TARC's First Public Meeting

TARC held their first public meeting today to discuss the new proposed route changes for June 2010. The only elected officials that were present were one member of Metro Council, and Bullitt county's County Judge/Executive Melanie Roberts. Of course, wild horses couldn't have kept candidates for Louisville mayorTyler Allen or Jackie Green from showing up to such an important discussion. There was also impressive representation from the press.

TARC Director Barry Barker took questions as they occurred. He set the tone up front when he said "I wouldn't waste my time or your time if we weren't willing to listen." He was authentic with his please encouraging everyone present to "please express those frustrations."

One of the attendees from Bullitt county, which made up a pretty good chunk of the audience asked why some express routes like #66, were targeted more than others, like the one to Oldham County. Barker answered "We didn't say we were cutting all express routes."

Another attendee, Dreema Jackson, expressed frustration to Tyler after the meeting about the cuts. "That's the easiest thing to do. Not the only thing to do" she said.

This meeting was called together because of a crisis. One that could have been avoided with long-term thinking and planning. Tyler's committed to comprehensive regional transportation. A big key to that is modern transportation like mass transit/light rail. It's time our city began planning more progressive transportation options, and find out new ways to keep existing ones available. If you couldn't make today's event, there's another one tonight, and even more in the coming days> Here they are:

Tuesday, March 9
5- 7 p.m.
Americana Community Center
4801 Southside Dr


Wednesday March 10
11 a.m. to 1 p.m
Bon Air Library
2816 Del Rio Place

11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
New Albany - Floyd County Public Library
180 West Spring St
New Albany, IN

5-7 p.m.
East End Government Center
200 Juneau Dr

Thursday March 11
5-7 p.m.
TARC
Union Station
1000 W. Broadway