Showing posts with label high speed rail. Show all posts
Showing posts with label high speed rail. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

The Callousness of COAST

In case you haven't heard, Congressman John Murtha passed away yesterday after complications due to a recent gall bladder surgery he had. While I was certainly not always a fan of Murtha's politics, America has lost not only a statesman respected by both parties, but a combat veteran who proudly served his country in the Vietnam war.

However, the head honchos at COAST don't see that. We've seen COAST stoop low, but never this low. Check out what COAST treasurer Mark Miller, who authors the COAST Twitter account, had to say about this war veterans death:


Is there any behavior above COAST? We already knew that lying, calling people slang words for sexual organs, intentionally deceiving voters, and inflating actual numbers were things that the folks had COAST never had no problem doing, but now Mark Miller thinks its appropriate to make fun of dead combat veterans and politicians?

- The man behind the tweets. COAST treasurer, Mark Miller.
"[John Murtha] Should've died in prison." "Good Riddance bad egg."

This isn't the first time CAAST has been alerted of Miller's nonsense on Twitter. A few months ago we pointed out how he resorted, on two occasions, to calling his opponents "pussies" in the wake of political defeat. You can read about those incidents here and here. On top of that, the Cincinnati Blog showed us how COAST has been editing other peoples tweets to bolster fake support for themselves! Read about that here.

Miller and COAST did not stop with the Murtha tweets though. Yep, you guessed it, there's more. Check out this other tweet from @GOCOAST:

Ironically, in this tweet, we see COAST complaining that the downtown Riverfront Transit Center is "empty." It's ironic because for starters it is not empty. The Center is used multiple times throughout the year to house charter buses for large scale events downtown. System Parking operates it and has a contract with the city, allowing the city to bring in some profit from the event parking. By calling it "empty" COAST is referring to how it has never been used for light rail purposes. Why hasn't it? Because COAST worked to defeat Metro Moves in 2002 which would've put the transit center to good use and made it the center for light rail activity in the heart of downtown. They have no one to blame but themselves for it being "empty."

You may remember recently, I challenged COAST to answer why they continue to intentionally lie about rail transit. My challenge went unanswered, COAST even blocked me from following their Twitter account (guess they can't take criticism backed by factual evidence). As COAST continues to complain about the 3C Rail Corridor throughout Ohio, they offer no alternative. The group is wiling to turn down $400 Million in federal funding that would provide a new transportation option for Ohio residents and be a step towards high speed rail. That $400 Million would just go to another state, it couldn't be used anywhere else here. So what's the alternative? What is COAST's plan for the future?

It's simple, they don't have one. COAST has proven time and time again that immature behavior and name calling is their standard operating procedure. They offer no solutions or alternatives while mocking the dead. Maybe someone should get Mark Miller and his buddies a one way ticket to Colorado Springs.

Monday, November 2, 2009

Issue 9 "Deserves to Fail." Help Defeat This "Poison Pill" Tomorrow!

What's there to say that hasn't been said? Tomorrow is election day and voters all over the nation will be heading to the polls to cast their votes for a wide plethora of candidates and issues. Here in Cincinnati, we will have the opportunity to vote on the incredibly deceptive and poorly written Issue 9. Backed by a special interest group and Chris Smitherman, who even admitted his own charter amendment was "political corruption," Issue 9 seeks to slow down Cincinnati via referendum. This referndum voting process is a political tool commonly used by special interest groups like COAST and completely undermines the foundations of representative democracy, which is exactly why our founding fathers didn't put a direct democracy in place.

Whether you like the streetcar or not, it's very important for the future of this city that Issue 9 fail as it not only affects every passenger rail expenditure, but the poorly written ammendment via it's own wording will affect the righ-of-way's of roads, sidewalks, everything! This kind of hastily written, poor referedum will undoubtedly be tied up in litigation for years to come and only serve to slow down the city. The Cincinnati Enquirer has called this ammendment a "poison pill" for the city and have declared that Issue 9 "...desrves to fail!"

The quote in the masthead of this blog is often attributed to Mark Twain, but it's not certain exactly who said it. Regardless, it's infamously popular and somewhat true in Cincinnati. "When the end of the world comes, I want to be in Cincinnati because it's always twenty years behind the times." Antiquated, stupid thinking has kept us "twenty years behind the times" on more than one occasion in the past. Now, today, amongst great progress, special interest groups seek to cripple the city via undemocratic referendums. Tomorrow, we can say no to that! Tomorrow, we can stand up for proper democracy in Cincinnati. Tomorrow, we can keep moving forward!

For a complete list of the vast, numerous organizations and people who have come out against Issue 9 and the very few who have come out in support of Issue 9, please visit this link. Cincinnatians from all different cultures, backgrounds, political leanings and neighborhoods are coming out against this deceptive and misleading special interest amendment. You can take a stand too!

Thank you for taking the time to visit and read the CAAST blog these past few months and remember to do you civic duty tomorrow, get out there and vote!

Sincerely,
Tairy Greene
Founder, Citizens Against Antiquated, Stupid Thinking (CAAST)

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Issue 9 would "Maroon" Cincinnati


As the federal government continues to further it's plans to develop high speed rail in America, Issue 9 threatens to leave Cincinnati off the map. Are they really going to sit around and wait for us to vote on every little expenditure while the rest of the nation moves forward? Probably not, which is why the "Cincinnati" stop on the line will be in Sharonville, connecting our northern neighbor with Chicago, Indianapolis, Columbus and Cleveland, marooning Cincinnati in a sea of slowly worsening highway systems and air port delays.

CAN WE AFFORD TO BE LEFT OFF THE MAP!?
VOTE NO ON ISSUE 9!