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A community meeting Aug. 31 will solicit citizen input about whether Tupelo needs a public transportation system and how it might come to fruition.
It will be held at 6 p.m. at the St. Paul United Methodist Church Christian Life Center at 475 Front St.
The meeting will come two weeks after a City Council discussion in which most members dismissed recommendations in a transit study it had funded. The study had proposed several options ranging from a regular-route bus system to a door-to-door specialty service.
The preferred option, according to Tupelo's Public Transportation Committee, is nearly half-million-dollar option to run a four-route bus system, six days a week. It would provide an estimated 62,000 rides the first year and more than 100,000 the second year.
Most council members said the plan isn't feasible, but two said that shouldn't end the conversation.
"We haven't voted on not doing it, you know, we haven't voted to say it's put on the shelf," said Ward 4 Councilwoman Nettie Davis. "We're trying to get more public expression about it. As long as we don't take a vote on it, it's still active."
Davis has collaborated with the five-member Public Transportation Committee to organize the community meeting. The committee was formed last year by the mayor and council to study public transit and make recommendations.
It then hired a transit consultant to produce the study, which was completed this summer.
Also involved with the meeting is Ward 7 Councilman Willie Jennings.
"I know we probably won't get what was recommended to us, but I just feel like we can do something," Jennings said. "My conscience won't let me live with not even trying. We need to look at all options before we can say no."
Contact Emily Le Coz at (662) 678-1588 or emily.lecoz@djournal.com.
Have your say
■ What: Public transportation meeting
■ When: 6 p.m., Tuesday, Aug. 31
■ Where: St. Paul United Methodist
Church Christian Life Center, 475 Front St.
■ Who: Everyone is invited .
You leaders are being paid to make decisions. Do it and live with it, good or bad. Quit wasting time on trying to force personal agendas on the taxpayers.
Tupelo is "lead" by a bunch of idiots.
The Reed Regime combined with this idiot Davis are perfect examples of incompetents.
They can't solve the core issues of the city, so they have to make up these other issues to try and act as if they're actually doing something.
Three ideas:
One: Most area churches already have large vans or buses, let them fill the need in the community for a small fee. If cab fare is $7, then let the churches do mission work locally for $3.
Two: Extend the proposed bike path to all over town and hire a bunch of rickshaws to pull people where they need to go. The county inmates could be the ones to pull the rickshaws so that they get exercise and work off their fines while doing community service. But be warned, that big hill at Jackson and Front will be murder in the summer.
Three: LET IT GO. Seriously, just let it go. No one has even started talking about the nightmare that buses will create around Crosstown. Ever been in Memphis or Atlanta at rush hour when MATA is stopping every 25 feet? I lived in Pheonix for a few years and they had bus stops about a mile apart and you could pretty much sign off on the Right hand lane. Created twice the congestion that was necessary.
Willie and Nettie, here is an opportunity for a business venture. Why not set up someone you both know to get a federal Obamagrant to start a business that will fill this perceived need in your community. If after 3 years the business is still solvent then you will both have been right. But if after 3 years the company no longer exists, then we were all right.