Another Nail in the Regional Transit Coffin

Just as I was making a partial recovery from the news of the Light Rail project cancellation, and fighting myself not to send a diatribe to the newspapers, I was greeted with the not wholly unexpected vote by the Troy City Council not to accept the Federal government’s offer of $8.5 million for the intermodal station at 15 Mile Rd. and Coolidge.  I have to believe that Troy residents, who, as a whole, are quite diverse, well-educated and rather well off by regional income standards, are in agreement that an important component of a critically needed regional transit system is not want they want to support.  After all they voted in 3 of the 4 no votes this past November.  You must remember that they also were willing to stop supporting one of the best public libraries in the region – barely passing a supporting millage after a previous ‘no’ vote.

A number of rather eloquent editorials have been written in criticism of the vote.  One of my favorites was by Brian Dickerson of the Free Press.  Allow me to include some of his most salient points.

“Daniels (the newly elected Troy Mayor) & Co. invoked a series of spurious arguments to defend their decision, including the claim that they were striking a blow against federal spending. (In fact, the federal money that had been earmarked for the Troy transit center will now be disbursed for similar projects elsewhere, although not necessarily in Michigan.)

But their real motive was transparent: the fear that outsiders currently disinclined to visit Troy may do so if enticed by a modern train station and convenient parking, at an incalculable cost to Troy taxpayers and their way of life.

This paranoid insularity is hardly unique to Troy, of course. It’s epidemic in Michigan, a state whose percentage of native-born residents is second to only Louisiana’s.

Nor is it unique to the relatively affluent suburbs. In fact, the closest parallel to Troy’s Mayor Daniels may be Detroit City Councilwoman JoAnn Watson, whose reflexive suspicion of suburban outsiders mirrors the concern Daniels and her allies express about transit riders from the region beyond Troy’s borders.

To dismiss this sort of thinking as bigotry is almost beside the point; it’s simply bad policy, predicated on a world that no longer exists.

There may have been a time when communities could compete effectively for residents and employers by making themselves less accessible to surrounding municipalities, but that time is a distant memory. The era when the absence of public transit was a boon to property values may never have existed at all.”

When will the Detroit region ever get beyond this parochial us vs. them – whether the them is another race or ethnicity, another social class, another religion, another geographic unit of government?

I know that the most recent transit-related decisions had to hit Dan Gilmartin more than most.  Dan is the head of the Michigan Municipal League and is on a campaign to make Michigan state, regional and community leaders understand what works.  We say we want to be a “place’ where young, educated people want to live and work.  We know the characteristics of successful states, regions and communities – bold leadership, global understanding, valuing diversity, walkability, transit, cultural economic development, and education.

Dan, please don’t let this stop the message!  I know it is not going to stop me.  We must continue to try for all those who are fighting for the cause.

 

Michigan Will Never Prosper When Politics Drives Every Decision!

You would think that gerrymandering the 14 remaining U.S. Congressional Districts and diluting Latino representation in both the Michigan House and Senate districts in Detroit (maps are available through Data Driven Detroit by emailing Askkurt@datadrivendetroit.org) would be enough damage to dole out for one election cycle. But NO! Now, because they lost the majority of votes on the 5-member Oakland County Apportionment Commission, the Republicans in the legislature are changing the rules that govern the redistricting process for county commissioners across the state – but really only for Oakland County!  How dare they! They have legislated a reduction in the number of seats for counties over 50,000 population to 21. Then they have taken the responsibility for the redistricting process, in counties of 1 million+ population, from the Apportionment Commission and given it to the legislature. [Wayne County is not affected because of its charter status.] This is the most incredibly shameful display of political chicanery that I have witnessed in a long while – and that is saying a lot.  They want us to believe that the focus of this is a cost saving move and has no tie to politics.  And, surprise, surprise, L. Brooks Patterson parrots the thoughtful cost-saving approach in his declaration of full support. Both the Republican-run House and Senate have approved the legislation.

I started writing this as this bill was heading toward the Governor’s desk.  I was waiting to see if Rick Snyder is truly about moving Michigan forward or just another politically driven “leader.”  Well…he has now signed the bill and shown his true colors.  I am amazed how quickly non-politicians such as Snyder and Bing are so quickly lured to the “dark side.”  Stop trying to convince us otherwise – you are politicians pure and simple and your decisions come down to your party and not the people.