Eddie A. Perez, Mayor

-----MEDIA ADVISORY-----

MAYOR PEREZ RIDES THE BUS WITH HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS TO HONOR ROSA PARKS

WHEN:                       Thursday, December 1, 2005 at 1:30 p.m.

WHERE:                     Weaver High School

415 Granby Street in Hartford’s Blue Hills neighborhood

Mayor Eddie Perez, along with educators and students at Weaver High School, will board a CTTRANSIT bus to honor the late and great Rosa Parks.  During the ride, the group will discuss how Mrs. Parks changed history when she refused to give up her seat to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama, sparking the modern day Civil Rights movement.

Mayor Perez says, “Our young people today need to understand how by sitting down, Rosa Parks stood up for all of us.  I hope that by taking this ride together, we can all reflect on her profound impact on all of our lives.”

Rosa Parks died on October 25^th at the age of 92.  In her honor, CTTRANSIT is participating in a nationwide program that will display informational signs on the inside of buses, telling the story of Mrs. Parks’ extraordinary life.  Destination signs on the outside of the bus will also pay tribute to the 50^th anniversary of this landmark day in history.

The veteran driver for the Mayor’s tour with students will be Brenda Binns, who is originally from Alabama.