LOVE IN THE NAME OF CHRIST

This week’s blog comes from an article that was archived on my research articles. Those of low income are seriously affected. Take a look at some of the pressures and problems they face. As the body of Christ, one of the opportunities to serve them in the name of Christ. People in need must receive help from loving people who know how to care for them.

From HighBeam Research

Title: Trapped by transit trouble Pockets of poverty often are far from bus, train stops.(Series: DuPage's Poverty Crisis: A Special Report)(News)

Date: 8/2/2005; Publication: Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, IL); Author: Pyke, Marni

Byline: Marni Pyke Daily Herald Staff Writer

Norm Arnold considers himself lucky to be within walking distance of a grocery store.

That's because the Villa Park resident says he can't rely on public transit for his basic needs.

Arnold, who struggles with health problems, spent some months without a car a year ago when money was tight.

Bus service was so scarce, his wife ended up working from home and the couple walked everywhere until they scraped together enough money to buy a used car.

"Pace buses are few and far between," Arnold said. "It's a mess. It takes you half a day to figure out the schedule."

As executive director of the People's Resource Center in Wheaton, Mary Ellen Durbin can recount numerous horror stories about the travails of people without cars in the suburbs.

One client walked from Glen Ellyn to Addison every day to keep a job. Another trudged from north Villa Park to Downers Grove regularly.

"The transportation system is set up for commuters," Durbin said.

Poverty experts note many low-income pockets in DuPage are on the periphery of towns, far from train stations and bus routes, which isolates those in poverty further. "It's not so much a lack of compassion but a lack of planning," Durbin said.

In West Chicago, for example, where 9.3 percent of the population in 2000 was below the poverty line, there's no Pace service at all.

And transit gets even worse after rush hour. While Pace operates 65 routes during peak periods, that drops at other times.

Pace officials acknowledge they could do better.

"We're very aware we need to redesign our services," agency spokesman Judi Kulm said.

Funding cuts caused PACE to pull back on some routes, but they're working on correcting that, starting with improved service in the Naperville-Aurora area.

"We need to change to meet the demographics," Kulm said.

The DuPage County Mayors and Managers Conference also acknowledges the situation is dire.

"If you live in Naperville and work in Oak Brook or live in Bensenville and work in Downers Grove, there's no way to make that trip now," said Robert Dean, a project manager with the conference.

Dean is the architect behind the DuPage Area Transit Plan 2020, a $38 million proposal that aims to make life without a car a reality.

The proposal calls for high-speed buses to link up key spots like O'Hare International Airport, Woodfield Mall, Oak Brook and Naperville/Aurora.

Secondly, the plan seeks connector bus routes along major arterial roads, such as Lake Street, North Avenue, Roosevelt Road, Ogden Avenue, 75th Street and Army Trail Road.

The last component involves community circulators - small vans operating in neighborhoods.

All three services would operate at a greater frequency and for longer hours than currently available.

The price tag for the revamped system isn't cheap, but it's expected to boost bus riders from 2.6 million to 7.8 million.

Dean is working with Pace and relying on federal and state grants to pay for start-up costs for the system. He recently obtained funding for a bus that will regularly travel between College of DuPage and the Wheaton and Naperville train stations.

But more funding will have to be found for the plan, which will take years to complete.

In the meantime, those without cars will have to subsist on an inadequate system that Dean describes as "only for people with no other choice."

This document provided by HighBeam Research at http://www.highbeam.com