Cities from Coast to Coast to Celebrate Transit Equity Day on February 4, Rosa Parks’s Birthday
Registration Now Open for Sixth Annual Transit Equity Day
Washington, DC, Nov. 16, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Today, the Labor Network for Sustainability announced that registration is open for the sixth annual Transit Equity Day, which will take place on Saturday, February 4th, 2023.
Transit Equity Day is a national day of action that highlights defiant events by local transit organizers, labor unions, and climate justice advocates to promote equity in public transportation. The actions range from press conference declarations of February 4th as Transit Equity Day to in-person volunteer projects like Buffalo’s snow removal project aiding pedestrians to hazardous bus stops.
As a result of this activism, many localities across the country have declared February 4th as Transit Equity Day. These include the state of Wisconsin; the state of Connecticut; Arlington County, Virginia; Los Angeles, California; Houston, Texas; and more.
Bakari Height, the project manager for Transit Equity Day and organizer for the Labor Network for Sustainability, hosts a livestream of all of these projects every February 4th, and speaks on the ultimate goals for the network. Height stated:
“Rosa Parks was more than just a figurehead of the Civil Rights Movement—she led a charge of young activists fighting for better equitable rights and service on public transportation. That is exactly what we’re continuing to fight for. Public transit isn’t just a Northeast or West Coast amenity. Many growing cities down South, in the Midwest, and even in the Great Plains are discovering the power of public transit not just as an amenity, but as a way to help lower carbon emissions and create sustainable jobs in electrification of these transit vehicles. But politics are still blocking the progress of its growth, which hinders public transit riders’ mobility to even get to the grocery store or a doctor’s appointment. We are building this network with your voices calling for better transit equity in neighborhoods and cities where cars have historically dominated the conversation. We ultimately want to grow the power of the movement for affordable, accessible public transportation—for everyone.”
The event is organized by the Transit Equity Network, a national group of local labor unions, transit rider unions, community organizations, and environmental groups including the Labor Network for Sustainability, Sierra Club, Institute for Policy Studies, and more.
Transit Equity Day has attracted many big names like Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, Georgia Congressman Hank Johnson, Amalgamated Transit Union Worldwide President John Costa, Transport Workers Union President John Samuelsen, and Federal Transit Administration Administrator Nuria Fernandez.
For more information:
- Learn more about the Transit Equity Network and Transit Equity Day, including how to register your action, please visit their website at https://www.labor4sustainability.org/transit-equity-2023/
- Register a #TransitEquityDay2023 event here: https://actionnetwork.org/event_campaigns/transit-equity-day-2023/
- Sponsor Transit Equity Day: https://sites.google.com/labor4sustainability.org/ted2023/sponsor-transit-equity-day
- Email [email protected] with questions
ABOUT THE LABOR NETWORK FOR SUSTAINABILITY
Founded in 2009, the Labor Network for Sustainability sets out to be a relentless force for urgent, science-based climate action by building a powerful labor-climate movement to secure an ecologically sustainable and economically just future where everyone can make a living on a living planet. In March 2021, the organization released “Workers and Communities in Transition: A Report of the Just Transition Listening Project,” which chronicles the voices of workers and community leaders affected by factory closings and other major shifts in local and regional economies. Learn more at www.labor4sustainability.org.
Attachments
CONTACT: Bakari Height Labor Network for Sustainability 678-805-7082 [email protected]
