Group rallies for bus stops
Action follows city’s denial of RTA application.
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BYLINE:

Jill Kelley Staff Writer
DATE: September 19, 2011
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PUBLICATION: Dayton Daily News (OH)
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SECTION: Local
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PAGE: B1
BEAVERCREEK — A steady cacophony of honks from passing cars rallied in support
of protesters at the main entrance to the Mall at Fairfield Commons on Sunday, where
members of Leaders for Equality and Action in Dayton were holding up signs asking
motorists to “Honk for bus stops!” The protest was one of two being held concurrently
by LEAD, an apolitical group made up of members of more than 20 Dayton-area
congregations. For the second protest, a group stood on or walked the route along
North Fairfield Road between Wright State University and the Mall at Fairfield
Commons.
Both protests were held to raise awareness about the desire for three Greater Dayton
Regional Transit Authority bus stops along Pentagon Boulevard near the mall, and the
Beavercreek City Council’s decision to deny an application for those bus stops.
Protesters said residents and students need access to the mall’s jobs and services.
“We are not against the city of Beavercreek, but we disagree with the council and their
hard-headedness toward this issue,” said LEAD member Ronnie Moreland, a local
deacon and a Dayton resident. “We have to do something; we don’t think they speak for
the whole population of Beavercreek.”
In March, the City Council denied the bus stops application when the RTA failed to
approve an extensive list of design requirements. RTA officials called the requirements
“unique,” and said they were an act to deter applications rather than ensure safety.
“We followed our own rules. They did not agree with them,” Beavercreek Mayor Scott
Hadley said. “It’s not a question of permitting or not permitting. (RTA) did not meet our
criteria, so we turned their application down. End of story.”
The decision was reportedly supported by some Beavercreek residents, while others
claimed discrimination.
Joyce Kasprzak of Oakwood said she took part in the LEAD effort because knows
Beaver-creek to be a city welcoming of all races, colors and creeds.
“We have buses in Oakwood and we’re perfectly fine,” she said.
Since the denial, members of LEAD have filed a complaint with the United States
Department of Transportation requesting an investigation and the halting of federal
funds until the matter is resolved.
In August, the Beavercreek City Council approved a six-month moratorium on granting
permits for the construction of public bus stops so that the city can study and prepare
new regulations.
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Members of LEAD say they hope they can help illustrate there is public support for
these bus stops.
Linda Springman of Harrison Twp. said she was protesting Sunday because there are
employment opportunities at the mall to which all Dayton-area residents should have
access.
“Employment is better for the economy and better for the community,” Springman said.
“The lack of bus stops is preventing people from getting jobs.”
For Jenny Border, the plight was more personal. Border is a physically handicapped
graduate student at Wright State. She said the bus stops would greatly help her and her
friends.
“We want to be independent, and want to be able to go to the mall or to Walmart or
wherever,” Border said. “We need to make it accessible from Wright State to here (the
mall).
RTA bus stops voted down
Beavercreek Council members say a majority of residents were against the proposal.

BYLINE:

Mark Gokavi Staff Writer
DATE: March 29, 2011
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PUBLICATION: Dayton Daily News (OH)
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SECTION: Main
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PAGE: A1
BEAVERCREEK — The Beaver-creek City Council on Monday night unanimously
rejected the Greater Dayton RTA’s application for three bus stops along Pentagon
Boulevard near the Mall at Fairfield Commons making some residents happy while
others claimed discrimination. The vote was 6-0 against approval of the applications.
Councilwoman Julie Vann, who had voiced support for the application, did not attend.
She was excused with no comment given.
Before the vote in a packed City Council chambers filled with those for and against the
stops, each of the attending Council members cited the reasons for their opinion,
drawing applause.
Council members said that the vast majority of Beavercreek city residents who
contacted the Council were against the RTA stops, and said there was a lack of
sufficient ridership studies. They also cited problems that they say occur at malls with
bus stops and RTA’s wish for fixed routes instead of flexible ones. Greene CATS
system provides rides on demand in Greene County, and that was another reason given
for the rejection of RTA’s applications.
RTA officials, who intended to operate about six buses per day to the stops, expressed
disappointment and have not decided on their next move. “We complied with every
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request,” said RTA Executive Director Mark Donaghy. “We answered every question,
even the ones that we weren’t certain deserved an answer. But we did that and we were
polite about it. We fully complied with the ordinance, and that was our understanding
from the beginning.”
Council members and RTA officials said the process became contentious, with some
adamant they don’t want the stops and others charging discrimination.
“To me, this is about three bus stops,” said Councilwoman Vickie Giambrone, who used
to work for the RTA. “This isn’t about race. It isn’t about any of those things. It’s about
three bus stops.”
The city had asked for answers to another page of issues beyond what was asked for in
the transit stop ordinance. The RTA provided an answer to each item on the list, but the
process of the extra questions was debated. “The answers didn’t satisfy what the city
needed,” Vice Mayor Brian Jarvis said.
The RTA found some issues included on the additional list to be excessive.
“I would say the word should be ‘reasonable’ modifications,” said Frank Ecklar, the
RTA’s director of planning and marketing. “I think 18 inches of concrete (base), closedcircuit television cameras in shelters and air conditioning in open-air bus stops, I don’t
think that’s consistent with the spirit of the ordinance.”
Jarvis agreed that the heating and air conditioning questions about open-air shelters
were absurd.
“We’ve only found one air-conditioned bus shelter on the planet and that’s in Dubai,”
Donaghy said.
Jarvis and Giambrone both said their main issue was the fixed stop request and
insufficient answers from the RTA. Council members pointed to current on-demand RTA
service and Greene CATS as options for those who want to use public transportation.
RTA officials said residents must qualify for some of those services and that Greene
CATS routes require calling ahead, which doesn’t fit with those not on a fixed schedule.
Several Council members brought up safety concerns as a issue. Donaghy said he
spoke to Jarvis about that concern and about the impact on businesses.
“Go to the Shops of Oak-wood. Go out to Centerville. Go to Englewood. We go to retail
establishments all over this community,” Donaghy said.
“There’s no crime wave in Oakwood. We’re there every day. We’re there 21 hours a
day.”
Residents who spoke at the meeting represented both sides, with one man saying he
appreciated the council following the city’s wishes and another saying this process
showed thinly veiled discrimination.
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For now, the RTA will go back to the drawing board after a process that began more
than a year ago.
Donaghy said legal action is a possibility. “We haven’t made that list at this time, but
certainly that’s an option.”
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-6951 or mgokavi@Dayton DailyNews.com.
Pam Stewart, a Beavercreek resident, holds a “no RTA” sign at a Beavercreek City
Council meeting. The Council voted not to allow three RTA bus stops near the Mall at
Fairfield Commons. Staff photo by Ron Alvey
Fairfield Commons’ police calls highest of 3 local
malls
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BYLINE:
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Mark Gokavi Staff Writer
DATE: March 28, 2011
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PUBLICATION: Dayton Daily News (OH)
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SECTION: Local
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PAGE: A4
BEAVERCREEK — More crime-related police calls have been made since May 2009 to
the Mall at Fairfield Commons than The Greene, also in Beavercreek, or Dayton Mall
in Montgomery County’s Miami Twp. One concern about the Greater Dayton RTA’s
application for three bus stops along Pentagon Boulevard near Fairfield Commons is
an increase in crime because of the shelters. The issue is expected to be decided
during today’s 6 p.m. Beavercreek Council meeting.
But a Dayton Daily News analysis of incident statistics provided by Beavercreek police
found there were fewer incident calls to The Greene — which has two RTA stops across
the street in Kettering — than Fairfield Commons.
The rates at Dayton Mall, the biggest of the three shopping centers with about 170
stores, had the fewest police calls of the three centers.
Using the same time frame — May 2, 2009 to March 13, 2011 — chosen due to a
change in Beaver-creek’s records systems, Fairfield Commons had 346 crime calls
while The Greene had 254. During the same stretch, Miami Twp. statistics show the
Dayton Mall had 209.
That translates to about 15 crime calls per month at Fairfield Commons, 11 at The
Greene and nine at the Dayton Mall.
Despite that, Miami Twp. Police Major John DiPietro said: “We’ve made a number of
arrests over the years, and if they’re going to be released, rather than incarcerated, they
tell us, ‘Well, we rode the bus out.’ ”
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The numbers reflect only incident calls to Fair-field Commons and Dayton Mall, which
have one main address, not the other surrounding businesses.
The Greene includes dozens of addresses and individual doors to businesses. There
also are differences including mall security, surveillance cameras and theft-prevention
specialists.
“To compare and contrast crime at the Fairfield Mall versus The Greene, I don’t think
there’s any comparison,” Beavercreek police Sgt. Jim Wuebben said. “I think it’s two
totally different, unique locales.”
A Dayton Mall representative said only one stop is on mall property, near
Old Navy and Macys, about 300 feet from the mall doors.
There have been another 73 calls — about three per month — made during that span
from the RTA bus stop at 2730 Lyons Road near the Miami Twp. Library. Of those, 22
were not mall-related.
DiPietro said the RTA provides a needed service and is complimentary of the Project
Mobility program. He also said that with increased access to any location, not just
malls, “common sense tells you there would be an increase in odds for criminal
behavior.”
DiPietro wrote about issues at Dayton Mall in an e-mail to Beavercreek Police Chief
John Turner obtained by an open records request: “Trash, vandalism at bus stops, the
failure of RTA to provide adequate amenities at heavily used bus stops and roadway
damage by the larger buses are also issues to consider.”
Copyright, 2011, Cox Ohio Publishing. All rights reserved.
Group: City violated Civil Rights Act
LEAD files complaint, alleges rejection of RTA stops is discriminatory.
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BYLINE:

Mark Gokavi Staff Writer
DATE: August 11, 2011
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PUBLICATION: Dayton Daily News (OH)

SECTION: Local
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PAGE: B1
A coalition of local churches announced Wednesday it has filed a complaint to federal
agencies alleging the Beavercreek City Council violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by
denying an application to install three public bus stops near the Mall at Fairfield
Commons. An attorney for Leaders for Equality and Action in Dayton Inc., or LEAD,
held a press conference on the steps of the Tony Hall Federal Building in Dayton to
announce that the council’s March 28 vote to reject the Greater Dayton Regional Transit
Authority’s request for the bus stops near the mall constituted discrimination.
The group is calling on the Federal Highway Administration’s Office of Civil Rights and
the United States Department of Transportation to conduct a Title VI compliance
investigation into the denial and Beavercreek’s actions.
5
Title VI prohibits recipients of federal financial assistance from using that money in a
way that has a discriminatory impact based on race, color or national origin.
“Beavercreek’s denial of the RTA application has a disparate impact on mostly the
minorities and African-Americans,” said the Rev. Francis Tandoh, a Catholic priest and
a LEAD representative who noted that more blacks in Dayton use public transportation
to get to work. “It something that connotes segregation, something that connotes
classism.”
In March, Beavercreek’s council voted 6-0 against approving three RTA stops near the
mall and a new hospital. RTA currently services Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and
Wright State University.
Beavercreek City Attorney Stephen McHugh acknowledged receipt of the complaint and
said: “No statement to the merits of the complaint is appropriate at this time.”
Beavercreek Mayor Scott Hadley could not be reached for comment, and Vice Mayor
Brian Jar-vis said he wouldn’t comment until he’d read the complaint and talked to
McHugh.
Frank Ecklar, RTA’s director of planning and marketing, said: “We heard from the
community that they desired access to that area to access jobs, education and other trip
destinations, including medical services at the new hospital that’s going in. We did our
due diligence and applied for the bus stops through the Beavercreek ordinance.
“We will certainly be keeping an eye on the progress of this particular complaint,” he
added.
The complaint — a 1-inch thick stack of documents — claims Beaver-creek has
received tens of millions of dollars in federal assistance since 1997, including a planned
widening of the Interstate 675 bridge from Fairborn to Beavercreek, the same bridge
people must walk over to get to Fairfield Commons from WSU since no RTA stop is
available. Attorney Stanley Hirtle of the Advocates for Basic Legal Equality Inc., or
ABLE, said three affidavits from area job counselors show that the inability of AfricanAmerican job seekers to obtain transportation to the Beavercreek area has been a
major barrier to employment.
“By taking these funds from federal taxpayers to improve their city, the city of
Beavercreek has agreed to comply with Title VI regulations,” Hirtle said. “Title VI
specifically precludes recipients from making determinations of locations of facilities,
including public transit stops, which have the effect of discriminating on the basis of
race.”
During the March 28 council meeting, Council Member Vicki Giambrone, who is a
former RTA employee, said: “To me, this is about three bus stops. This isn’t about race.
It isn’t about any of those things. It’s about three bus stops.”
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Earlier in the process, Giambrone said she was for approving the application and that
the city couldn’t stop the RTA from coming into the city, but only could designate design
requirements for the stops. Those design requirements changed from meeting to
meeting, including discussion about requiring heated and air-conditioned bus stops.
“You can look at what happened and think what you think about what their motives are,”
Hirtle said. “We don’t allege what their motives are. We allege that it has a disparate
impact on the minority communities in Dayton, because they can’t get jobs, because
they disproportionately rely on the bus to get to work.”
LEAD said they plan a public demonstration at 3 p.m. Aug. 21 near Fairfield Commons.
Is regionalism still possible after B’creek? (editorial?)
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DATE: April 17, 2011
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PUBLICATION: Dayton Daily News (OH)
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SECTION: Opinion
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PAGE: A26
The Beavercreek bus controversy could have ended even worse. It could have been
followed by angry calls in Dayton or Montgomery County for reprisal, for boycotts of the
Mall at Fairfield Commons or other measures designed to get Beavercreek to
reconsider its relations with neighbors. After all, Beavercreek City Council turned down
a constructive bid at regionalism by the Greater Dayton RTA and told residents of
Montgomery County that Beavercreek simply does not want their business if they’re not
driving, as many don’t.
The fact that the fight didn’t escalate is to the credit of the broader community.
Now, however, Beavercreek, Dayton and other communities need to confront the
damage that has been done. The controversy dealt a blow to the cause of a united
region, to the notion that the people of the Dayton area need to see themselves as in
the same boat, need to identify with one another, need to focus on what unites them
rather than wallow in division, fear and competitiveness.
For many years, the City of Dayton has had an annual walk over the Third Street bridge
as a symbol of unity between the races. A walk across the bridge that links Wright State
University with the Fairfield mall area is a little hard to picture.
But the need is similar. How about some joint project between the cities of Dayton and
Beavercreek, or some regional project they might lead?
When companies that might employ Beavercreek residents consider locating in the
Dayton area, they won’t focus on whether a mall has bus stops. And they won’t focus
on quality of life in one suburb. They’ll be thinking about the metropolitan area.
More perhaps than most places, a relatively affluent suburb like Beavercreek needs an
attractive metropolitan area surrounding it, the kind of place that people with choices
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want to live in. That requires a central city that’s attractive, safe, financially stable and
not just hanging by a thread.
In the new U.S. Census, Beavercreek passed Huber Heights to become the secondbiggest suburb of Dayton, after Kettering. That fact offers Beavercreek something of a
leadership role.
The failure last week of the Dayton area to win one of the space shuttles drives home
an important point: No silver bullet is likely to revive the region. It’s going to be a long,
hard pull, requiring cooperation from those with the most to protect and nourish.
Nearly everybody in public office gives lip service to the idea of regionalism. The notion
that cooperation among various jurisdictions can benefit everybody has a lot of surface
appeal. It promises to save money, foster economic development, and maintain the idea
of community, even as the core city — so crucial to the region’s reputation —
diminishes.
But sometimes you have to wonder if all the talk of regionalism is just a joke. Is the idea
of trying to accommodate each other going to give way anytime anybody sees a
downside?
We live in a time when political warriors bombard their followers with verbiage about
political opponents that couldn’t be much hotter if it were about foreign enemies. The
difference between the two parties is so intense that, if liberals and conservatives were
cleanly divided geographically, there’d be serious calls for secession on both sides of
the line.
(Some people have even said that the reason Beavercreek didn’t want to let the RTA in
is that it’s a Republican community that has a conservative understanding of what
government should do. But we’re talking about a city that lists a golf course under its
municipal services.)
The Dayton area has plenty of people on both sides of the political divide, not to
mention groups of different racial, economic and religious characteristics. There’s plenty
of potential for division. Sustaining any degree of unity has always required effort and
will continue to do so.
Ideally, the bus spat should reenergize the regionalism effort. It highlights the fraught
nature of relations between the city and suburbs. But both need each other.
B-creek council may face RTA’s riders in court

BYLINE:
ELLEN BELCHER
COMMENTARY


PUBLICATION: Dayton Daily News
(OH)
DATE: April 3, 2011
8
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SECTION: Opinion
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PAGE: A28
I don’t mean to pick on Beavercreek. I do mean to criticize Beavercreek City Council. Its
meeting last week — when it voted 6-0 not to allow Greater Dayton RTA to put three
bus stops on Pentagon Boulevard near the Mall at Fairfield Commons — was not a
proud moment. An editorial here March 30 (“Beaver-creek vote against RTA
embarrassing”) explained why the council’s objections are bogus. I won’t repeat them all
here, but if you missed the coverage, among the council’s demands was that the
shelters be heated and air-conditioned. The council members know that’s ridiculous and
cost-prohibitive.
Mark Donaghy, RTA’s executive director, deadpanned after the meeting that the only
place he knows of in the world that has a climate-controlled bus shelter is Dubai.
After the vote, Ronnie Moreland, copresident of Leaders for Equality and Action in
Dayton, which has advocated for the stops, was asked by the man sitting next to him
whether he lived in Beavercreek.
When Moreland, who is black, responded he did not, the man, who is white, said
something like, This meeting is for people who live in Beavercreek.
Moreland politely replied, “Now, that’s not nice.”
It was an amazing conversation to overhear in public in 2011.
Of course, that man does not represent all of Beavercreek. But let’s not kid ourselves.
Race was an undercurrent in this debate, and the people who don’t want blacks and
people who can’t afford cars coming to the mall won.
Of course, low-income people who work at the mall, and jobless people who might want
jobs at nearby businesses, also lost.
The presumption was that bus riders are trouble-makers and that they can be
prevented from shopping at the mall or taking jobs in Beavercreek.
If the stops were allowed, would there be kids, or even adults, who would act up at the
mall or the bus stops from time to time? Undoubtedly.
Are there some people who don’t ride the bus — who maybe even live in Beaver-creek
— who have been caught shoplifting or misbehaving in the parking lots and elsewhere?
Probably so.
When did some people’s prejudices about bus riders get to be a rationale to deny all
bus riders access to a shopping center?
Beavercreek Mayor Scott Hadley, in explaining his vote to deny RTA’s application for
the shelters, talked about the wisdom of Ohio’s “home rule” power, which allows cities to
decide so many matters for themselves. He said that “the people (of Beavercreek) have
spoken very loudly” and that they don’t want the stops.
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One of the arguments for giving cities home rule authority is that locally elected officials
are close to residents and presumably in touch with their communities.
But city council members were making a lot of things up.
Some pointed to Greene County’s small transit operation — Greene Coordinated
Agency Transportation System or Greene CATS — as an alternative to RTA.
But Dayton Daily News Staff Writer Mark Gokavi interviewed its executive director, who
said the operation turns away 400 people a month because it doesn’t have the money
or buses to meet the demand for transportation.
One council member suggested that RTA riders could ride the Route 1 bus to Wright
State and then take a Greene CATS bus to the mall.
That’s a smarter, safer, cheaper alternative to having the Route 1 buses extend their
sweep to Pentagon Boulevard?
Would Beavercreek put up an air-conditioned and heated shelter for those people to
wait for the Greene CATS bus?
Meanwhile, in Columbus, state Rep. Jar-rod Martin, R-Beavercreek, and state Sen.
Chris Widener, R-Springfield, are advocating for legislation that would require local
jurisdictions to give their approval before a transit company could come into their
communities if the area was outside of the transit company’s “territorial boundary.”
RTA’s Donaghy said he doesn’t object to notifying jurisdictions about plans to extend
service, but he and other transit companies in Ohio will object to having to get a
jurisdiction’s approval to operate in a community — beyond meeting zoning and safety
standards.
Before lawyers are called in, which very well may happen, the city council really needs
to reconsider its decision. It would have a tough time answering questions from people
who asked hard, pointed questions about exactly what was on its mind, what it’s really
trying to do.
Beavercreek council calls for more study of proposal
for RTA bus stops near mall
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BYLINE:

Mark Gokavi Staff Writer
DATE: March 15, 2011
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PUBLICATION: Dayton Daily News (OH)

SECTION: Local

PAGE: A4
BEAVERCREEK — Beaver-creek City Council tabled a vote for three proposed bus
stops near the Mall at Fairfield Commons, frustrating a Greater Dayton RTA official.
Watched by a group of protesters with signs saying, “Let the People Ride,” council
members brought up a host of concerns for city staff to study, including police cost,
security, surveillance cameras, trash pickup, graffiti cleanup, pedestrian crosswalks, the
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size of the buses, fencing, lighting and whether the stops needed heating and cooling
systems.
“I thought today was frustrating,” said Frank Ecklar, RTA’s director of planning and
marketing. “It was announced Feb. 14 at the hearing that we had that all the i’s were
dotted and all the t’s were crossed and we followed everything that their ordinance
stated in the application. . . . I have not seen an ordinance like this in 27 years. At the
same time, we respect it, honor it and do what we can.”
As for Beavercreek Mayor Scott Hadley’s comments about temperature control, Ecklar
said, “There’s no requirement to put air conditioning and heaters.”
A group of about 25 people from LEAD (Leaders for Equality and Action in Dayton)
chanted and sang outside the government center before the meeting and watched as
the council voted 7-0 to table the discussion until March 28.
Ecklar said the RTA has about 3,300 stops in 23 jurisdictions in Montgomery County
plus Wright State and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. He said the three stops along
Pentagon Boulevard would get about six trips per day for students, shoppers, would-be
employees and those seeking medical attention.
The controversy has included charges of subtle discrimination.
Council member Julie Vann received applause when she said it’s not “just criminals”
who would be riding the bus, but a lot of “normal people.”
Council member Vicki Giambrone said it’s “reasonable and honest” to study and discuss
issues that she said have occurred at bus stops in other area cities.
A vote is expected March 28, since March 31 is the deadline to address the RTA’s
application.
B-creek vote against RTA embarrassing

DATE: March 30, 2011

PUBLICATION: Dayton Daily News (OH)

SECTION: Opinion

PAGE: A10
Beavercreek’s City Council has no good reasons to keep the Greater Dayton RTA from
having three bus stops on Pentagon Boulevard near the Mall at Fair-field Commons
and Kettering Health Network’s new hospital. But it voted 6-0 against the stops anyway.
The council’s demands of RTA would be comical if the situation weren’t so sad. Among
them:
• Provide “state of the art” surveillance cameras that “transmit real-time surveillance
pictures to the Beavercreek Police Department.”
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• “Provide heated and air-conditioned shelters.”
• Limit use of the stops to small “airport shuttle-type” buses.
• Provide an 18-inch concrete pad for loading.
Even though RTA representatives have been working with Beavercreek’s engineer and
staff for upwards of a year and were told RTA’s plans meet Beaver-creek’s ordinance
for installing shelters, the council added these conditions (and more) knowing that RTA
couldn’t agree to them.
Consider:
RTA has 3,300 bus stops. None of them has surveillance cameras.
Mark Donaghy, executive director of RTA, said the only climate-controlled bus stop he
is aware of is in Dubai (where the average temperature in the summer is more than 100
degrees).
Requiring small buses, rather than the 40-foot regular-route buses, fails to recognize
that the proposed stops are just an extension of Route 1. Small buses won’t
accommodate all the riders who use that route.
RTA’s downtown hub — Wright Stop Plaza — has 1,200 buses coming and going each
day. The pull-up pad is 10 inches thick, not the 18 inches — for six buses a day — that
Beaver-creek wanted.
In explaining their votes, Beavercreek’s council members said the emails and telephone
calls they received were overwhelmingly opposed to allowing the stops.
Two members — Jerry Petrak and Brian Jarvis — worried that the mall would become
a “corner of chaos,” a reference to the problems RTA had in downtown Dayton at Third
and Main streets.
Of course, what they failed to say is that problem got solved, and it was created
because it was a transfer point for Dayton Public School students. That’s not what is
being proposed for Pentagon Boulevard.
The animosity toward RTA, Montgomery County and bus riders generally was intense
and alarming.
Council member Vicki Giambrone complained that the “inference” that Beavercreek was
discriminating against the poor and blacks “shut down dialogue.” She said there is no
evidence the service is needed and that extending the route was a waste of
Montgomery County taxpayers’ money. (She flipped from the last meeting, where she
said the council’s role was limited to deciding whether RTA had complied with
Beavercreek’s ordinance.)
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Council member Phyllis Howard said that “RTA filled our council chamber with
Montgomery County residents” and that she doesn’t work for Montgomery County
residents.
Beavercreek’s vote was wrong on moral and public-policy grounds. The public-safety
complaints are trumped up. If the council really cared about that, it would not put bus
riders in a position of having to walk from near Wright State University along the
congested Fairfield Road to get to the mall or nearby businesses.
Suggesting that the stops invite crime is an inference that bus riders are criminals.
Denying access to public transportation disproportionately affects people who don’t
have cars, who are poor, who take low-wage jobs, including the retail positions at the
mall.
Council member Julie Vann, who seemed to be leaning toward allowing the stops at the
last meeting, was away. The total absence of people acknowledging that Beavercreek
employers could benefit from public transportation, that public transportation in and of
itself is a good thing and that Beavercreek doesn’t get to wall itself off was stunning.
Because of its proximity to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Beavercreek is home to
families who have lived around the world and who have to be wondering what the fuss
is about. Many residents are affluent and travel to places where public transit is the only
efficient way to get around.
Many, undoubtedly, aren’t the least bit threatened by people who find buses useful or
indispensable. Many recognize the objections council gave as a ruse for some people’s
prejudices.
There is another side of Beavercreek — a progressive, open-minded, welcoming,
considerate side. Sadly, those people had no one speaking up for them
Earnings tax an issue in ’Creek

BYLINE:

Mark Gokavi Staff
Writer
DATE: October 13, 2011

PUBLICATION: Dayton Daily News
(OH)

SECTION: Beavercreek Fairborn and
Xenia

PAGE: RF1
BEAVERCREEK — The five candidates for four spots on the Beavercreek City Council
all are against Greater Dayton RTA bus stops near the Mall at Fairfield Commons, but
they are not in lockstep on a possible Beavercreek earnings tax. Candidates Zach
Upton, Deborah L. Sasser, Jerry Petrak, Melissa Litteral and Vicki Giambrone agree
that finding ways to balance the budget in the face of at least $2 million of state aid the
next two years is key.
Beavercreek is one of the few area cities without an earnings tax, which could bump up
revenues by several million dollars per year.
13
“Only 40 percent of the people who live in Beavercreek, work in Beavercreek, so there’s
a lot of money going out of our community,” Giambrone said, adding that a tax could
come with a senior citizen exemption and property tax rollback. “We’re going to have to
be open to new revenue sources.”
Upton is against the idea: “My personal opinion, in today’s economy where people are
struggling to make ends meet, at this time I would not support the income tax or
earnings tax.”
A quick look at the five candidates. The top two vote-getters will be the new mayor and
vice mayor, respectively.
Giambrone: The incumbent, a vice president at Dayton Children’s Medical Center, touts
Beavercreek as the lowest-cost government in the region, how council has handled the
economic downturn and cut $1 million from the budget and the use of citizen surveys to
help decide issues such as the RTA bus stop application, which was voted down 6-0.
“The next four years are going to require even more hard work, strong leadership and
diligence,” she said.
Litteral: The first-time politician, director of Greene County Adult Probation, said she has
worked for the county for 17 years and has acquired budgeting, grant management,
contract and labor negotiations and policy procedure experience. Litteral said issues
include making up for the decrease in local government funds and the elimination of the
estate tax. “Beavercreek is 80 to 85 percent developed,” she said. “We need to be
strategically planning for the next 5, 10, 15 years.”
Petrak: A retired Wright-Patterson Air Force Base laboratory employee, the four-term
councilman, Petrak said Greene County’s transit system is implementing a route in
north Beavercreek that will alleviate some of the concerns of people trying to get from
Wright State University to the mall. “We’ve cut everything we can out of the budget and
we’re still going to be short,” he said. “We’ve got to look seriously at an earnings tax.”
Sasser: A realtor and adjunct faculty member at Sinclair Community College, Sasser
touts her involvement with leadership programs. Sasser said protecting, preserving and
promoting financial resources and property value is paramount.
“I come to you with no specific agenda or preconceived purpose,” she said. “Other than
to work for the benefit of the residents of the city of Beavercreek.”
Upton: A third-time candidate who works for G.E. Capital as an account manager in the
consumer financing division, Upton is a ex-member of the Parks, Recreation and
Culture Advisory Board and currently chairs the Board of Zoning Appeals.
“Having worked with the (city’s) staff and management,” he said. “It would provide for a
smooth transition and allow me to get to work elbows-deep right away.”
Non-drivers’ losses in 3C, B’Creek show a pattern
14

BYLINE:
MARTIN
GOTTLIEB


PUBLICATION: Dayton Daily News (OH)
DATE: April 1, 2011

SECTION: Opinion

PAGE: A10
Look closely enough and you might see a similarity between Beavercreek’s buses-tothe-mall issue and the fight over 3C, the aborted plan for passenger trains in Ohio.
During the 3C fight, one heard again and again that trains — especially slow trains —
were not going to be able to woo Ohioans out of their cars. That argument came from
leaders of the opposition.
Well, it is certainly true that some train advocates would like to woo people out of cars,
for reasons of environmentalism and energy conservation.
But a lot of people don’t have to be wooed out of cars. They’re already not in them.
Sometimes, when you’re out on the road, it certainly seems like everybody drives. And if
you hang out exclusively in affluent surroundings, you might get an impression like that.
But well over a million Ohioans of driving age don’t even have a driver’s license.
In the city of Dayton, 20 percent of households don’t have a car. Statewide, the figure
for households is about 8.5 percent. Meanwhile, the 1.2 million households with only
one car have 3 million people of driving age, says the trains-promoting All Aboard Ohio,
citing Census figures.
Even in the category of people who have licenses and cars, some are getting to the age
where they shouldn’t be driving — or at least driving long distances. Some have a fear
of driving on interstates. Some don’t have a reliable enough car to risk a long drive.
Some don’t want to drive in certain kinds of weather.
For 3C (Cincinnati to Cleveland, via Dayton and Columbus) to work financially (keeping
the state subsidy down to what the feds estimated), it needed to attract a half-million
riders a year. That sounds like a lot. But it’s about 1,400 people per day, in a state of 11
million people.
You wouldn’t have to extract many people from cars to reach that number.
In Beavercreek, of course, the issue wasn’t whether enough people could be attracted
to the buses. It was about who those people might be. Specifically, might they be
people who would somehow make Fairfield Commons a less attractive place?
The city council decided not to allow buses coming from Montgomery County.
Both situations reflect a disconnect between the car-driving majority and those who
have to find other modes of transportation.
The 3C opponents couldn’t believe there can be many non-drivers.
The bus-to-the-mall opponents can’t believe there are many who are law-abiding, nontroublesome and affluent enough to shop at Fairfield Commons.
15
Search around the Internet a little and you’ll find words for people who are afraid of
driving in a car (amazophobia), afraid of automobiles (motorphobia) and, for that matter,
afraid of trains (siderodromophobia).
What’s needed is a word for fear of people who don’t drive.
The non-drivers are out there. They’re regular people, or there wouldn’t be so many of
them. They’re keeping alive modes of transportation the rest of us only turn to in
emergencies. They’re more numerous in bad economic times, it stands to reason.
And they apparently need a public relations rep.
RTA seeks new bus stops in Beavercreek

DATE: March 27, 2011

PUBLICATION: Dayton Daily News (OH)

SECTION: Local

PAGE: A5
The Greater Dayton RTA is seeking approval from Beavercreek City Council to add
three new bus stops near the Mall at Fairfield Commons. The council delayed a vote
on the application earlier this month to give city officials time to compile an additional list
of issues and options for the transportation authority. For Monday’s paper, our reporters
have been digging into what the RTA needs to do to win council approval to establish
the bus stops that have generated passionate pleas of support and opposition.
The Dayton Daily News is the only local news organization with the resources to give
you this kind of in-depth look at this kind of important story.
RTA: Beavercreek’s wish list for bus stops ‘above and
beyond’

BYLINE:

Mark Gokavi Staff Writer
DATE: March 28, 2011

PUBLICATION: Dayton Daily News (OH)

SECTION: Local

PAGE: A4
BEAVERCREEK — The Greater Dayton RTA already serves Greene County with
buses to Wright State University and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. With 23
jurisdictions in Montgomery County and a growth in Beavercreek near shopping,
medical and educational facilities, the RTA figured the area around The Mall at
Fairfield Commons was an easy fit.
The Beavercreek City Council is expected to vote tonight on the RTA’s application for
three bus stops along Pentagon Boulevard near the mall, but the process has been
anything but easy due to Beavercreek’s extensive transit stop design requirements and
an extra list of items to consider.
16
The list includes subjects like sidewalks, trash pickup and maintenance. But it also
mentions doorless shelters with heat and air conditioning and state-of-the-art
surveillance cameras that transmit in real time to police.
RTA officials said the 21-page design requirements are the most “unique” they have
ever encountered and act to deter applications rather than ensure safety.
In a letter responding to Council members’ comments from a Feb. 14 meeting, RTA
Executive Director Mark Donaghy wrote: “If safety is the overriding concern, should
school bus stops be required to meet the same standards?”
Frank Ecklar, the RTA’s director of planning and marketing, said the RTA would use
regular-size buses and the plan would be a diversion of the Route 1 loop that already
goes down Colonel Glenn Highway to Wright State University. He said the six or so trips
per day won’t mean new buses, drivers or major expense, or any reduction in service.
“I don’t think we’re going to be installing security cameras at the shelters, for instance,
nor heating and air conditioning within an outdoor shelter,” Ecklar said, adding that the
RTA would respond in writing to what is feasible. “It’s definitely above and beyond the
application requirements.
“They made it very clear that we have fulfilled all the requirements of the actual bus
stop application.”
Councilwoman Julie Vann agreed. Asked what advice Council received from City
Manager Mike Cornell and City Attorney Stephen McHugh, Vann said: “My personal
take on what I heard is the issue has gotten distorted to being more than what it is.
“What we really have before us is an application and Beavercreek has rules and
regulations on the books that would help us evaluate that application. And that’s what
we need to focus on.”
While some Beavercreek residents say there is an underlying discrimination at play,
David Dunn said his objection to bus stops is about other issues.
Beavercreek City Council is voting on acceptance of three new RTA bus stops for the
Mall at Fairfield Commons area. The stop outside the Wright State University Student
Union shown here is currently the closest one to the mall. Staff photo by Ty Greenlees
B-creek’s bias against RTA won’t hold up

DATE: March 16, 2011

PUBLICATION: Dayton Daily News (OH)

SECTION:

Opinion
PAGE: A14
The Beavercreek City Council is being ridiculous. On Monday, it put off deciding — for a
second time — whether to allow the Greater Dayton RTA to erect three bus stops near
the Fairfield Commons mall. The vote was 7-0, though council member Julie Vann
suggested that she supports allowing RTA to extend its service to Beaver-creek.
17
Among the most absurd remarks came from Mayor Scott Hadley. In explaining that he
had more questions that he wanted answered before a vote, he worried about riders
waiting in bad weather at an open-air shelter. He asked if the shelters should have heat
and air conditioning — what if a rider who had an oxygen tank had to wait out in the
elements, he said.
Council members also want to know if there are going to be closed-loop cameras with
someone monitoring them; who is going to pay for a stop light or crosswalk if one or the
other has to be installed; and what new costs the police can expect.
We’re talking about bus stops — not hotels and not security entrances to WrightPatterson Air Force Base.
The council is just stalling, asking questions that go beyond what it said RTA had to do
as a condition for erecting shelters. Some members referenced a survey that found that
Beavercreek has a large number of residents who don’t want RTA expanding into the
community.
City Council member Vicki Giambrone said that if the council is going to have an
“honest dialogue,” there had to be discussion of the fact that other malls — the Dayton
Mall and, before that, the Salem Mall — had bad experiences with young people
making trouble, presumably some of them RTA riders. She was anticipating the council
being criticized for trying to wall itself off from the poor or blacks.
Two dozen people, including a number of blacks, were in the audience carrying signs,
saying, “Let the people ride.” LEAD — a church-based group also known as Leaders for
Equality and Action in Dayton — helped prompt this debate. It went to RTA and
complained that popular shopping areas were out of reach to people who rely on public
transportation.
RTA officials say another motivation for taking buses near the mall — extending Route
1’s loop — is that riders are walking from Colonel Glenn Highway, near the entrance to
Wright State University, across the bridge over I-675 to the STEM School and to the
mall. Besides being a long hike, the walk is not safe for pedestrians.
It’s true that RTA’s hub in downtown Dayton has, at times, been a magnet for trouble
because so many students once were transferring there (though the students
themselves were not typically the trouble-makers). The Dayton Mall also has had a
problem with unsupervised teens hanging out and upsetting customers.
But RTA has cut the student transfers downtown and ramped up security at its new
indoor hub. The Dayton Mall’s escort policy, which it adopted in 2003, is keeping kids
from having the run of the place.
In short, there are ways to deal with problem people (young or old) — without
disadvantaging all RTA riders.
18
The Wright State-Fairfield Commons area has become not just a shopping hub, but
also an employment hub. Kettering Health Network is building a new six-story hospital
near Pentagon Boulevard, and it will have plenty of business neighbors.
The answer to the question posed by Ms. Giambrone about why RTA would use its
sales tax levy to subsidize Montgomery County riders going to Greene County is pretty
simple: transportation to jobs.
Beavercreek’s council is asking to be sued if it throws up expensive, unreasonable
demands that simply are aimed at keeping RTA away.
On March 28, when council members take a vote on RTA’s shelter applications, the
vote should be 7-0.
Beavercreek, RTA dust-up is case study of what’s
wrong

BYLINE:

ELLEN BELCHER
DATE: March 20, 2011

PUBLICATION: Dayton Daily News (OH)

SECTION:

Opinion
PAGE: A28
John Kasich would have learned something important about local government in Ohio if
he had been at the Beavercreek City Council meeting this week. On March 14, the city
council put off for a second time a decision about whether to allow the Greater Dayton
RTA to build three bus stops near the Fairfield Commons mall. The discussion was a
thinly veiled conversation about whether Beavercreek could keep RTA bus riders out of
the community.
Should RTA be required to heat and air-condition the open-air shelter, the mayor asked.
What if a new crosswalk or stop light had to be installed? Why should Beavercreek
citizens pay for that, considering that council is already asking voters in May to raise
their taxes for police protection, another member asked.
Talk about small questions. Talk about parochialism.
Where’s the understanding that Beavercreek is a piece of something larger — a region
that sinks or swims together?
The incident would have been instructive for the governor because it’s a measure of
how difficult it will be to get local governments to buy into being part of something
bigger, to get them to grant that Ohio has too many governments.
The state has 251 cities, 681 villages, 1,308 townships and 88 counties. This obscene
balkanization — besides costing money — encourages myopic ways of thinking and
doing business.
19
Beavercreek’s meeting was held the night before Kasich unveiled his two-year budget
that proposes to cut the Local Government Fund by almost 50 percent. Townships,
financially strapped big cities and rural counties would be hit especially hard. Many
would have to stop doing some things (think trash pick-up); scale back services they
can’t get out of providing (think police and fire); raise taxes; or all of the above.
(The Local Government Fund has been around since 1934, and it subsidizes cities,
counties and townships on the grounds that not all communities have the same ability to
tax themselves. In some places, the population is so small or so poor, or there are so
few businesses that there’s just not enough wealth to tax.)
The governor’s goal with the proposed cuts is to force governmental consolidation, or
failing that, to drive cost-cutting by encouraging local governments to contract out for
services.
What Beavercreek’s dust-up with RTA shows is just how uneager communities are to
think beyond their own back yards. Yes, a traffic light would cost Beaver-creek a few
bucks. But wouldn’t it be far better for the wider community if people in Montgomery
County who need — or choose — to ride public transportation could apply for jobs in
and near the mall and also shop there?
And how about the mall employers and Kettering Health Network (once its hospital is
built) whose managers have to ask job applicants, “Do you have transportation?”
Wouldn’t they get something out of RTA extending its service? Shouldn’t Beavercreek
be grateful that the RTA is willing to use sales tax money generated in Montgomery
County to supply workers to Greene County?
Beavercreek can afford to be an island. Even when the day finally comes that it has to
pass an income tax — because people don’t want to keep increasing their property
taxes to pay for roads and police protection — its affluence will see it through.
But for places like Xenia, Fair-born, and — crossing over into Montgomery County —
Dayton, Trotwood, Jefferson Twp. and even Huber Heights, raising taxes isn’t such an
easy option. It’s in communities like this that Kasich’s cudgel — his Local Government
Fund budget cuts — would be brutal.
Assume, for the sake of argument, that all the state laws that encourage government
fragmentation and that pit local governments against each other were eliminated
tomorrow. The governments that would come together quickest are the ones that bring
the most needs and the least money to the table. The “haves” can afford to keep going
it alone.
As for the “have-not” governments, concentrating the poor and consolidating the
financially weakest communities isn’t a formula for making Ohio a better or cheaper
place to live.
If the state, as a whole, is going to reduce local taxes (and spending) through sharing
services regionally and through consolidation, Kasich has to spend political capital
20
telling affluent communities that their income taxes and property taxes are part of the
problem, too — even if they can afford to keep paying them.
Consolidation and sharing services is a lot like insurance. It only works if the pool isn’t
just composed of people who need a doctor.
Bus stop embargo stalls shuttle
Beavercreek Council’s moratorium delays Dayton-to-Xenia project.

BYLINE:

Mark Gokavi Staff Writer
DATE: August 26, 2011

PUBLICATION: Dayton Daily News (OH)

SECTION: Local

PAGE: B1
BEAVERCREEK — Beaver-creek’s six-month moratorium on permits for public transit
stops will delay plans by Greene CATS for a park-and-ride stop at Lofino Plaza at U.S.
35 and North Fairfield Road. Beavercreek city attorney Stephen McHugh confirmed
that all public transit stops — whether on private or public land — are covered by the
resolution.
City officials weren’t all informed about that point during Monday night’s meeting.
“I guess that’s the way it’s going to be,” said Greene CATS (Greene County Transit
Board) Executive Director Rich Schultze, who indicated he was going to present a
proposal next month for a stop connecting the Dayton-to-Xenia flex route.
“It’s too bad that it has to be delayed. I’ll keep monitoring the timeline, and as soon as
we can we’ll get something in.”
Facing a federal complaint filed by a coalition of Dayton-area churches that it may be
violating civil rights laws, the Beavercreek City Council shut down possible applications
so it can study and refine regulations.
A Federal Highway Administration spokesperson said the complaint is in the early
stages of being reviewed.
After the Greater Dayton RTA seemingly had met the original regulations for three stops
along Pentagon Boulevard near the Mall at Fairfield Commons, council members
voiced a host of added concerns.
They include criteria such as safety, maintenance, signage and ridership studies, but
also mentioned a police phone call box, surveillance cameras, extra-thick concrete
padding and heated and air-conditioned shelters.
Whether the 24 design issues on a City Council worksheet get implemented is up for
debate.
“Some of those things we’re going to have to decide whether or not we really want to be
in the criteria because should another application happen, we wouldn’t want the same
discussions to occur again and again and again,” Vice Mayor Brian Jarvis said.
21
Schultze said the Dayton-to-Xenia route had more than 700 riders in July, despite
running only once every 90 minutes.
He said the park-and-ride spot would serve people who want to go to either place and
then have the option to shop at Lofino’s when they returned.
The Xenia stop is at Xenia Towne Square, which doesn’t yet have fancy signs, shelters
or benches.
“The city of Xenia is very favorable towards this kind of service, as is the city of Fairborn, too,” Schultze said.
“We’re working on amenities for that stuff right now.”
Schultze said his organization must now wait until the design standards are set to see if
they will be prohibitive.
“I just have to assume that they’re going to be fair and reasonable,” he said. “That’s the
only way I can go into this.”
22