VOD Videojournalist Kenneth Snodgrass
Detroit’s Bus System Victim of Crime & Budgeting! A No Struggle, No Development Production! By Kenny Snodgrass
Published on Oct 22, 2013
In April 2012, Mayor David Bing slashed the budget of the Detroit Department of Transportation (DDOT) by $12.6 million and transferred management over to a private company. This has led to the shutting down of numerous bus routes. Many weekend and all overnight bus service ended.
Long lines, packed buses hurt both drivers and riders.
It’s been a year and a half since Mayor Bing has privatized the management of our public bus system, and the service has worsened dramatically. The city is now under the control of Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr, who was appointed by the governor and given full governing powers, and who is probably planning another round of cuts and privatizations.
– – A No Struggle, No Development Production! By Kenny Snodgrass
Activist, Photographer, Videographer, Author of
1} From Victimization To Empowerment… www.trafford.com/07-0913 eBook available at www.ebookstore.sony.com
2} The World As I’ve Seen It! My Greatest Experience!
{Photo Book}
YouTube: I have over 477 Video’s, 318 Subscribers, over 207,000 hits, now averaging 10,000 monthly on my YouTube channel @ www.YouTube.com/KennySnod
I have been on a bus where a passenger was attacked. I cant tell you how many times I have ridden a bus and heard bus drivers abused because riders have been passed by 3 previous buses, because the rider got on the bus with no bus fare, or because the driver asked passengers to more back or clear doorways for safety.
Unions and wage earners are both under attack since the privatization of our bus service. I do not understand how Gary Brown, a former police officer can make light of the ongoing issue of safety on DDOT buses..Added security was promised more than a year ago when a driver was badly beaten. How can drivers look to the city to deal with them in good faith, when the city and Mayor Bing have not lived up to past promises to ensure their safety? In September, several drivers had already been attacked, when Westbrook, ATU 26, and DDOT riders brought their concerns to the Coleman A Young
Municipal Center. Their demands for added security were ignored and drivers continue to be abused and assaulted. Demanding a safe working environment is not a mere tactic to resist additional cuts in pay and benefitsk, it is a cry for protection before a bus driver or passenger is killed. Perhaps the dollars and cents of a law suit for their negligence would resonate in the icy, dollar driven hearts of our city’s leaders where concern for its employees and citizens does not