Neyla Antonella Paracolli Walks A Car Free Street in Siegen, Germany

Over the past few days my friend,

 Neyla Paracolli, visited Siegen, Germany. 

I want to share one of her photo's that she sent me 

while walking down one of their Car-Free Friendly Streets. 

Neyla is also a singer-songwriter 

and here is some of her videos. 

Peace & Love 

  

Bogotá: Building A Sustainable City. Memphis Should Do the Same.

Hydrogen Fuel Cell Technology Available for Mass Transit: Does MATA Care At All?

We have the worst mass transit system in our country. 

There are even new technologies to help improve our situation.

Yet Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) refuses to embrace innovative changes for the better.  

Which makes one wonder if MATA truly has any authority whatsoever. 

So let's just remove the word "authority" from their name then! 

In fact, let's replace their entire name with Car-Free Citizens Transit  (CCCT).

Simply put, CCCT would embrace fuel cell technology like other transit systems are doing, which saves taxpayers big money, drives down overall operating cost, and drives down the costs for bus rides by car-free citizens. 

With these costs cut, CCCT could afford to expand its system and it will get a car-free citizen to wherever they need to go on time and with zero emissions.

These fuel cell buses allow for a ride that is nice and clean, quiet and smooth.

However, MATA busses are more like riding in a hot and humid slave ship that rocks back and forth, up and down, and it even roars and rattles. 

The only thanks car-free citizens ever get from riding in MATA's old gas guzzling clunkers: a big blast of exhaust fumes and road debris in our faces. 

It is amazing that MATA is actually charging us to board their buses!

Car-Free Citizens’ are paying a whopping $3.50 for one of MATA's all day passes, which hardly leads us to anywhere positive in a timely fashion. 

If one of us has some place special to be, we will most likely be late. 

The powers-that-be who are responsible for MATA should be embarrassed over this ongoing debacle after celebrating over 30 long years of the worst public transit service in our history. 

If our leaders do not want to embrace positive social changes for our public transit system, then it's time to change our leadership, so that the rest of us can finally breath some fresh air here in Memphis.        

Click the following link to view the entire State of the Union Address for Fuel Cell Technology across the USA: https://www1.eere.energy.gov/hydrogenandfuelcells/pdfs/state_of_the_states_2013.pdf

CARFREEMEMPHIS.COM? Develop Your Own Brand Name; Don't Steal It From Me!

Policy Analyst and Researcher and Blogger,
Car Free Memphis, since 2011

I was listening to an AM radio talk show host when the phrase “CAR FREE MEMPHIS.COM rolled from their lips.

And, there is to be a 30-day car-free challenge throughout the month of April.

I am happy about this event in the scheme of it all.

I thought they were talking about my own blog.

I even waited for my own name to be mentioned.

But, I was somewhat disillusioned that there was no such connection to my blog or me.

Perhaps they did this unconsciously and without the intent of causing any confusion between whom I am and whom they want to be like.

They obviously want to be like me, but they are not!

Perhaps, they are using the same words that I have used to make them look better, as it should be, because I have worked hard building up the brand name of Car Free Memphis.

I use this blog of mine to reach out to people and raise awareness from a real car-free citizen's point of view.

There are already thousands of car-free citizens in Memphis; it is just that the majority of them are now living in poverty and the powers-that-be does not truly care about them nearly as much as they say they do.

If the shoe fits, wear it!

The powers-that-be is more like poverty pimps, top-level professionals, always making promises they never intend to keep.

And, they prove that I am right consistently by cutting every budget possible, making peoples lives meaninglessly miserable.

The first thing they did was to cut jobs and sent those jobs overseas; then, they only offer our own citizens part time, low wage, temporary work with little or no health care coverage.

The powers-that-be has driven our citizens into deep poverty and onto the dole long-term and then they blame the victims!

Nonetheless, I still decided, after years of in-depth research and actually living car free, to start my own blog.

Here, I tell people snippets about my own story, but I also pick up on the insights of others based on their stories about being car-free citizens.

I go on and on about about this issue to everyone I meet, so much so, that other people told me to blog about it; then that’s what I decided to do.

I decided to call my own blog Car-Free Memphis and launched it in 2011.

Since then, Car-Free Memphis has provided the best information possible to its readers.

Therefore, I presume this makes me an expert.

In fact, I have been car-free for the past 13 years and I have earned a dual BA degree and an MPA despite all my ongoing struggles to do so.With that being said, let’s move forward with my ongoing complaints about how being CAR-FREE in Memphis, Tennessee, is HELL ON EARTH!

Now the powers-that-be prefers to be self–righteous and infiltrate every aspect of our lives; often saying that if we only love God more, then we will all be blessed with wealth beyond our wildest dreams, so long as we give every dime right back to the powers-that-be in one way or another – that is why church, the government, and corporations truly stick together folks - they all want a one-third cut of our pie and if there is one single micron of a crumb left over for us, we better not dare let them find out about it because they will find a way to get it even if it destroys us all.  

We should be questioning if we have a democracy anymore and if not, then perhaps an oligarchy.

Together, they share our wealth among themselves; they are the top 1%; the owners of production.

Talk about the franchising out the holy name of our GOD, not to save souls, but to make them richer.

Speaking of franchising, it seems like nearly every establishment one spends their money at these days goes right back into the hands of a few people who owns nearly 99.9% of every establishment.

These few business owners believe that their massive corporations are people and they can vote for every one of us; and in fact, we are their slaves these days.And how do they remind us of this fact and what is reminiscing of the slave trade? Slave Ships.

And what do many of the urban poor use as transportation these days? Public Transit.

The majority of my own blog readers ride a MATA bus for at least three and half hours both ways to get to a part-time, low wage job; and it is not just a simple short two-way trip up and down one street like Poplar Avenue with no transfers that takes a mere 30 to 60 minutes one way.

The stress of the long bus trips can break one’s spirit, just like slaves ships do.

Moreover, the majority of poor people, here, live in communities located in food deserts.

And going out to get groceries on a MATA bus can become a gruesome 7-hour round trip day.

So, the purpose of being car-free is not some nostalgic agenda whereby people have all decided to be car-free for the sake of recreation alone; it is a lifestyle that is actually forced on them with no adequate infrastructure whatsoever.

And, these car-free citizens have been doing it this way for decades.

Little or nothing is being done by the powers-that-be to make life any better.

For instance, every time car-free citizens step off of a curb here in Memphis to cross the street at a crosswalk, the walk signs, turn to don’t walk and citizens are nearly run over by impatient car drivers.

It forces people to jaywalk, and why not, if there is an equal or better chance of surviving if they do!

Have you ever tried to cross the street of Summer Avenue?

I have crossed that road and some people honk at me, curse me out, and have nearly run me over several times - that is just this week alone!

Read this article: The Invention of Jaywalking by Sarah Goodyear.

We need to rid ourselves of these jaywalking laws and/or put the burden of such laws onto motor vehicle drivers to watch out for car-free citizens at all times instead of limiting the movements of pedestrians to a slow crawl.

Until the lives of the most impoverished car-free citizens are better off, especially those who are disabled, it is not going to be any better for those people who are middle class or wealthy class whenever they want to become car-free.

To illustrate, try finding a restroom when your car-free in Memphis without soiling yourself first!

Imagine having the urge to go to the restroom while riding on a MATA bus; when it is bouncing up and down; when people are swaying back and forth onto you.

This only happens because many MATA buses are like raggedy old slave ships that can make most people seasick.

If one gets off the MATA bus just to use the restroom, the next bus may not be coming for another hour or more.

Hope to God you do not have friends and family members with you when this happens.

We are living in a city whereby the buses do not run every ten minutes like in other cities.

Here in Memphis, there is no real time GPS tracking system whereby the bus riders can know exactly where the bus is and when it is going to be at a preferred bus stop.

Instead, the bus riders have to wait out in the elements near the street where exhaust smoke is blown into their faces and road debris smothers them from head to toe for up to 20 minutes.

The powers-that-be will use the word GREEN to implicate a wholesome policy agenda and they are painting the whole town the color green it seems, but as for the saving our environment, there is nothing green about this situation at all because the fumes of Memphis spout up 7.8 metric tons of CO2 into the air every year.

So, if Memphis were actually living green, then people who come to visit us would be green with envy.

Our city is not on the green list folks, but it has made just about every shit list there is!

In fact, it has been deemed the asthma capital of the Mid-South; it is the bankruptcy capital; it’s the poverty capital; it is the crime capital; and I am talking about our people in leadership, not just the so called thugs on these streets; and moreover, it is the capital for poverty pimps.

The powers-that-be refuses neither to make adequate improvements, nor to completely replace whole systems with better ones, but they have continued to grow rich anyway, while the rest of us live pay check to pay check or on food stamps and welfare.Instead, they are paying the best writers to spin fairy tales about how green we are living. 

It is the biggest lie ever told, especially when the powers-that-be are cutting away at the very backbone of doing so, such as cutting public transit funding by at least four million dollars; and then, cutting back the services so much so that the whole system might as well be shut down at this point.

And why not shut it down if it is not going to work any better than it has for the past 30 years! 

At one point, the public transit system was boycotted because of who had the right to ride where on the bus based on racial issues; and now, the public transit system is boycotting all of its riders because they do not want to treat any of the bus riders with dignity regardless of their race.

Let’s just replace MATA and start over with brand new name and a brand new system based onhydrogen fuel cell technology, the bus drivers and passengers would be thrilled at how smoothly these buses ride.

Let’s have buses running east, west, north, and south on every major street 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, if it is necessary.

Let’s have bike lanes running the full length of all major streets, like the Union, Poplar, and Summer Avenues.

We can be a world-class city, but not without redesigning our entire city to be Car-Free friendly.

In a city like this, there would be adequate bus shelters, restrooms, bike shops and pit stops for resting weary bones whereby people are not treated like a vagabond.

There would be no vagabonds on our streets if the homeless were provided with homes, instead of treating them like common criminals or turning them into criminals.

Memphis is truly full of poverty pimps; and if these two words have the stinging power that I desire they will have; then please, please, please, feel free to steal them away from this blog – go post these words everywhere that you can.

In fact, use the words - poverty pimps - on every billboard across our city and tell them - clearly - to get the hell out of our city!

However, leave the words - CAR-FREE MEMPHIS - to me; it seems that I am the only policy expert that knows how to use them effectively; and, I am not about to apologize for it either.


PEACE & LOVE 

Unaffordable cities: this criminal lack of housing is a global scandal | Cities | theguardian.com

"More, young people tend to understand that new housing, well-built, can be a tremendous force for positive transformation. Built in sufficient amounts, new housing can check the rise in housing costs; but with good design, it can also help grow new people-centered streets, increase use of bikes and transit, and promote healthier and more active lives."

"Housing construction and more residents help the local economy and create far more jobs than subsidies for large corporations. More taxpayers help our cities balance their books though larger revenues and more efficient infrastructure. New housing is one of the few truly powerful tools citizens and local officials can actually make use of to improve our cities and the world."

"More housing can even help us meet the global climate crisis. We know that in compact and walkable communities, each person uses less energy (and thus emits less carbon dioxide) than a similar person in more spread-out areas. A planet of small ultra-rich cities and sprawling low-density slums will be a planet warming faster than a planet of dense, mixed-income, transit-friendly cities."

Click the following link to find out more:

Unaffordable cities: this criminal lack of housing is a global scandal | Cities | theguardian.com

Complaints Lead To Deep Cleaning At Downtown Family Dollar | WREG.com

Yea — Family Dollar is convenient for sure and they need to clean up and reopen ASAP! Moreover, they need to add bike racks outside of their doors and a locker system inside for backpacks and coats, especially since they want us to leave nearly all of our personal belongings with them in an unprotected location right next to the cash registers. They are way too concerned that we the customers are only there to steal from them. They should not mind, then, making several upgrades to their facilities or either close down all together. Speaking of which, how about adding several rest rooms. I have had to walk out of their store on several occasions while discarding a basket full of things that I wanted to buy, just to go elsewhere for a restroom that was still hard to find anyway if I was not dressed just right. But this is how it is all over the downtown area. You see – the powers-that-be is extremely unfriendly towards those of us who are not dressed up in top of the line clothing styles. One can count on one thing in the downtown area — if you are not already a well-known celebrity of some sort, the chances are greater that you will be turned away from the restrooms. My advice, if you’re middle class, is stay the hell away from downtown and save yourself the undeserved humiliation of soiling yourself as they are treating people like you and people in poverty far worse than ever. Do you ever wonder why you might see a few homeless people who cannot help it if they stink? Well – that is only because they are being turned away from the restrooms not because they have no home training. The top 1% is taking over the entire downtown area and their message seems to be clear: staying the hell away from them if you do not fit in.

Click the following link below to read all the fine details and watch the WREG video footage:
Complaints Lead To Deep Cleaning At Downtown Family Dollar | WREG.com

Hydrogen - Natures Fuel: AC Transit Drivers and Mechanics Talk Fuel Cell Buses

Memphis Area Transit Authority: Are they operating a public transit system or a fleet of rolling slave ships? You be the Judge.

Bus riders here in Memphis, TN, spend countless hours riding on, and waiting for, public transit busses.

Of course, it has been this way for decades.

One would think that any new changes coming along would actually improve citizen's lives.

But it has not.

For example, the recent opening of an impressive multi-million dollar public transit facility just minutes away from the Memphis International Airport hardly improves the lives of those citizens who need public transit services the most, as this facility is located far and away from the majority of them; nor does it encourage citizens, who have never used public transit before, to actually take one single ride on a public transit bus, not even on a dare, and especially since transfer points may leave them out in the middle of a run down part of town that has become a serious crime haven.  

Of course good citizens who get great jobs with far less stress in their lives protect their communities from crime.

We will never know if this is true here in Memphis because those who do all the planning seem to push the "have not's" further and further away instead of attempting to improve life for them.

It seems that most organizations find one way or another to use the poorer citizens to make money.

Poverty has truly become a big business here!

And those who do all the planning seem to plan it out this way.

In fact, I do not recall seeing any Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) officials, who do all this planning, being brave enough to actually ride on their own busses to get themselves to work; and, I have been riding on MATA for several years; so where are they?

So, let me share one of my experiences with you since they can't.

Then, you will come to understanding what the fight for improving mass transit is all about.

When Greyhound and Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) teamed up to build a new terminal at Brooks and Airways nearby the Memphis International Airport, I soon realized that this shack up was not going to work out that well; at least not for me, a carfree citizen.

The new terminal is far and away from where I live down town; and, taking a public transit bus to get to the new location it is not a timely trip, nor is it pleasurable.

Even a taxi cost more to get to this new terminal.

Moreover, MATA only runs two buses out to this new facility: 1) 2 Medical Center and 2) 4 Walker.

The number 2 is the only bus that runs out to the terminal during the day and then it stops around 5:00 P.M. in the evening. The number 4 Walker then starts running. Both buses run by the hour during their operation.

Within days of the terminal's grand opening, I decided to go visit this new facility personally and buy a ticket for the Christmas Holidays.

The round trip took me 5 hours and 15 minutes, and I made no other pit stops; I went straight there and back home.

While on this long ride, I reminisced about what it use to be like when the Greyhound was located Downtown on Union Ave.

When the Greyhound station was located on Union Ave, it had its problems for sure, but it never took me more than 20 minutes to walk over to it, nor more than 10 minutes to ride a bicycle.

And, if the weather was truly bad, there were always taxi services nearby and a few taxis were often lined up just outside of the station. The cost to get around that part of town was only a few dollars; and, if there were other passengers tagging along, we split that cost between us.

For a small group, it was much cheaper to ride in a taxi than it was to ride on a public transit bus; and, if we had luggage, the taxi was far more convenient.

Another good thing about the Union Ave. station is that outside of Greyhound's doors, one could take a quick left; and right there in front of their eyes was Main Street and the Main Street Trolly Line.

There were also plenty of restaurants and hotels, a grocery store, and a mall.

To illustrate, the Peabody Hotel built a full-scale movie theater; provided the best food court ever; and, it had top notch retail stores, all of which was located right behind the Greyhound station.

 The Peabody Mall was shut down.

Likewise, the Greyhound station on Union Ave was shut down.

People who used this station the most will miss the convenance of all those amenities in the down town area.

And so, our downtown economy is hurting because of this, especially since all the passengers who rode on the Greyhound and MATA, our main labor force, have been pushed out of the area like they were no better than slaves.

And to justify the lofty changes, the powers-that-be have touted that the old Greyhound station was an eyesore, and so were the people coming in and out of there.

Perhaps one might think that these passengers were more like homeless vagrants.

If that were true, then would it not make far more since for the powers-that-be to make various other services available like proper facilities for keeping up one's hygiene and a place to change into some fresh clothes.  

Otherwise, most anyone could look somewhat homeless if subjected to taking a long trip on a Greyhound or a MATA bus.

Moreover, people will have a tired look on their faces with blood shoot eyes; and, they may have a sluggish swagger as they walk down the street.  

The reason why is because there is little or no leg room to stretch out and relax, and people have to put up with baby vomit, stinky diapers, or someone's body odor, who has been working hard in a sweat shop or on a migrant farm, and who has had no time to clean up like they would have liked too.

So, no one should expect for people who ride on the Greyhound or MATA bus to be wearing suits and ties and looking like Hollywood stars when they step off of these busses.

Let me just paint you the picture of what my first trip was like riding on a MATA bus to this new Greyhound / MATA terminal.

I went out my door at 2:05 P.M. and headed towards the new terminal.

I boarded the number 4 Walker at 2:20 P.M.

Once I arrived at the main street terminal downtown, I waited another 20 minutes to make the transfer onto MATA's 2 Medical Center.

The 2 Medical Center took me to the Greyhound / MATA terminal.

When I walked into the new terminal, I met up with a MATA clerk and we chatted a few minutes about bus schedules.

This person did have a big beautiful smile on her face and she was pleasant and professional.

Cannot say the same for Greyhounds ticket master.

Oh the frustration I felt for how long it took to get there and how long I had to be there before I could leave to go back home: it was about an hour wait.

Well, at least it was not freezing cold outside, burning hot, or raining, which would have made it a far worse trip than it was already.

Anyway, I bought a Greyhound bus ticket at 4:18 PM.

If there had been more people in that line, it would have taken far longer --- perhaps an hour or two.

The place was dead, hardly a soul anywhere around.

Only three people in the ticket line, and thank God for that!

So, I was able to board that next Medical Center 2 by 4:45 P.M..

The Medical Center 2 got me back downtown to the Main Street terminal around 5:20 PM.

And then, I waited 20 more minutes to transfer to the number 4 walker.

I got back home around 6:14 P.M.

I hope my next trip is far better than this one for sure.

I would like to say, again, that this is a far cry from that 20-minute walk that I used to take to the old Greyhound bus station on Union Ave.

Taking a TAXI to this new terminal would have cost $40 for a round trip.

That is why I will miss that old Union Ave. station and so will many other people.

Right now, the time schedules for MATA causes undue stress for all bus riders, who are waiting out in the elements with no proper facilities nearby.

They need proper bus shelters with ample coverage and with restrooms built in, or at least nearby so that they are not turned away from them ever again.

It should be against the law to turn citizens away from the restrooms.

No wonder some bus riders are urinating all over themselves, while passers-by think these bus riders are homeless victims hanging out at the bus stops.  

This disparity truly hurts 10,000 of our poorest citizens in Memphis, who have had no other choice but to endure the plight of our public transit system.

As a result of MATA's new scheduling times and rerouting plans and the relocation of the new terminal, the average public transit rider has little time left in their day to take care of their essential needs.

It's a travesty!

Citizens deserve better!

They go to work and back home; and this takes half a day.

They go to the grocery store and back home; and this takes half a day.

And now, they take a trip to the new Greyhound / MATA terminal and it takes half a day.

Each activity that one might want to do here in Memphis will take half a day on a MATA bus.

Bike riding and walking is the only other alternative for the majority of them; and this city is not designed well for that either.

Riding on a MATA bus for the purpose of pleasure is not what MATA wants citizens to do, not really.

Suppose a family of four were to take a trip across town to the Memphis City Zoo, it would take them  half of the day just to get there and back.

MATA all-day-passes will cost them about $14.00 if they live within the city limits; eating out for lunch will cost about $30 to $50 unless they pack a picnic basket from home; and zoo tickets will cost another $50.00.

Moreover, the design of MATA busses is demoralizing to say the least.

These busses will bounce you up and down on every road you travel on; and they will jar you back and fourth onto other passengers.

If those other passengers have been working their fingers to the bone and/or they have been standing out in the elements for hours on end waiting on the MATA bus, then your family is most likely gonna end up smelling like a burger joint or warehouse sweat.

By the time you arrive at your luxurious destination your family trip will have turned into the zoo animals watching you instead of you watching them.

Who's being treated worse than the animals?

!!! YOU ARE !!!

It is time to fight for a better public transit system.

MATA is not operating a transit system, but a fleet of rolling slave ships.

Hopefully, since the powers-that-be were so willing to spend all those millions on a new terminal, they will now fund better designed busses and proper facilities along their bus routes.

Perhaps the private sector will join in and provide showers and locker rooms for their employees who have to wait out the elements to get to work every day.

Moreover, there is the rising cost of bus fare on all MATA busses, which is now $3.50 for their all-day-pass; and traveling outside of Memphis to the suburbs costs a lot extra: .85 cents each way for zone 1; $1.25 each way for zone 2; $1.65 each way for zone 3.

Citizens who are living and traveling to and from the suburbs must also pay these high fair rates, which is probably why so many suburbanites find out quickly that they are better off financially just driving into town.

In suburbia there are no trains lines or park and ride systems in place.

As for those citizens living in dire poverty, the working poor, who make less than $5,000 a year, traveling out to the suburbs to work means paying over half of their salaries just to ride on MATA.   

The impoverished, have spent more time waiting for, and riding on, MATA busses, than they have spent with their families and friends.

Not to mention these busses are notorious for running late or not showing up at all, and the employers often use this to their advantage by firing the bus riders, writing them up, or docking their pay.

Which really explains why many employers are not on the bandwagon to improve public transit for their employees, or why they do not help pay for bus passes as part of a benefits package.

The powers-that-be work so smoothly together one can hardly tell which one of them are responsible enough to make a change for the better.    

As a result of all this, the most impoverish and hardest working group in Memphis has been reduced to becoming MATA slaves.

I have spent hours listening to fellow walkers, bike riders, and bus riders who have told me their stories during our passing conversations, but many of them have been scared to speak their minds.

Each one of them have been made to feel like they are on their own and alone.

It is time to start a Union that will free them once and for all.