Did you vote in local elections last fall? If so, you either voted for or against a proposed one cent gas tax that would have helped fund the MATA bus system. Only 38% of voters approved this tax. It failed, and now dozens of routes are being drastically changed or eliminated. Some Advance alumni are losing their transportation to or from work. In the poorest metropolitan city in the nation, can we afford to cut services to the working poor?
In both Old and New Testaments, the Bible testifies to two central economic convictions:
· God created people to work, and
· the faith community is responsible personally and corporately to make sure that work WORKS for those who work.
OT laws like the Jubilee and gleaning laws testify to the great sacrifices Israelite society was to make in order to ensure that people could earn their own living (see: http://tinyurl.com/lszg7nv ), and James’ words condemn those who employ workers but don’t pay them enough to provide for themselves (James 5:4-5).
Last week, we found out from a concerned neighbor that MATA plans to make serious reductions to bus service beginning next month. The vast majority of our graduates use the bus service to get to work, and one of our biggest staffing customers, WM Barr, will no longer have any bus service on President’s Island. Already, low-income Memphians have seen a 30% reduction in bus service over the last 5 years. Furthermore, with the elimination of big public housing projects, poor Memphians are being relocated further and further from downtown services AND workplaces. This means we need more bus service, not less.
Even in times of tight budgets, Christians must fight for robust public transportation because this is the only way that work can be a viable option for the poor. Saving on our city budget by making it harder for the poor to get and keep jobs is like sawing off the tree branch you’re sitting on. Many of our residents don’t have cars because they don’t have money; if they can’t get a job because of reduced bus service, what are they supposed to do? Old Testament saints made the edges of their agro-businesses available for the poor to glean from; must we not fight to keep access to work places available for our low-income neighbors? If the faith community does not take responsibility for making work WORK, then we should not be surprised if organized crime flourishes; if people can’t get to work, they’ll take what work they can find nearby, legal or otherwise.
The time to act is NOW! Here are some action steps you can take in the next 3 days. They won’t take much time, and each one will put pressure on our elected officials!
1. Call your council representative. You can use this website to get their emails, or send an email to all of them (http://www.cityofmemphis.org/
2. Email your thoughts before Friday at 5 p.m. to publiccomments@matatransit.
3. Go to one of two public meetings. These are on Tuesday and Thursday, 5:30-7:30 pm. Info here: http://www.matatransit.
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