Oakland County Votes NO on County Wide Bus Tax

Trainman · November-30-09, 09:48 PM

http://detnews.com/article/20091130/...-SMART-millage

A small state fuel tax should be passed to help SMART in my opinion and also we should not build larger freeways in my opinion.

**rjlj** · November-30-09, 10:44 PM

Agreed 110% Trainman on your statement about larger freeways. MDOT already has plans to widen I-75 through Oakland County. The 9 Mile Bridge that was blown up this summer has been rebuilt to accommodate 4 lanes in each direction. Vehicle travel has seemed to decline in recent years during rush hour between 696 and M59, in my opinion. Investment in widening roads is 1960's thinking which has put Michigan large cities in the predicament that they are now in. The road construction companies really have a hold on Michigan politicians. We need a change in leadership direction and MDOT needs oversight.

MichMatters · November-30-09, 10:48 PM

They are trying to strangle it; that's really the only explanation knowing that the ridership is growing [[and will continue to grow), yet the revenue won't be able to keep up with the growth, even with cuts. I know I shouldn't be surprised or disappointed that Patterson used his bully-pulpit to help shoot this down, but I am. I really don't get why we get story after story of the "new" Patterson. He's the same as ever, with the difference being that circumstances have changed around him. Between this and Bing cutting back on transit in the city, things aren't looking great. I can't think of a successful regional transit system in another major metropolitan area where they rely so heavily on individual cities and municipalities to shoulder the weight of a regional system. I suspect this is not a bug, but a feature...

**Novine** · December-01-09, 06:40 AM

This isn't dead yet. Watch for this to come up again when the full Commission votes.

MichMatters · December-01-09, 07:31 AM

The general government committee killed the county-wide millage proposal, and sent a simple renewal of the current millage for those communities that are already in the system forward for the whole commission to vote on. I'm not sure how much more clear it could have been. And, I seriously doubt that anyone would try to slip the county-wide millage proposal back in during the full commission as an amendment [[if that's even possible), and even if it is and they do, it'd never be passed. The only way anything like this even begins to have a chance is if it comes in the form of a citizens initiative, and even that seems unlikely.

**Novine** · December-01-09, 12:59 PM

Schwartz said he would bring it up again with the full commission. He has at least one Republican vote which should give him a majority.

**313WX** · December-01-09, 02:07 PM

You gotta love "We hate anything that remotely resembles urbanism so fuck whoever does!" Oakland County.

**EMG** · December-01-09, 02:44 PM

Why those appalling, miserable, selfish scumbags in Oakland county, unwilling to pay for buses the vast majority of them will never use! My oh my, I just can't understand it....

**Detroitnerd** · December-01-09, 02:52 PM

Well, I don't get a line-item say-so on my taxes, but I'll wager that my taxes, paid in Detroit, go to fund a highway system I seldom use, would rather not use and think is wasteful. Boy, I wish they let me vote on that!

**Danny** · December-01-09, 03:03 PM

Detroit News quoted. "Instead, the general government committee approved a resolution recommending the full board of Oakland County commissioners approve a 4-year renewal millage for SMART service in communities that already pay for the service. "

Good, Then I'll will approve it for the 2010 SMART Bus Millage. VOTE YES or lose your ride on SMART Bus.

"Of Oakland's 61 communities, 38 have opted out of SMART bus service, leaving mostly southeast Oakland County with the tax burden and the service routes."

Maybe those cities don't want minorities to hang around at their homes and businesses! No fair to them and No fair to the folks in Southern Oakland County Cities.

WORD FROM THE STREET PROPHET

That's White Detroit for you!

Neda Soltani, the political liberator

**313WX** · December-01-09, 06:32 PM

Originally Posted by EMG

Why those appalling, miserable, selfish scumbags in Oakland county, unwilling to pay for buses the vast majority of them will never use! My oh my, I just can't understand it....

That would be somewhat dandy IF these same people weren't willing to pay for more road infrastructure when traffic isn't hardly bad, and on average decreasing [[even during the peak of rush hour). Plus they can barely pay for the road infrastructure they have now.

It's 2009 folks, not 1969. We need to invest in alternative forms of transportation or the entire region [[long term) is doomed.

**NoHeartAnthony** · December-01-09, 07:58 PM

Originally Posted by EMG

Why those appalling, miserable, selfish scumbags in Oakland county, unwilling to pay for buses the vast majority of them will never use! My oh my, I just can't understand it....

Sometimes one has to sacrifice some money for the greater good, even if they themselves don't have use for the buses.

**EMG** · December-01-09, 10:57 PM

Originally Posted by NoHeartAnthony

Sometimes one has to sacrifice some money for the greater good, even if they themselves don't have use for the buses.

In this case, I disagree. If it is about "the greater good," then logically the resources will be proportionally dedicated to the road infrastructure that 99% of the people use rather than buses that 1% use.

MichMatters · December-01-09, 11:19 PM

Yeah, you strangle your mass transit system and make it harder every year to ride it, and then complain "why isn't anyone riding it?" We call this a self-fulfilling prophecy.

But, in this case, in spite of the county's strangling of SMART, people continue to ride it in record numbers, but they'll only be able to do that for so much longer. If one is looking for public programs and institutions you can drown in a bathtub, nothing one asks can be seen as a legitimate question, anymore.

**313WX** · December-02-09, 11:17 PM

I'm sure they won't be singing that same tune when gas tops $6.00 in a couple years and the road commission is so strapped for cash they can't treat all the snow covered roads or fix the potholes. With a solar minimum, we're basicaly headed towards another decade or so of predominately cold/snowy winters [[think 1970s).

**English** · December-02-09, 11:36 PM

Originally Posted by 313WX

I'm sure they won't be singing that same tune when gas tops $6.00 in a couple years and the road commission is so strapped for cash they can't treat all the snow covered roads or fix the potholes. With a solar minimum, we're basicaly headed towards another decade or so of predominately cold/snowy winters [[think 1970s).

You beat me to it. I was just about to post the bolded.

$4 gas during the summer of 2008 was what it took to keep my car parked. I rode the AATA all over Ann Arbor and was planning to Amtrak back and forth between here and the city. As a grad student, I simply couldn't afford to fill up the tank of my subcompact and eat.

Maybe everyone in the O.C. is rich, like on TV. At least, as a kid in the D, that's what I grew up thinking...

**Russix** · December-03-09, 12:59 AM

Originally Posted by EMG

Why those appalling, miserable, selfish scumbags in Oakland county, unwilling to pay for buses the vast majority of them will never use! My oh my, I just can't understand it....

This makes a really good point, with the system struggling to barely stay afloat, nothing was marketed to incentivize this. The extra revenue generated from this was not going to bring new routes and services into places not already served by SMART. It was to keep the wheels from falling off and minimize the cutting that the system is potentially facing now.