Project 3
Student id: s23
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<DOC>
<docHead>
<!--required header includes metadata about the assignment (title, author, version)-->
<title>Public Initiative Proposal</title>
<author xml:id="s23">Monica Salas</author>
<version n="1" date="2016-08-16"/>
</docHead>
<pub_init_proposal>
<cover_page>
<title>WRTA Redesign</title>
<author>Monica Salas</author>
<submit_date>August 30th 2016</submit_date>
<audience> To:<note type="instructor" resp="#kgs">don't need the "to" here</note> The
City of Worcester’s Executive Office of Economic Development </audience>
</cover_page>
<tbl_cont>
<section n="1">Introduction</section>
<section n="2">Background</section>
<section n="3">Purpose</section>
<section n="4">Approach</section>
<section n="5">Feasibility</section>
<section n="6">Conclusion</section>
<section n="7">References</section>
</tbl_cont>
<intro type="exec_sum">
<!--attribute options: ltr_int, exec_sum, abstract-->
<p>Over the past several years, the city of Worcester, MA has invested several millions
of dollars into improving the city. Federal and state money has been dedicated to
cleaning up parks and neighborhoods, reconstructing the entire down town area
including Union Station, establishing community centers and helping create jobs for
the citizens of Worcester. Despite all the work going into these projects, public
transportation has been completely overlooked. How does the city expect to increase
employment if half of it’s population doesn’t have a reliable way to get to work?
Worcester has long been a city dependent on cars since so much of it’s work force
resides in suburbs and neighboring towns. Most people know that the WRTA (Worcester
Regional Transit Authority) exists, but they don’t know how to use it. This is
because of the small number of bus stops, inconvenient routes, and completely lack
of outreach by the WRTA. Implementing something like Boston’s MBTA is not realistic
in a city like Worcester, however major reorganization and improvements to the WRTA
could provide huge benefits in driving forward economic growth in Worcester, as well
as making it much more pleasant place to live. Rerouting existing routes to reach
major residential areas (especially low income neighborhoods) and heavy
commercialized areas, adding busses and bus stops, making public transportation more
affordable and accessible to students and young adults, and providing more rigorous
training for bus drivers would dramatically turn around the state of Worcester’s
public transportation. All this could be achieved with predetermined yearly
milestones being funded by the city’s federal grant under the Community Development
Block Grant Program over the course of 5-7 years.<note type="instructor" resp="#kgs"
>good specificity here</note></p>
</intro>
<background>
<p>
<crnt_cond> As of right now, only 55% of all jobs in Worcester have access to public
transportation routes; and only 6% of people who reside in suburbs (where rent
and mortgages are more affordable) have public transportation available to their
work within 90 minutes (5). On top of this, Worcester Public Schools have
consistently cut school bus services for students to get to school every day. </crnt_cond>
<subj_hist> In past years, Worcester Public Schools has charged students hundreds of
dollars to be able to take a school bus to school, and have even suspended bus
transportation for students in high school or who live within 2 miles of their
schools. Considering the level of financial diversity in Worcester and how harsh
winters can be in the Northeast, these scenarios pose a clear need for more
accessible public transportation in Worcester. </subj_hist>
<crnt_cond>Most bus routes currently just connect downtown Worcester to major
shopping centers in the Greater Worcester Area, but none go to residential,
commercialized, or school areas. The WRTA is, at best, inconvenient to use. This
is a major barrier in the economic growth of the city because of how difficult
it is for anyone to get around to be able to get to work or school (2). Aside
from this, the existing transportation facilities are difficult to find, dingy
and unsafe looking, unadvertised, and generally inaccessible (1).</crnt_cond>
</p>
</background>
<purpose>
<p>
<objective> Even with all the money that Worcester is putting into developing the
city and giving it this much needed ‘face lift’,<note type="instructor"
resp="#kgs">you have that beautiful train station</note> all the progress
will reach a glass ceiling without improvements made to the public
transportation system. Economic growth will only be stimulated from an improved
bus system, despite the capital costs of investing in
transportation.</objective>
<scope type="what">Better bus routes could increase accessibility for</scope>
<scope type="who">students to get to school every day, and lower and middle class
persons</scope> to get to work. <scope type="when">If money could be spared in
the next 5-7 years to make the initial capital investments in a better bus
system for the WRTA, then this would be a massive stimulus for the city of
Worcester.</scope>
<!-- who, what, when are mandatory -->
<!--attribute options: what, who, when, where-->
</p>
</purpose>
<approach>
<p> Worcester is a recipient of a $3.8 million annual grant funding from the HUD called
the Community Development Block Grant Program (CDBG). Each year it submits a request
for proposals to investigate ideas for how this money could be spend to benefit low
and moderate income persons, eliminate slums or blight, or meet urgent needs of the
city (3). The transportation system addresses all three of these types of needs that
the grant funding is intended for. With a team of financial representatives of the
city, officials from the Worcester WRTA, and contractors invested in building
infrastructure in the city, a 5-7 year plan could be made to invest a percentage of
this grant funding annually into the reworking of the WRTA. Milestones could be
predetermined based on priority areas in the city and necessary development of
Worcester Transit Authority. Milestones each year will include buying new energy
efficient busses to serve the city, construct safe, well lit, strategically placed
bus stops, advertise bus travel within Worcester and it’s surrounding towns,
subsidize transportation services for students, reorganize routes that reach into
more suburban areas, and hire more well qualified drivers and officials for the
WRTA. <note type="instructor" resp="#kgs">I like this aspect of combining
infrastrucutral investment with marketing--since people need to know about the
improvements (and the existence of the WRTA in general)</note></p>
</approach>
<feasibility>
<p>
<!-- possible subelements are: economic, environmental, social,
legal, or other -->
<economic> Now that Worcester has achieved so much federal funding for city
development and has gained momentum in the community’s investment in the city,
it is a perfect time to make major changes within the city. The funding exists
and the need is evident. Planning would require input from financial
professionals and zoning committees in order to figure out the best way to
invest in the WRTA and where there is most need for public transportation. This
initial set up would be the biggest capital investment, however most of the
costs could be covered by the CDBG grant and could be spread out over several
years. The only lasting costs would be salaries for the increase in WRTA drivers
and employees and maintenance to buses and new infrastructure. The hope would be
that these long term costs will be insignificant compared to the financial
benefits the city would gain by becoming more accessible and making work more
possible for residents. </economic>
<social>If needed, there are many big businesses and organizations that could
benefit from public transportation in the city. Big business owners and
surrounding towns could be willing to invest in a public transportation system
that could bring people to their business and make their own communities more
accessible. Also, as it is the few buses that do exist in Worcester reach out to
surrounding towns like Leicester, Millbury, and Charlton. Theoretically, all of
central Worcester County would benefit from developments to the WRTA, which is
about twenty towns that could also contribute to WRTA developments and would be
more invested in the greater Worcester community. </social>
</p>
</feasibility>
<conclu>
<p> Investing in public transportation within Worcester would be investing in the future
growth of Worcester. It would make holding a job more possible for low and middle
income populations and increase accessibilities to commercial and residential areas
of the city. It would also make it possible for kids to miss less school. It would
also benefit surrounding towns that are considered “bedroom towns” to Worcester and
allow residents of lower income neighborhoods to seek work all over the city. </p>
</conclu>
<references>
<citation n="1" style="MLA"> "Groundbreaking Ceremony for WRTA Transportation Hub | City
of Worcester, MA." Groundbreaking Ceremony for WRTA Transportation Hub | City of
Worcester, MA. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Aug. 2016.</citation>
<citation n="2" style="MLA">"GoLocalWorcester | News | Worcester’s Public Transportation
Critical to Economic Growth." GoLocalWorcester Main. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Aug.
2016.</citation>
<citation n="3" style="MLA">United States. Worcester City Hall. The City of Worcester’s
Executive Office of Economic Development. City Fiscal Year 2017 Community
Development Block Grant Program. Worcester: n.p., n.d. Web.</citation>
<citation n="4" style="MLA">"GoLocalWorcester | Politics | Grace Ross: How to Solve
Worcester’s Public Transportation Problems." GoLocalWorcester Main. N.p., n.d. Web.
15 Aug. 2016.</citation>
<citation n="5" style="MLA"> "GoLocalWorcester | News | Worcester’s Public
Transportation 2nd Worst in NE." GoLocalWorcester Main. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Aug.
2016.</citation>
</references>
</pub_init_proposal>
<docReview>
<reviewer type="peer" xml:id="m21"/>
<report type="peer" resp="#m21">
<p>Your background and history sections are very strong with the number of arugments
they contains and the amount of information. However, at times they can start to
become a little redundant. It is mentioned several times that many residential areas
do not have bus access or what they do have is below par. Due to the redundant
nature between certain sections of the proposal, it might be better to limit the
amount of time you spend talking about the lack of access in certain areas and
create a shorter and moreconcise statement that encompasses everything. This could
be done along the lines of "the target audience for public transportation is the one
with the least access to the invaluable resource." A similar widdling down could
potentially be done to your intor paragraph The execution section has a very good
list of all the major attributes that would be addressed in the process of upgrading
the system. One place it may fall short is in the actual numbers section though,
since 15-30% of the highlighted grant would equal roughly $1 million a year. With
new buses costing upwards of $100,000, an increase in the donations and support from
business or other subsidaries might be necessary to realistically reach the goal.
You could improve this section by adding an emphasis on the collective effort it
would take to improve the current state of the system. In regards to your feasiblity
section (and difference from the action plan), the sections seem to be pushing the
same idea. The action plan states what must be done and the feasibility plan echos
how it must be done, more so than if it can be. You did a great job adressing the
problem and how it must be fixed, but must take into how realistic it is that every
problem will be addressed. You can emphasise that unless big things are changed, it
might not be feasible to persue the entire project. Remember, it will not lower the
validity or urgency of your argument if you say that it is not entirely feasible
given the current state. For your conlcusion it might help to talk more about the
prominent topics you discussed in your paper than the schools. This would be a good
reinforcement that sums up your main points. Overall great job! .</p>
</report>
<reviewer type="instructor" xml:id="kgs"/>
<report type="instructor" resp="#kgs">
<p>Great work here. This is a well articulated proposal with a very clearly established
exigence and audience. I made some notes above, but have no real revisions that I
think you need to make here. Nice job!</p>
</report>
</docReview>
</DOC>