Melançon Enterprises

CMCommunications 2002 Support Amtrak

UPDATED 2002 February 7

CMCommunications 2002 “Support Amtrak” letters home

On 2002 February 7, Thursday, something I overheard on the television made me aware of the immediacy of a Congressional decision on funding Amtrak.  I’d been aware that Amtrak was supposed to become “self-sufficient” (unlike any other form of transportation) for a couple years, I guess, and I’d recently seen Dukakis interviewed on public television.  Former Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis, now head or something of Amtrak, explained how miniscule the subsidies rail transportation received really were, that Congress was going to cut them off entirely very soon, and that the way for Congress to sever government ties with Amtrak without unduly hobbling passenger rail is for Congress to pay an independent Amtrak to keep unprofitable routes open for the public good, as it already does with airlines.

I wrote an e-mail and sent very similar versions of it to my three members of Congress.  Here are the notes, in all their redundant glory:

• Representative Edward Markey, whom I had to look up, and look up my four-digit ZIP code extention, to identify as my representative, is only contactible over the Internet through an annoying method.
• Senator Edward Kennedy, by e-mail (address obtained through Project Vote-Smart).
• Senator John Kerry, by e-mail (address obtained through Project Vote-Smart).
• I also tried to send a similar e-mail to Senator Paul Wellstone of Minnesota, but the form on his web site – the only way to send an electronic text message – claimed “Access Denied” each time I tried to submit it.

Melançon Enterprises

CMCommunications 2002 Support Amtrak

© 2002