Do you seriously think DDOT is just going to be handed New Starts money, even with M1 Rail on board?

If so, I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.

The New Starts process is fiercely competitive, with NY City sometimes getting as much of 40% of all the grant money.

There are zero guarantees of ever getting New Starts money, and projects often have to apply several times. Detroit will be starting off at zero.

It could be years, decades or never before that money comes. So, it's understandable why a private venture committing its own money might be hesitant to completely get on board with something that may never happen. Logic says they need to make sure their project will happen, and not get anchored to something that is dependent on the whims of bureaucrats in Washington. That was the point of M1 Rail in the first place - the private sector doing what the government cannot, especially a nearly bankrupt city gripped by scandal and rolls of political red tape by the case.

Perhaps Michigan's delegation in Congress has the sway to get DTOG priority consideration for New Starts money. Maybe. And if we had ham, we could have ham and eggs, if we had eggs.

And based on what I'm reading today, the city is nearly out of cash. DTOG happens ONLY because M1 Rail exists, and because of stimulus money. In other words, the city is putting up exactly as many local dollars as it has unicorns - zero. Questions remains about M1 Rail, which I've been reporting on, but a lot more existential questions are out there about DTOG. I have questions about whether DTOG exists anywhere but on paper and in imaginations. It's easy to create projects with other people's money, but a helluva lot harder to make them a reality.