Thanks so much to everyone who called and emailed their legislators and those who came up to Lansing with us to speak out for Regional Transit! It was a very impressive hearing demonstrating enormous and diverse support for the RTA.
There was powerful testimony from business and political leaders from across southeast Michigan, including top leaders of Macomb, Washtenaw, and Oakland Counties, plus the City of Detroit, captured by MichiganNow. M-1 Rail’s Matt Cullen said:
“Public transportation benefits all Americans whether they use it or not. It gets people to the places that are important to them: to jobs, school, health care and more. Public transportation helps to create and retain jobs. It revitalizes business districts and allows employers to tap into a larger work force. It stimulates commerce and increases property values."
Attorney and business owner Andrew Basile made an especially powerful case for RTA and improving transit, also captured by MichiganNOW.
"If you look at the Woodward Corridor between downtown Detroit and Pontiac. If you think about it it’s a 3 mile wide and 22 mile long city. That territory contains all the assets of an extremely competitive mid sized American city. I’m talking about downtown Detroit and Birmingham and Royal Oak as well. They’re like slivers of successful urban neighborhoods you’d find in Chicago or San Francisco.
We have all the assets, without spending a dollar, on the ground, in reality, all the assets of a successful mid-sized city like Minneapolis. But they’re deployed in an awkward, linear fashion. They’re too spaced apart. There’s not a critical mass. That’s why this transit line is so vital."
Business leaders who didn’t attend in person sent a public letter of support for the RTA to leaders of the legislature, as reported in the Detroit News:
"Here in Southeast Michigan, there is great momentum to finally create a Regional Transit Authority and build the modern, transit system that Metro Detroit needs. This is an opportunity we must seize to grow our economy and prosper as a region. Effective public transportation cannot stop at a municipal boundary any more than a highway can serve its purpose by stopping at the end of a city limit."
Curt Guyette from the Metro Times summarized the day the best:
"The breadth of support for the plan, especially in a region that can be as polarized as southeast Michigan, is stunning. . . . It’s the business community. It’s local executives and elected leadership in southeast Michigan. It’s people. It’s labor. It’s everybody. It’s all the major interests who understand this is critical to rebuilding Michigan.
"So why has the legislation been bottled up in both the state House and Senate all year? Because Republican leadership has kept the legislation from coming up for a vote."
What’s next? Convince that leadership to schedule the vote!
Please tell Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville to schedule the RTA vote!!
Then urge all your friends to do the same!