Does it make sense for Walled Lake to opt out of SMART?

[Jman]

I was pointing out the 2% ridership issue as most on this board feels it's a racial issue.

The voters didn't want to pay the extra millage because they didn't use the service.

We voted for the millage as both my wife and I worked downtown and used Smart 5 days a week.

Now that I'm retired I will vote against. I'm sure that this board will feel that I am a racist because of any future vote.

[Scottathew]

We voted for the millage as both my wife and I worked downtown and used Smart 5 days a week.

Now that I'm retired I will vote against.

But wouldn't you want to continue services so that other people could use them?

With that kind of thinking it's hard to get stuff done!

[Jman]

But wouldn't you want to continue services so that other people could use them?

With that kind of thinking it's hard to get stuff done!

While it is true that it will be harder to get stuff done, I have given to many causes all of my life.

Unfortunately now that I'm on a fixed income, I need to watch every penny so it is hard for me to

do as much for others as I have in the past.

[Scottathew]

While it is true that it will be harder to get stuff done, I have given to many causes all of my life.

Unfortunately now that I'm on a fixed income, I need to watch every penny so it is hard for me to

do as much for others as I have in the past.

Fair enough reasoning!

[cramerro]

I was pointing out the 2% ridership issue as most on this board feels it's a racial issue.

The voters didn't want to pay the extra millage because they didn't use the service.

We voted for the millage as both my wife and I worked downtown and used Smart 5 days a week.

Now that I'm retired I will vote against. I'm sure that this board will feel that I am a racist because of any future vote.

Totally understood - it's a community's choice [[under the current system) to opt out for any reason. If anything, I was bringing up the fact that DDOT has restored service from/to Detroit as a way to refute the racial issue as a valid factor. I think the idea was used to sway some voters, but certainly not saying it was th scare tactic that won over all those people who voted against.

What we do have is a systemic issue where the approach to transit, including opting-out, focuses the question on what does it do for ME instead of what does it do for our region. Of course, if you're given the choice to not have your community fund a system that you don't use [[knowing that it will live on without your support), it's a whole different decision than if a NO vote means the whole system is unfunded.

Given all that, I can appreciate your decision and rationale. I'd hope voters would consider the choice from a different prespective if it was a region-wide yes/no vote instead of just Livonia.

[Russix]

I was pointing out the 2% ridership issue as most on this board feels it's a racial issue.

The voters didn't want to pay the extra millage because they didn't use the service.

We voted for the millage as both my wife and I worked downtown and used Smart 5 days a week.

Now that I'm retired I will vote against. I'm sure that this board will feel that I am a racist because of any future vote.

Thats really fucked up. This is the most selfish horseshit I've ever read on here, but I'm not really surprised that it's coming from a Livonia resident.