Ah. It's rare to see a coworker in public doing something I'm actually proud of. Good on ya', Tim. Remember, you and I are in a union together already: you could have a had a crowd of angry, poor stagehands down there too, if you'd organized a bit more. Jus' sayin'.

But seriously. Good on ya'.

If TriMet would actually sell that ad space that is built into buses and trains that occupied by TriMet-only PSA's in the overhead slots, then it is estimated that the agency could generate an additional $1M per year. Yet, TriMet refuses to sell these slots... why? Also, other cities generate additional revenue selling ad space/coupons on the BACK of transit tickets that are vended from machines. Perhaps if TriMet's director spent as much energy trying to run TriMet as he spends consulting for his private clients in Australia, then we'd have a fiscally sound transportation system.

Working class people used to live in downtown, before Vera and Sam got their hooks into it.

Um...actually, a lot of poor and working class people *do* live downtown, in fareless square. I used to until last year. I know that in the condo developer's ideal world, there wouldn't be any subsidized housing left, but in reality, it still makes up a large portion of the housing downtown.

That being said, the protests weren't *just* over the issue of Fareless Square. We (the Transit Riders Union), oppose ALL cuts to service and fare increases. And we need a board that will actually fight for TriMet's budget.