stolen,' said a police source.

Metra police officer Thomas Cook was killed while serving in a one-man robbery detail. “We swore it would never happen again, but we are now back to one-man robbery details,” an officer told Sneed. “Overtime has been cut.”

Just recently, two Metra officers were injured while working during the St. Patrick’s celebrations. One was stabbed four times in the leg; another had ribs broken.

'My worst nightmare is walking up alone to seven guys in a Metra station and asking them to leave,' said another Metra cop.

A man reportedly shot at multiple times in an attempted robbery by an offender who appeared to have been wielding a gun, possibly a BB gun, at the Ivanhoe station in Riverdale on a recent Sunday afternoon.

The Metra response: 'Don’t know anything about that,' said Gillis. 'The person who would know about things like that has never heard about it. And they would know.' -But it did happen. (The victim was interviewed.)

OK, let's see what Gannett's Star writer has to say now that the propaganda has been balanced with documented fact.

The people of Central Indiana do not want another layer of government, more TAXes, an exponential increase in corruption and VIOLENT CRIME. We REJECT the Metropolitan Transit Proposal, known as Indiana HB 1011!

Preaching to the choir. I just know the "whor...

2013-03-24T00:21:59.359-05:00

Preaching to the choir. I just know the "whore" comparison is going to ruffle feathers, especially feathers of those most inclined to use that term. Free speech for them but not for us, it seems.

Gary, Whether or not you agree with mass transit o...

2013-03-23T22:51:09.052-05:00

Gary,
Whether or not you agree with mass transit or not, your characterization of Erika Smith is offensive, repugnant, and disgusting.

You should apologize to her, but I know you won't.

Jeff, Lack of civility is when the government char...

2013-03-23T21:53:28.160-05:00

Jeff, Lack of civility is when the government charges a person with a crime for exercising their right to vote, free speech or some other fundamental constitutional right. Tyranny is when a person's fear of being prosecuted for executing their fundamental rights prevents him or her from exercising their rights. That's about where we've arrived in this country.

Careful, Gary. Some idiot state official might cal...

2013-03-23T21:14:35.643-05:00

Careful, Gary. Some idiot state official might call you "uncivil."

"The lazy journalist tells us the public is &...

2013-03-23T19:20:54.891-05:00

"The lazy journalist tells us the public is 'gung-ho' about the prospects of an expanded bus service based on survey data gathered at taxpayer's expense by CIRTA that will take them to Carmel's Palladium"

-Just wait until the patrons of that mass transit proposal arrive at The Palladium for a Chief Keef concert...

Here are videos of a future patrons showing the public transportation available as well as complete streets to come to The Palladium from The Meadows. Plenty of stops for public transportation pick-up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G32c9yQ_Yhs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCb1_LqPrHg

The new public transporation will present less need for cruising....but, as this video shows, another matter still takes place https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuTb4te9UL8