I never tried to drive a toaster to work;
“There’s been this argument that — and I don’t know if it’s provable — that if you give the rides away for free that kids will use it and they’ll become lifelong riders,” Neitzert said. “I guess I would say if you give me a free toaster and it’s awful, I’ll use it once and then I’m going to throw it away. I’m not going to keep using it. And so we have to improve the toaster. And that’s going to take a lot more work, and it’s a lot harder than just giving away free rides.”
Of course Greg voted against the FREE youth rides with a convenient argument;
Councilor Greg Neitzert was the sole vote against the proposal, saying the thing preventing people from riding the bus was not cost, but the fact that it doesn’t meet their needs.
I would ask Greg ‘As the legislative and policy body of the city, what have YOU done to improve it?’ Not a DAMN thing!
The first step is improving the marketing of the transit system. While it was good this passed, there should have been an amendment or resolution supporting a new marketing strategy encouraging youth ridership. If minors don’t know it is free, they will not ride. The school district, along with the city and even Lincoln and Minnehaha counties need to promote this.
We also have the money to do this. When we are spending tax dollars on ice ribbons, tennis courts, butterflies, zoo exhibits, cornice on the Pavilion roof, bunker ramp parks, etc. We have a couple of grand to market youth ridership.
Transit ridership is down because the city has virtually ignored improving it, expanding it or even marketing it. I have felt this has been done on purpose, and like the EC task force, the city blames Covid for the stalemate. I call BS on that!
I sent a letter to the Secretary of Transportation last month asking the DOT to reach out to the city with assistance in helping us make it better. That could be anything from promotional ideas, to better planning and MONEY! I am not sure if they have reached out, but I am hoping they do since our councilors are only good at making silly comparisons to kitchen appliances instead of actually digging in and doing the work.
If I was given a FREE toaster and it didn’t work right, I would either try to fix it or give it back for a different one. There are certain councilors that I would certainly like to ‘throw’ off the council for their awfulness and inability to work.
A free toaster makes a good wedding gift. Don’t turn it down. Working or not.
A Leader recognizes a shortcoming, acknowledges it and works toward solutions and improvements.
A Loser allows the shortcoming to lay in wait, to fester. All in order that the shortcoming can be used as a rationalization – an excuse.
Nice excuse, Councilor Neitzert.
The local and regional wizards of economic development are always wringing their hands about the issues which prevent businesses from having enough workers.
How about an effective system of public transportation which has scope, reach and reliability sufficient such that employees can travel to/from their place of employment every day of the week without needing a car?
The pork processing plant in Worthington needed more workers than are typically available in Worthington. They organized transportaton to/from work shifts as a solution.
Public transportation is a workforce issue.
I didn’t know that banks still gave away toasters. Greg is showing his age. Maybe he really does drive a car with fins on it.
Wonder how many toasters he got with his Dallas impeachment?
To be fair, Neitzert has a point. Better service is more important than transportation for youth. However, the increased ridership would get citizen focus and force improvement.