Auburn Hills may opt out of SMART

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February-18-22, 06:57 PM
mtburb

Auburn Hills may opt out of SMART

The Auburn Hills City Council is proposing a deal that would see the city opt out of SMART and replace it with a service exclusively for seniors and the disabled.

An opt-out would also mean the elimination of transit service for able-bodied people under 60 within Auburn Hills, and would also sever the Flint MTA connection at Great Lakes Crossing.

In 2018, 74% of Auburn Hills residents voted to renew SMART service, and previous renewal votes have also been strongly in favor in Auburn Hills.

Further information here: https://wdet.org/2022/02/18/auburn-h...-out-of-smart/
February-19-22, 06:46 AM
Danny

Let me guess! Those folks in their peaceful wooded valley don't want poor folks from Pontiac, Detroit and Flint to shop at Great Lakes Crossing.

The owners of GLC and Oakland U will fight tooth and nail to bring bus service and employees from Metro-Detroit to shop there. If there is will, there is way. And this problem has nothing to with the female mother from Flint used to work at the restaurant at GLC who found out this is son shot a girl at the elementary school long ago.

Livonia opt out SMART in 2007 because of a 'schemed racial code' after the urban legend of Dewann Simms. At least Meijer's in Livonia do want to D-DOT bus service in their land. The same thing will happen to Auburn Hills if GLC and Oakland U wanted D-DOT bus service to bring employment from Metro-Detroit to their high-end areas.

People of Auburn Hills, I urge you all to vote HELL NO on the SMART Bus opt out. OPT IN The SMART BUS to keep your economy afloat. Otherwise GLC and Oakland U will D-DOT busses to your area to cover the employment problems.

Of course, there is OCPTA. They have to approve A.H.C.C. public transit opt out vote. If I was in that board, I will vote NO NO NO!!! For I see these problems:

1. A.H.C.C. wants to create their own public transit system only for seniors and disabled and not for able bodied people who can get to work, home or schools and other cities.

2. It's possibly unconstitutional and a Civil Rights violation to discriminate anyone from using public transportation. You can all thank Rosa Parks for that.
February-21-22, 09:35 PM
mtburb

Auburn Hills has officially passed a resolution to opt out of SMART. Not even public outcry was enough.
February-21-22, 10:29 PM
Richard

Two things stand out in there to me

I really wish the SMART team could have gotten their act together,” said councilmember Eugene Hawkins, III in a Feb. 7 council meeting. The city said it faced communication issues and vehicle maintenance delays while dealing with SMART.

Rochester Hills resident and Auburn Hills bus rider Thomas Yazbeck doesn’t think that’s fair.
“I really think that this decision should be made by the voters of Auburn Hills because they’re the ones that are paying the millage,” says Yazbeck.

The worst one

Auburn Hills Mayor Kevin McDaniel declined WDET’s request for an interview but said in a statement: “… I’m confident that the City Council will do what it feels is in the best interest of the residents of the City of Auburn Hills.”

Whats going on in this country,the city council is supposed to be representative of the citizens it serves and not be doing what it feels is best for the citizens.

In the bigger picture it’s a village of 21,000 people,the route they decided on has $300k in start up costs and costs $300k a year to operate,so they think,verses the $65k it was costing them.

Find a way to go around them,bypass them or repackage the deal,it’s the way the ball rolls when it comes to public transportation,lots of road blocks.

Or you can play dirty and lobby somebody in Washington in order to squeeze their federal funding in other éreas in order to persuade them to revisit their view.

O hold on a second,I thought you guys voted in representatives that were supposed to be doing that for you,what exactly are they doing ?

Bet nobody knows.

Who exactly are the representatives in the region that are pro transit,forget about the politics,focus on achieving goals.
February-22-22, 06:58 PM
Danny

The rumors are true! The whole Auburn Hills City Council should be recalled come next election. By the end of 2022 Auburn Hills are out of the regional transit. What other Suburban Detroit cities want to opt out SMART Bus System?

A.H.C.C. vote to opt out SMART will have to get a final approval from OCPTA by 2/3rds majority. They may vote HELL NO! making Auburn Hills stuck of having SMART busses coming to their city.

https://www.wxyz.com/news/auburn-hil...vXPnCDrg1n_PqU

Quote:

Originally Posted by mtburb

Auburn Hills has officially passed a resolution to opt out of SMART. Not even public outcry was enough.
February-23-22, 03:50 PM
kuuma

Quote:

Originally Posted by Danny

The rumors are true! The whole Auburn Hills City Council should be recalled come next election.

Vote them out and replace them with who? other representatives who answer to rich, selfish NIMBYs who give zero craps about transportation equity to their less affluent neighbors?
February-23-22, 08:09 PM
Richard

Quote:

Originally Posted by kuuma

Vote them out and replace them with who? other representatives who answer to rich, selfish NIMBYs who give zero craps about transportation equity to their less affluent neighbors?

The little research that did I did,shows they have quite the click going on there,tough if not impossible but to crack.

I moved to Orlando in 1981,at that time of you relied on public transportation for work and had a transfer,which pretty much every ride required,you had to add 4.5 hours to your day strictly for transportation.

The buses ran on the hour,each transfer required an hour wait,they stopped running at 8 pm and started at 5 am..

Today they run every 15 minutes and you also have a choice of express buses,connecting rail,and now even high speed rail from Orlando to Miami and all points inbetween.which is being extended N.S.E.W across the state,so even if you live and a village such as this one,you can live on one end of the state and work in the other end and get to work on time.

All that time and all along that path was roadblocks and people looking for every reason in the world not to allow it to happen,but it did,set backs happen but you have to keep pushing and pushing and pushing,like you are an ant pushing over a 60’ solid concrete wall.

Perseverance does pay off.

You really have to get all the politicians across the state who are pro transit and sit them down in a room of sorts,and come up with a game plan,you need you need their clout.

Villages like in this case,you will never change them,it will suck up your energy and time trying to.Bypass them,go around them and look for another way.
February-23-22, 08:50 PM
shawring

Big UpdateDue to the timing of the Auburn Hills decision on Monday, the OCPTA will be required to approve the opt-out by two-thirds majority vote.Mayor Greimel of Pontiac believes this is "very unlikely."

An Oakland County municipality has not opted out of SMART since 1995. It is entirely possible, given adequate pushback from local leaders supportive of SMART, that the OCPTA will reject Auburn Hills's decision at their next meeting.

https://fb.watch/bmDvpPuty5/
February-23-22, 09:10 PM
Zacha341

Well if this WAS about keeping out certain segments they'll fast LEARN that people travel/ shop where they want to. With all means of conveyances [nice cars and their hoopties [raggedy vehicles].

Last I checked.
February-24-22, 07:55 AM
Scottathew

in 2018 74% of residents voted for the SMART millage.

It's obvious their residents want SMART and disappointing that their council is trying to override what people want.

It looks like the council missed the deadline to opt-out, so it might all be a moot point, for now.

Richard - Interesting information about Orlando, thanks for sharing.
May-18-22, 08:54 AM
mtburb

A judge has shut down Auburn Hills' plans to opt out of SMART.
https://www.freep.com/story/news/loc...ge/9810236002/

Quote:

Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Daniel O'Brien's order denying the city's request appears to put up a major hurdle in the city's attempt to remove itself from the Oakland County Public Transportation Authority, or OCPTA, which oversees the millage that funds the SMART bus system in the county.
May-19-22, 06:43 AM
Danny

Good for the OC Judge. There will be a balance of power in government. It's already too late for the A.H.C.C. to opt out SMART and MTA busses in their streets. Even OCPTA will take their complaints to the courts and win. Great Lakes Crossing along with on the FWY shopping hubs needed public transit to bring workers and shoppers in their areas. A.H.C.C. may find some loopholes to keep SMART and MTA busses out. But patrons who depending on public transit will tooth and nail to get where they needed at.