Kennedy Plaza in Providence is a mess, said Sen. John J. Tassoni Jr., and it’s RIPTA’s fault. Armed with pictures showing piles of debris scattered around the RIPTA bus waiting area on Kennedy Plaza, Senator Tassoni (D-Dist. 22, Smithfield, North Smithfield) said the situation is further indication that “the person that was hired to fix the problems at RIPTA is not doing a very good job of handling day-to-day operations, and that makes me wonder how qualified he is to address much bigger problems at the bus company.”

The upkeep of the bus waiting and transfer area at Kennedy Plaza is the responsibility of the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority, said Senator Tassoni. “Apparently, in a rush to appear as if he was getting a grip on RIPTA’s budget problems, CEO Charles Odimgbe eliminated a number of employees, including those responsible for maintenance of the authority’s facilities, including Kennedy Plaza.”

“The result of that decision may have saved a few dollars, but it has left no one to do the job of cleaning up Kennedy Plaza,” said Senator Tassoni. “That is certainly not doing anything to improve the reputation of RIPTA and I’m sure that the Providence mayor can’t be too pleased that Kennedy Plaza is starting to look like a dump because RIPTA is not doing its job of cleaning up after itself.”

Senator Tassoni said it’s become obvious to him that the RIPTA CEO “is not making the hard decisions necessary to address the serious and ongoing budget problems. Rather than making cuts by trimming the ranks of the well-paid middle- and upper-management personnel, he eliminates a lowly position and Kennedy Plaza is left to become a mess. Rather than implementing serious efficiencies, he testifies before the finance committee that his only options are to raise rates or cut bus routes.”

“I think it is clear Mr. Odimgbe is not up to doing the job for which he was hired and that it is time for the governor to replace him with someone who can,” said Senator Tassoni.

They’ve been gone so long, and it’s been so nice taking those S curves (especially with the new Grand Theft Auto signage) that it’s going to be hard to get used to sharing the road with ginormous semis.

But we need our highways to cut through the heart of our cities… No matter what the cost. Enjoy the weekend because Gridlock starts on Monday.

Sigh.

But even I have my limits.

To be sure, I’ll let you know when I get to the part that’s got me cheesed. All the other stuff that precedes it is de rigueur, par for the course. To wit…

Prelude: Johnny Is a Bad Boy

Last Tuesday, I spent a full day on a relatively simple task – renewing my extra-expired registration. If I were a good boy, it all could have been much easier. But I’m very naughty, indeed, as you shall see.

I let the notice that I needed to renew sit on my desk for many weeks. I’d look at it every time I went through the bills, but I never felt like it was the priority. (As I said, naughty.)

When I finally did jump online, I found out that I owed state taxes from 2008. I knew that I hadn’t paid, and, like the registration, it was “on the list”. What I didn’t know is that I hadn’t even filed! (Very naughty, indeed.) Someday, I’ll write a confessional about my 2008 taxes, but for now, suffice it to say that if you’re a 1099er, 1) don’t have a very good year followed by a very bad year and 2) pay your quarterlies!

Well, I got that sorted out with the state and went to register online and, guess what… I owed taxes! This time it was the excise to Pawtucket, where I hadn’t lived for some time. So, I got that paid off and went to register and, guess what… The 90 day grace period had expired. (Have I mentioned that I’m a bit naughty?)

There was nothing for it; I had to go to the actual DMV.

Reset – Naughty Johnny is To Blame

I think it’s perfectly reasonable for the state to use these mechanisms to enforce payment of taxes. I owed, and I knew that I owed. That I found out about these issues online rather than after an hours-long wait at the DMV is, frankly, a benefit to me.

So good on the state for having this in place, and good on the state and the municipalities for coordinating.

My Day at the DMV

Last Tuesday, I underwent the pilgrimage. It was the next-to-last day of the month, so the parking lot was full, the place was crowded and the waits were long. Really long. Three-and-a-half hours long.

That’s really a long wait for a DMV counter, but it is what it is. If I had paid my taxes, I wouldn’t have been in this mess. So I waited, getting a little work done on the laptop, so it wasn’t a total waste.

My number came up, and I thought I’d be done in a few minutes. WRONG!

‘Cuz, guess what… I owed taxes in Pawtucket! Only, I didn’t owe taxes in Pawtucket. I had paid those taxes some six weeks earlier. SIX WEEKS! Surely that’s enough time for the notice to find its way from Pawtucket to the DMV.

Or not. According to my research, forever and a day is not enough time for the coordinated systems to update. They NEVER update.

It’s a one-way street. The city of Pawtucket can put a hold on your registration, but they can’t take it off again. Instead – and it’s like this is some horrible trick they’re playing on you – you’d never know about this until you waited at the DMV.

The DMV clerk suggested that I call Pawtucket to fax the paperwork. She had all the phone numbers on a card. Apparently, this is so common that everybody knows the work-around.

I was hungry and opted to go home, grab a bite, confirm my payment and head up to The Bucket. I said to the tax collections clerk there, “DMV says I have a tax hold…” and she cut me off saying, “…buy you already paid.” She was already reaching for the forms.

“We’re not connected to their systems,” she said. But that’s factually incorrect. They’re only partly connected to the DMVs systems – connected in the way that serves them, but not in the way that serves the rest of us.

This is where I draw the line. If you’re going to play in this space, you have to complete the loop – your system has to be a complete thought.

The DMV should insist – INSIST – that any structure that can curtail one of their processes must – MUST – include the removal of that curtailment. (And, no, waiting until you get a DMV clerk to tell you to telephone the curtailer to fax the curtailment removal paperwork does not count.)

A Fully-Assed DMV System

Never serve rancid meat to the health inspector; never present a half-assed computer system to a computer jockey. For computer systems to deliver the efficiency benefits they promise, they must be fully-assed.

Since it’s clear that nobody involved has ever thought this through, here’s the way the DMV should be set up.

All the paper goes away, as does the waiting area. If there’s a line, it should be a line to get on a computer terminal, of which there are many. This approach requires far fewer clerks, so those people can be repurposed into coaching people who aren’t that great with computers fill out the forms ON THE COMPUTER.

Here’s why. When you fill out the paper form, the DMV clerk just re-enters all that information into a database. The database that ALREADY EXISTS is so thorough that the clerk knew the gross vehicle weight of my van…but she had to push the paper form back to me so I could write it in. (Do you have any idea how insane that is?)

The sad fact is that I have an account in the DMV database, but I can only access it from a remote computer and can only access it in a very limited way. Literally, I couldn’t even access my account from the DMV because there is no Wi-Fi service there!

The Saddest Part

I actually know the people who put together the DMV’s web services. The people at RI.gov  are technically a company called RI Interactive, a specially-missioned group that can only do work for government entities. They prefer to be self-funded. That is, they don’t charge the government entity anything; they make money on those little fees we pay for using the web services.

They do spectacular work, and every service that they develop is fully-assed. But, because of their mission, they are prohibited from working on the “back end systems” like the DMV database and its interface.

I’m not saying that RI.gov should run the DMV IT program. (Okay, I _am_ saying that, but I understand why that can’t happen.) I’m saying that EVERY SINGLE GOVERNMENT IT GROUP should model its work on what RI.gov does.

It’s not rocket surgery. It’s basic usability. It’s basic work-flow development. It’s basic government services.

RI DMV: use your whole ass! Ask RI.gov; they’ll show you how.

Can RIPTA fire employees after the media highlights their criminal records?  They may, but it may come with a cost.  The Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA) allowed three people into their training program who had records, and all of the felonies were over five years old.  Two passed the training and made it to be drivers.  Not an incident was reported until the media decided to do a fear tactic story, about who was driving folks around.

Within four days of the story, RIPTA Chairman of the Board, Thom Deller (who has his own controversies over a long and peculiar government career) announced that the two drivers are not on the road.  The bus drivers union, meanwhile, held  a “No-Confidence” vote of the RIPTA CEO Charles Odimgbe.  Union President John Harrington says “We believe in second chances, but there was a lack of good judgment hiring those individuals…”  And therein lies the rub: when will it be good judgment?

Over 10% of Providence residents, for example, are actively on probation or parole.  Far more than 25% of the city has a criminal record.  Over 50% of Black men in Providence have criminal records.  These records range from petty to serious, recent to distant, with each subsequent charge being enhanced both in name and punishment.  Ultimately, petty crimes for those with extensive histories result in major prison sentences.  In general: those who have no felonies over the past five years have been faring well.  At what point are they employable?

It is poor public safety policy to take a cross-section of any community and say you are not allowed to work.  It is a sign of poor leadership if a community stands by as a bulk of the workforce is labeled “persona non grata,” and there is no pathway back into society.  What is the message the legislators and the RIPTA Board are sending?  The one I hear is “We don’t care where you look for work, just don’t look for work around here.”  This translates into, we don’t care how you feed and house yourself, just go away.  Yet there is no place else to go… except prison.

What is the message being heard by millions of people across the country who have criminal convictions?  By tens of thousands of Rhode Islanders not lucky enough to work for an aunt or uncle?  That message is clear:  Don’t bother looking for work.  Don’t bother getting an education.  Don’t bother obeying the rules.  Personally, I do not like that message one bit, yet I have heard it loudly for quite some time.  It means more people quitting after ten rejections in their job search, when perhaps the eleventh application would have paid off.  It means more drug sales.  More breaking into businesses late at night looking for a means to eat and sleep.  It means that people I care about are likely to end up on either end of a gun.  It means someone I know may carjack someone else I know, with one mother in a visiting room and the other at a funeral.

It is unfortunate to read statements by the bus drivers’ union that fail to support the workers.  Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday is January 15th.  A national holiday for a man once vilified by the American government.  MLK famously led a bus boycott that resulted in a full integration of the drivers, and a change in the “Back of the Bus” policy.  With RIPTA already poised for further cuts, would they like a boycott by the people with criminal records and their family members?  Are such customers only good enough to buy a ride, but not good enough to work there?  A boycott of any scale and sustainability would possibly eliminate RIPTA altogether, and might be easy to do with one of the highest fares in the country.

From the days of “No Irish Need Apply” to Jim Crow segregation, courts and lawmakers have ultimately responded to a public that demands a right to regulate its own communities.  Title VII is just one avenue to attack systemic discrimination that links racial disparity with the effects of our current criminal justice system.  The people are on the rise in this regard.  Whether it is the recent victory in Detroit to “Ban the Box” on job applications, or Gov. Cuomo’s ability to extract millions from companies who discriminate based on criminal records, it is becoming more expensive to hold the Puritan line of a chosen people ruling over the outcasts.

A coalition of groups, led by DARE and RI Community of Addiction and Recovery Efforts (RICARES), will be pursuing legislation this year that has received growing support to Ban the Box, including Providence Mayor Angel Taveras, House Judiciary Chair Edie Ajello, House Labor Chair Anastasia Williams, Minority Leader Brian Newberry, and Republican Rep. Mike Chippendale.  Representative Scott Slater  has been the primary sponsor of a bipartisan bill to address this very issue.  Ironically, the legislation is designed to give people a chance in the application process, to prove themselves as the two RIPTA employees did.  Only courage and wisdom of administrators can keep people employed once a negative portrayal comes out in the media.

Public transportation is primarily used by the poor and people of color; people who are highly policed and often know quite a few with a blemish on their record.  It is a shame to see elected and appointed leaders publicly state their assumptions that having a criminal record equates to being a bad person, a bad worker, or a danger to strangers.  To have no judgment process, no filter, is to say that all people without criminal records are equal.  They are all of the same intelligence, same work ethic, same moral standard, and should be awarded or punished all the same.  Those who paint broad strokes are clearly ignorant, because they certainly do not have enough experience with the huge percentage of America who have been arrested and processed through our criminal justice system.  Ignorance may get people elected, but it shouldn’t keep them in power.

I am writing to you because now is not the time to cut funds to RIPTA, now is the time to increase them. I know this sounds counter-intuitive, but a functioning public transportation system is a strength for the community. Portland Oregon has a strong system, and they are better for it.

Please work on behalf of your constituents and all of RI to strengthen, rather than to weaken RIPTA.

This is perhaps the fourth or fifth email I have sent Gordon Fox. For the first time, he answered me:

Thank you very much for writing to me in support of an amendment to the state budget offered by Representative Jay O’Grady regarding funding at DOT and RIPTA.  Although I could not support the amendment this year due to the severe budget constraints, I have pledged to work with Reps. O’Grady, Arthur Handy and Teresa Tanzi in the future to continue our efforts to improve our state’s transportation system.

Meanwhile, I was proud to support Article 22 of the budget, which has now been signed into law, which creates a transportation trust fund and provides that incremental increases of transportation-related surcharges will be dedicated to the fund.  It will also reduce DOT’s reliance on borrowing and transition us to a pay-as-you-go system.

I appreciate your sentiments, and I thank you again for taking the time to write about this important issue.

The response was of course unsatisfactory, and indicative of the kind of politician Gordon Fox is. It is unsatisfactory because it does nothing to answer Fox’s complicity in the cuts RIPTA is planning. The loss of revenues to RI businesses and families will be devastating to our already fragile economy. It is indicative of the way Gordon Fox oprates because he does not take a stand on an issue, he simply pledges to “work with” those who have decided to.

Fox’s support for Article 22 of the budget is a rather silly statement. he voted for the budget, so he tacitly supported all the provisions therein. In owning the one small part of the budget that will give some of the funds from the Registry of Motor Vehicles to the DOT and RIPTA, he hopes to artificially inflate his support in the public’s eyes.

There’s a curious thing about Article 22. Under it, 20% of the monies collected in 2012 by the Registry of Motor Vehicles will go towards the “Intermodal Surface Transportation Fund” and this figure will increase each year by 20% until all collected monies are so directed. Fair enough. But this year we also passed the Voter ID bill, so we can expect that, under the increased onus of free IDs, revenues from the Registry will go down. After all, free means more people, longer lines, and less monies collected.

Last night I listened to nearly three hours of testimony against RIPTA cuts. Listening for so long about something I care so much about was hard. By the time my turn came I’d drafted three different pieces of testimony. Since going through all of them would just have been rude to the dozens still sitting patiently, I said one piece and I’ll share all three points here. Thanks for listening.

I am a huge fan of RIPTA. Someone said RIPTA should sell merchandise to earn a couple extra bucks. I am one of the people who would buy that shirt because I am grateful that I don’t need to bleed hundreds of dollars a month to own and maintain a car. I am grateful that when my bike gets stolen I can still get to work on time. I’m glad I don’t even know the bus schedule because I can walk a block and expect one to show within 15 minutes. Even better – saving those hundred some dollars a month, I go to restaurants and bars during the week. Bringing home $850 a month, I have disposable income! That’s amazing! You know who wasn’t at those hearings? The good men and women who own those fine establishments. They were probably still at work. If they saw me here, they’d be pissed too, because this whole song and dance is costing them business.

There’s no money for RIPTA. That’s funny, because four years ago they told me there was no money to clean up our democracy, three years ago they said we’d keep giving away tens of millions to the wealthiest of the state, two years ago they didn’t have the money to provide to the families of homicide victims for burials, this year there wasn’t enough money to provide a place to sleep that wasn’t a sidewalk curb, or to keep poor parents and kids on health insurance. But they’ve found the money to keep the tax loopholes in place for AmGem, Raytheon and CVS, and they’ve found the money to cut the income tax for the wealthiest of us in half. Who’s calling the shots, and on whose behalf are they calling them?

I’d like to tell the story of two of the people sitting for hours in that hearing, Representative Maria Cimini, and Representative Chris Blazejewski. They saw the same charade at the State House for the 28 cuts to RIPTA service that preceded this one. They wrote their legislators, they called, they showed up. And then that wasn’t enough anymore. People tonight have asked you to heckle, but that’s not enough. Sometimes you’ve got to hustle. Maria and Chris hustled for a year and now they’ve got seats in the State House. They’ve done a good job this year too, I’ve been watching very closely. But they need a few more players on their team. Advocating for the working poor on Smith Hill can get lonely. If your representative decides to listen to AmGen before he listens to you, it’s time to hustle. If your representative doesn’t return your phone calls, it’s time to hustle. If Rhode Island is your state, it’s time to own it.

So thank you for showing up, thank you for staying. Thank you for speaking and for giving me an opportunity to speak.