Renaissance Center People Mover Station

[GPCharles]

The escalator to the train level has been out, except for a few days, since September 1st. How can Detroit be a 1st class city when it can't even perform basic infrastructure maintenance?

[Atticus]

The escalator to the train level has been out, except for a few days, since September 1st. How can Detroit be a 1st class city when it can't even perform basic infrastructure maintenance?

Actually, it sounds no different than any other American “1st class” city these days.

Just about every major US city shortchanges paying for the basic maintenance on their transit systems. Washington DC had an electrical fire a few years back because of lack of maintenance, and the smoke inhalation killed a Yellow Line passenger when the train stalled. NYC isn’t any better when it comes to maintenance.

The main culprit, just like roads and infrastructure, is that the system is so massively underfunded that there isn’t enough money to do everything that is needed to maintain the system. And people here, despite paying the lowest net tax rates in over 90 years [[adjusted for inflation), still feel they are too overtaxed to pay a little more for infrastructure. And so inevitably the system fails.

[EGrant]

Remember the ill-fated renovation to this station? This project seemed improbable even in the recent glory days of Detroit development announcements

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/bu...old/103891782/

[K-slice]

Atticus is 100% correct. Infrastructure in general is neglected all over due to the combination of Americans selfishness and belief in social Darwinism.

I could go on about this for paragraphs but it mostly boils down to Reagan era fear mongering and the lingering effects of the cold war mentality that "profit makes right". Think about it, arguments against investment in mass transit, infrastructure, or even public amenities in general are almost exclusivley made by saying "government is not accountable, wastes too much money, can't be trusted", or "if it doesn't turn a profit it's not worth doing, down with socialism".

I hold out confidence that millenials and Gen Z, being mostly removed from the post WW2/Cold War mindset will act differently than their parents and reverse course on this.

[GPCharles]

Actually, they worked on it, got it running in October for 2-3 days and now it is sitting again. Never see anyone working on it.

[Daniel-J]

It could happen in any city. Problems can sometimes be less obvious. Many people think that someone just doesn't want to do their job, but it's not always true.

[sirrealone]

Depending on the age of the equipment and how standard it was, there could be difficulties in obtaining parts. A lot of that stuff isn't just laying around on the shelf.

[GPCharles]

I talked to one of the maintenance guys yesterday and he confirmed they were waiting for parts.