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Sure, I agree 100%, empty is worse! But just because we don't want empty doesn't mean we should throw out all standards!! And it's not an all-or-nothing choice. Wouldn't it be cheaper to edit out the...

Ok, I have no doubt that Dan Gilbert's investments are a good thing for the city. But I have to agree with the critics:
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I completely agree, most often public hearings are designed to minimize meaningful public comment. Even if the process were more democratic, it might produce the same results unless people are...

Interesting. I am trained as a transportation engineer, and I have to admit my profession is guilty of poor communication with the public. We're used to trying to speak persuasively to...

Well, that's probably exactly the time he'll be gone. Lucky for him, not so lucky for those who outlive him.

I would say Oakland has some to gain and a little to lose. Like casscorridor said, the gain is a better chance at a stable future; the cost is a very small amount in taxes.

But generally, you're...

Corktownyuppie, I think your assessment is just about right on, and Detroitnerd exactly articulated the one point that was missing. If the debate with Category 1 people were merely about economics,...

We need a march. The public's voice has not been heard in this discussion. Count me in.

Next step is to lobby for establishment an RTA. The timing for this is right: the legislation will be up...

http://www.freep.com/article/20111214/NEWS06/111214023/Detroit-s-U-S-reps-push-Washington-give-light-rail-another-chance?odyssey=mod|breaking|text|FRONTPAGE

Also, just wondering, hypothetically, what would happen if a tax to fund operating costs for a transit system were put up for a vote across the region? Would it pass?

Voters across the country...

Regardless of whether M1 was ever financially viable, the way this decision was handled is maddening. Whatever happened to transparency in governing? Why was there not a public discussion here? Why...

Wow, this is hugely disappointing. I moved back here in part because the light rail actually looked promising. I made it seem like living here could be tolerable. Now maybe it will never be...

Yes, yes, you're right we need places for everyone! Public places should welcome everybody. I would hope the placemaking crowd understands this. The point is that young people are more mobile than...

If we're talking about general trends, you're right, but Leinberger's point isn't that the exurbs are already dead, it's that there are signs of future death. Some of those signs are the unbuilt...

I think you got it about right.. and you're right the forces against transit are rather depressing. But wouldn't an efficient, modern bus system be better than what we have now?

Wouldn't it be...

There are BRT systems in India, China, and South Africa, among others. There are fewer in Europe because European cities already have rail. And a lot of European cities have recently built BRT-like...

BRT is, in fact, real, and quite serious--at least in the rest of the world. The real joke is metro Detroit's repeated failures to build anything resembling regional transit. The rest of the world is...

http://www.freep.com/article/20111026/BLOG2505/111026019/Rapid-transit-rolling-our-way-?odyssey=nav|head

There are a lot of reasons Detroit is not Curitiba, but at least he's right that a Regional...

I'm kind of confused about whether Snyder believes this would actually be successful. Of course the idea of higher-speed bus is real [[not just an onion piece)--and often successful: there's great bus...

How can we get other people to make the connection you just did? I'm always confused by people who will happily use transit when they go on vacation, who will rave about how much fun they had walking...

Seriously. When the Boomers are too old to drive maybe they'll see the benefit of living in a place with a grocery store down the street and a nice bus to take them to their doctors appointments....

English, well said, I agreed with everything you said--until here. I want to speak up as one of "today's young people" who want to look forward rather than dwell on the same black-white story of the...

To be fair, the reason SEMCOG has so few accomplishments is not because they are big. It's because they don't have any real power. They are not a government, just a loose association of govts.
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Sure, Walmart is very efficient, but I'm not sure I would want it running my schools. Even if a large public entity could be as efficient as Walmart, I'm not sure its' a good model. There's more to...

Good question...it'd be great if everyone in the city and suburbs could realize they're in it together.

It might help to break out the several issues here:

-efficiency. Some services are...