So...M1 Officially Having Money Issues Now...

[rondinjp]

Inching closer to possible reality...

http://www.clickondetroit.com/blob/v...tement-pdf.pdf

[MikeyinBrooklyn]

What "free money" are you talking about? It's not "free money." We give the federal government a significant portion of our income for the express purpose of funding public programs and infrastructure, specifically things like public transit.

I meant a few things by the term "free money." I never meant to imply there is any such thing- of course there isn't- only that those wanting to spend said money would not be the ones to have to produce it in any way. The federal budget is roughly a third borrowed money. Other people will have to pay that back one day, the current spenders are not themselves on the hook.
M1Rail officials, if given [[more) federal money, will not need to have done anything differently, paid any more taxes, or improved the project in any way. That makes it "free money" as far as they are concerned.

I also reject entirely the notion that any group/city/state or whatever is "just getting back what they paid in". All federal spending should be spent for national, or at least interstate, needs. We have state and local governments to raise and spend money for state and local projects. Detroit transit is a local project. Just because the feds wrongly [[and unsustainably) fund other local transit projects doesn't make it right. Also, just because the feds spend the money doesn't mean they have the money! The feds don't have any extra money for transit projects. Unlike all the other governments, they can borrow and spend as they wish, regardless of ability to pay it off. And they can print money.

Detroit and Michigan have enough money here, public and private sector, to complete any reasonable transportation project. If the public decides not to raise and spend that money, that isn't a reason to qualify for national money, regrettable as it might be. If local voters reject local transit, it does not morph into a national issue, and thus an appropriate receiver of federal money.