Metra upgrades should pay off for community

In many American cities public transportation is a regular way of life even for people with jobs, private vehicles, and the physical ability to use the latter to get to the former.

Here in the South, not so much. We love our cars, and we will brave even the worst traffic to drive, usually alone, to work and back every day.

But while public transit is the choice for fewer working people here than elsewhere, it is a daily necessity for many others, especially those with disabilities. According to Columbus Mayor Teresa Tomlinson, about one-third of the more than a million yearly passenger rides on the city's Metra bus service are by people with some type of disability.

These people, and indeed all the area citizens who use public transportation in Columbus, are soon going to be served better and longer, thanks to an infusion of more than $22 million raised by the Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (TSPLOST) Columbus-area voters supported last year, despite its rejection by most other regions of the state.

The timing is especially appropriate, the mayor pointed out, because October is recognized as Disability Employment Awareness Month. The TSPLOST money, Tomlinson said, will fund, among other improvements, "better routes, better investment in Dial-A-Ride, which is an aspect of our transit system that responds to those with disabilities who cannot access the regular Metra lines."

Metra will also be able to hire more drivers, buy more buses and improve handicap accessibility at its stops.

These improvements are an important development in this community -- not just for people with disabilities, and not just for people who regularly use Metra. Transportation challenges are one of the main employment hurdles for people otherwise able and willing to work. Clearing away as many of those hurdles as possible is in everybody's interest.

Good luck, Dr. Coley

Even given the notoriously shaky ground under the feet of school superintendents -- especially true, in seems, of educational landscapes in these parts -- Russell County has experienced an especially unfortunate turnover rate. That was recently underscored by the sudden and still publicly unexplained resignation of former Superintendent Mike Green.

Perhaps that will change with the reportedly imminent hiring of interim Superintendent Brenda Coley to take over the position full time.

School board chairman Keith Mitchell, whose long service has represented stability in a system much in need of it, said the board will likely approve Coley by unanimous vote Thursday morning. She is a native of the area, a graduate of Russell County High, a veteran teacher and principal, and a popular choice among her peers and the community at large.

Here's wishing her a long and successful run.

This story was originally published October 14, 2015 at 5:46 PM with the headline "Metra upgrades should pay off for community."