Transit discounts for the poor urged at gathering of the faithful - San Jose Mercury News

Transit discounts for the poor urged at gathering of the faithful - San Jose Mercury News: ""Transportation is at the center of opportunity," Hietala said.
PACT's strict format, in which politicians are asked to commit to the group's agenda with a clear yes or no, sometimes produces a lot of tension, but Sunday's meeting ended with the officials and group agreeing the discounted rates are a good idea, even if finding the money would be difficult.
Monica Kessling, a German immigrant who lives in San Jose, told the group of accidentally cutting her finger and, after a trip to a hospital emergency room, walking two hours to a homeless shelter because she didn't have the money for bus fare.
Today, the 51-year-old Kessling earns about $700 a month cleaning houses and working at a church, but she says the $70 bus pass she relies on to get around takes a big chunk of her disposable income.
"Seventy dollars is a lot of money," she said. "A discount would be helpful.""

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Streetsblog Capitol Hill » Communities Urge Congress: “Don’t X Out Transit”

Yesterday's "Don't X Out Transit" rally in Los Angeles. Photo: Crystal McMillan / Bus Riders Union

Streetsblog Capitol Hill » Communities Urge Congress: “Don’t X Out Transit”: "This proposed 30 percent cut in funding would cause an approximate $7 million reduction in service, which equals almost 1 million revenue miles annually, affecting 3 million passengers. This would cause a loss of approximately 50 jobs within our agency.

- San Diego Metropolitan Transit System, San Diego, CA"

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Support grows for making Muni rides free for kids

Sarah Rice / Special to The Chronicle

Five-year-old Phaedra Powers-Miguel exits the J-Church Muni line with her mother, Krystyna Miguel.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/09/20/BAG11L71BV.DTL#ixzz1YZKbZ9DV
Support grows for making Muni rides free for kids: "San Francisco -- A growing number of city leaders want to make riding Muni free for those 18 and younger, but doing so would cost $6 million to $13 million annually."

Make Muni fare-free

Faced with rising Muni costs and dwindling school transportation resources, parents and lawmakers are pushing a $7.3 million plan to provide every student in The City with free public transit.



Read more at the San Francisco Examiner: http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/2011/09/bankrollers-needed-make-muni-free-san-francisco-students#ixzz1YUqzvUkH

Attn: Climate delayers, feel free to buy beach property

Rising Seas Expected to Wash Out Key California Beaches: Scientific American: "SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Rising seas forecast from climate change will likely wash away some of California's most iconic beaches by century's end, along with hundreds of millions of dollars in real estate, roads and tax revenues, a new study found on Wednesday."

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BBC News - Pakistan floods 'hit 14m people' (year ago)

BBC News - Pakistan floods 'hit 14m people': "Gen Nadeem Ahmed, of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), said 12 million people had been affected in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab provinces, where 650,000 houses were destroyed."

A year ago, Pakistan was hit by horrifying flood. What has changed? Oil-trolls and climate-delayers still saying it is not happening, and the U.S. still bombing people "suspected" of being against democracy.

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#Tarsands = Game-Over for the biosphere