A few years ago, leaders of some of Detroit’s top regional organizations came together to launch One D, a collaborative initiative to identify, monitor, and advocate change on the top regional challenges facing greater Detroit:
- Economic Prosperity,
- Educational Preparedness,
- Race Relations,
- Regional Transit, and
- Quality of life.
One D is lead by the CEOs of eight regional civic organizations: Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau; Detroit Regional Chamber; United Way of Southeastern Michigan; Cultural Alliance of Southeastern Michigan; Detroit Renaissance (now Business Leaders for Michigan); New Detroit; and SEMCOG/Metropolitan Affairs Coalition.
Several of these CEOs have recently written about why Regional Transit is such a critical issue. While they voice different reasons, their support for regional transit is unanimous. Read all three:
- Mike Brennan, President and CEO, United Way for Southeastern Michigan
- "True to our mission, the United Way’s perspective on regional transit stems from access to help. Lack of adequate, efficient public transportation consistently hinders the efforts of the United Way and other community organizations working to assist people in need. As such, the lack of a comprehensive regional transit system has been a major barrier to the improvement of the health of individuals and families. . . ."
- Doug Rothwell, Businesses for Michigan
- "Regional transit can be an important economic development driver; as we work to increase business activity we need an improved transit system to facilitate that. As the economy grows, so will the region’s tax bases. . . ."
- Paul Tait, Executive Director, Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG)
- "Of the country’s top 25 metropolitan areas, Detroit is the only one without some form of rapid transit. That puts us at a competitive disadvantage in attracting the “knowledge base worker”, those in their late 20’s early 30’s who consistently rank transit high on their list of criteria for which Metro regions they will move to. . . .
- "In short, mass transit is part of the overall quality of life fabric that, frankly, is missing here. . . ."
One D also has two videos of other regional leaders discussing the importance of transit:
- Mark Petroff, President & CEO of Marketing Associates
- Matt Clayson, Chair of Leadership Next at the United Way for Southeastern Michigan
Check out all these great links, then add your own thoughts and comments!