Local News

Disability-Rights Advocates Decry Cuts to St. Louis County Transit Service | St. Louis Metro News | St. Louis

Published

2 years ago

March 17, 2023

[ad_1]

Photo courtesy of Metro Transit Metro Transit announced plans earlier this month to reduce the area served by its paratransit Call-A-Ride vans on April 10 due to a shortage of drivers.

The St. Louis region’s public transit agency plans to “improve customer service” by making cuts to its paratransit system serving those with disabilities.It’s a move disability rights advocates have decried as a “cruel” solution to a real problem.Metro Transit’s paratransit system, which is called Call-A-Ride, provides services for those with disabilities in St. Louis city and St. Louis county, as required by federal law. Customers with disabilities can call to reserve a ride in a wheelchair-accessible van, which provides curb-to-curb service rather than operating on a fixed route.For years, customers have faced steep wait times and high rates of denials for the service. At the heart of the issue is staffing. Metro said this month that 40 percent of operator positions for Call-A-Ride are unfilled, while demand for rides “has increased substantially.”In January, roughly 18,000 of the 47,000 requests for Call-A-Ride had to be denied, Metro wrote in a letter to advocates this week.The agency hopes the cuts — which it has estimated will impact 250 people — will make the service more reliable for those traveling within the adjusted boundaries.“It will help us reduce trip denials, reduce phone wait times and provide more reliable paratransit service while making sure we continue to follow federal requirements,” Jeffrey Butler, general manager of Metro’s paratransit, wrote in a letter to a coalition of advocacy groups this week.Robyn Wallen, a St. Louis County resident with disabilities who has utilized Call-A-Ride over the last several decades, said she and others have been pushing Metro to look into solutions to issues with the service for years. She called news of cuts “frustrating,” and hopes the agency will investigate alternatives.“I know they’re not meeting their basic minimum standards for service,” Wallen said in an interview with The Missouri Independent. “What frustrates us the most is that this is not a new problem. It’s been going on for a while now.”Wallen does not live in a region that will be cut, but said all riders could be affected — for instance, if they need to visit a specialist doctor in the area that will no longer be served.“These cuts actually affect more than just the 250 riders they are saying, but every single customer who may have a need to go into those areas,” Wallen said. “It affects every single one of us.” click to enlarge Metro’s map of the paratransit changes shows in red the areas that will be eliminated from service starting April 10. Wallen said she heard from the family of a son with disabilities that they worry he won’t be able to get to his job anymore once the cuts take effect, because he works in an area that Call-A-Ride will no longer serve.“One of the things you learn as a disabled person is it’s hard to get a job … and when you do get a job, what happens if suddenly your transportation is no longer there?” she said.Patti Beck, a spokesperson for Metro, said by email that over six months last year, 250 customers of 4,000 total made 10 or more regular trip requests and would not be eligible for the service beginning April 10. Beck added that the “majority of the customers … will not be impacted” because their origination and destination trips are within the federally-required service area, and that Metro is “here to make sure our customers know that there are other possible transportation resources” if their trips fall outside the service area.The cuts, announced at the beginning of this month, are slated to be implemented April 10 and will impact some areas in North County, West County, the Fenton area, and Southwest St. Louis County.“Reducing the number of consumers served is a cruel solution to a very real problem,” Aimee Wehmeier, president of the disability advocacy group Paraquad, said in a press release earlier this month. The Americans with Disabilities Act requires cities that provide bus or rail service to also provide comparable services for those with disabilities who are unable to use public transportation, to cover three-quarters of a mile from each public transit route. St. Louis has not updated its paratransit service map since 2016. In 2019 and over the course of the COVID pandemic, several bus routes were suspended, eliminating the federal mandate to provide paratransit there.“How did we decide where we’re cutting Call-A-Ride service? That is the same places that we have cut bus service,” Amy Parker, the ADA coordinator for Metro, said in a March video. “And these should move in parallel.”A coalition of individuals and organizations, including Paraquad and Missouri Council for the Blind, asked the agency in a letter this week to delay the cuts for at least six months, to “study alternative solutions to your current staff shortages without adversely affecting people living with disabilities, our employers, and our families and circles of support.”Advocates have argued that many of the alternative transit options for people with disabilities are not accessible to those in wheelchairs or with mobility issues — leaving those without the service out of luck.Metro responded this week that the service changes will go forward on the April 10 date, as a “necessary and important step toward restoring reliable paratransit service.” Advocacy groups have said several Call-A-Ride users may file complaints with the Federal Transit Administration.“We will continue to look for a win-win solution,” Wehmeier said this week, “that does not harm some in order to make paratransit work better for others.”This story was original published in The Missouri Independent. Coming soon: Riverfront Times Daily newsletter. We’ll send you a handful of interesting St. Louis stories every morning. Subscribe now to not miss a thing.Follow us: Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter

[ad_2]

Source link

Local News

Fenton Man Charged in Sword Attack on Roommate

Published

7 months ago

May 22, 2024

Natural Bridge

[ad_1]

A warrant is out for a Fenton man’s arrest after he allegedly attacked his roommate with a sword.

Police say that on Sunday, Angelus Scott spoke openly about “slicing his roommate’s head” before he grabbed a sword, raised it up and then swung it down at the roommate.

The roommate grabbed Scott’s hand in time to prevent injury. When police arrived at the scene, they found the weapon used in the assault.

The sword in question was a katana, which is a Japanese sword recognizable for its curved blade.

This isn’t the first time a samurai-style sword has been used to violent effect in St. Louis. In 2018, a man hearing voices slaughtered his ex-boyfriend with a samurai sword. His mother said he suffered from schizoaffective disorder.

As for Scott, 35, the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office was charged yesterday with two felonies, assault first degree and armed criminal action. The warrant for his arrest says he is to be held on $200,000 bond.

[ad_2]

Source link

Local News

Caught on Video, Sheriff Says He’s Ready to ‘Turn It All Over’ to Deputy

Published

7 months ago

May 22, 2024

Natural Bridge

[ad_1]

Video of St. Louis Sheriff Vernon Betts taken by a former deputy suggests that the sheriff has a successor in mind to hand the reins of the department over to, even as Betts is in an increasingly heated campaign for reelection.

“I ain’t here for all this rigmarole,” Betts says in the video while seated behind his desk at the Carnahan Courthouse. “The Lord sent me here to turn this department around and I’m doing the best I can and I think I’ve done a good job. I’ve got about eight months and I’m going to qualify for my fourth pension.”

He goes on, “Right now I can walk up out of here and live happily ever after and forget about all this…and live like a king.”

The sheriff then says his wife has been in Atlanta looking at houses and that the other deputy in the room, Donald Hawkins, is someone Betts has been training “to turn it all over to him.”

Asked about the video, Betts tells the RFT, “My future plans are to win reelection on August 6th by a wide margin and to continue my mission as the top elected law enforcement official to make St. Louis safer and stronger. Serving the people of St. Louis with integrity, honor and professional law enforcement qualifications is a sacred responsibility, and I intend to complete that mission.”

The video of Betts was taken by Barbara Chavers, who retired from the sheriff’s office in 2016 after 24 years of service. Chavers now works security at Schnucks at Grand and Gravois. Betts’ brother Howard works security there, too.

Chavers tells the RFT that she was summoned to Betts’ office last week after Betts’ brother made the sheriff aware that she was supporting Montgomery. It was no secret: Chavers had filmed a Facebook live video in which she said she was supporting Betts’ opponent Alfred Montgomery in the election this fall. “Make the judges safe,” she says in the video, standing in front of a large Montgomery sign on Gravois Avenue. “They need a sheriff who is going to make their courtrooms safe.”

In his office, even as Chavers made clear she was filming him, Betts told Chavers he was “flabbergasted” and “stunned” she was supporting Montgomery.

“I don’t know what I did that would make you go against the preacher man,” he says, referring to himself. He then refers to Montgomery as “ungodly.”

Betts goes on to say that not long ago, he was walking in his neighborhood on St. Louis Avenue near 20th Street when suddenly Montgomery pulled up in his car and, according to Betts, shouted, “You motherfucker, you this, you that. You’re taking my signs down.”

Montgomery tells the RFT that he’s never interacted with Betts outside of candidate forums and neighborhood meetings.

“I don’t think anyone with good sense would do something like that to a sitting sheriff,” Montgomery says.

Montgomery has had campaign signs missing and on at least two occasions has obtained video of people tearing them down. (Chavers notes that the sign that she filmed her original Facebook video in front of is itself now missing.)

One man who lives near Columbus Square says that he recently put out two Montgomery signs, which later went missing. “If they keep taking them, I’ll keep putting them up,” he said.

Betts says he has nothing to do with the missing signs. In the video Chavers filmed in Betts’ office, Betts says that his campaign isn’t in a spot where it needs to resort to tearing down opponents’ signs.

“If you sit here long enough, a man is getting ready to come across the street from City Hall bringing me $500, today,” Betts says. “I’m getting that kind of support. I don’t need to tear down signs.”

[ad_2]

Source link

Local News

St. Louis to Develop First Citywide Transportation Plan in Decades

Published

7 months ago

May 21, 2024

Natural Bridge

[ad_1]

The City of St. Louis is working to develop its first citywide mobility plan in decades, Mayor Tishaura Jones’ office announced Tuesday. This plan seeks to make it easier for everyone — drivers, pedestrians, bikers and public transit users — to safely commute within the city.

The plan will bring together other city projects like the Brickline Greenway, Future64, the MetroLink Green Line, and more, “while establishing new priorities for a safer, more efficient and better-maintained transportation network across the City,” according to the release.

The key elements in the plan will be public engagement, the development of a safety action plan, future infrastructure priorities and transportation network mapping, according to Jones’ office.

The overarching goals are to create a vision for citywide mobility, plan a mixture of short and long-term mobility projects and to develop improved communication tools with the public to receive transportation updates. In recent years, both people who use public transit and cyclists have been outspoken about the difficulties — and dangers — of navigating St. Louis streets, citing both cuts to public transit and traffic violence.

To garner public input and participation for the plan, Jones’ office said there will be community meetings, focus groups and a survey for residents to share their concerns. The city will also be establishing a Community Advisory Committee. Those interested in learning more should check out at tmp-stl.com/

“Everyone deserves to feel safe when getting around St. Louis, whether they’re driving, biking, walking or taking public transit,” Jones said in a news release. “Creating a comprehensive transportation and mobility plan allows us to make intentional and strategic investments so that moving around St. Louis for jobs, education, and entertainment becomes easier, safer and more enjoyable.”

[ad_2]

Source link