Oglesby’s ideas give him the edge
I like Monty. I like the idea of free public transit. And I’m always a sucker for a politician with a big idea! But the cynic in me has grown weary of reductive three-word phrases that are way more effective as social media hashtags than attainable policy goals (Medicare For All, Build the Wall, Green New Deal, Defund the Police).
That’s why I was so encouraged by my conversation with Erskine Oglesby about more specific, targeted actions that could achieve much of the same goal as “free public transit,” but without the heavy lift of telling the city to re-imagine how CARTA is funded and controlled. Those ideas included an expansion of the current CARTA benefits for veterans to include essential workers as well, or including some transit fare as part of the existing EBT program.
I feel Oglesby’s lifetime of experience in public service and his tenure as the head of city council has given him a deeper appreciation of what it takes to govern and not just what it takes to campaign. Too often those skills pull in opposite directions.
Alex Volz