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Detroit streetcar project moves forward
So exactly why does bankrupt Detroit deserve to have nothing less than the very best, a California company, build their $40 million dollar a mile street car line?
Why not just continue using buses?
$135M to make a streetcar bend the corner. By the time big socialist government is done with it, add a zero on the right of that number.
Detroit is losing population faster than a junkyard dog is able to collect fleas. The city is broke. Bankrupt. Shot to hell. 100% socialist owned and operated since the 1960’s. They own this mess like Chicago owns failed gun control laws. Yet it is so convenient for them to declare total financial failure and then a week later, along comes the streetcar project. A project which most likely has been on the books for years, but the socialists couldn’t find a way to pay for it. Until now. But why does Detroit need it? Nobody of any significance needing to get to work lives there. Whoever remains is irrelevant as most likely they are on some sort of code talk program which is really welfare. There is no traffic problem. I can blast right down the middle of I-75 during rush hour at a speed unobtainable except perhaps in downtown Frog Station, WI during its rush hour or when the bar closes, which is pretty much one in the same in that town. Looks like everybody who doesn’t need Detroit and works a real job in the private sector will end up paying for this. Unless the courts declare Detroit to be null and void in the bankruptcy proceedings. If Detroit no longer exists and the land reverts back to the county and/or township jurisdiction, a streetcar is still not needed because it is now rural and there are no streets in rural places. Just town maintained roads, county maintained roads, state highways, and interstate. Of course, as always, I don’t expect any pseudo-intellectual socialists to understand any of this as it is over their heads.
This was planned well before Detroit filed for bankruptcy and very little local money is being spent.
More people tend to use rail options than bus options, this will be cheaper, cleaner & safer than buses, and with connections to their downtown People Mover (and future commuter rail which will run out of the Amtrak station), it will be a great asset. Having a downtown transit option connecting all of the essential areas of the city (such as sports complexes, Amtrak station, and downtown, plus the planned commuter train to the airport) would make this very short 3.3 mile stretch very important. It will encourage more use of the underused People Mover (decreasing operating costs of that), and with more people using the light rail than buses, it will also decrease the operating ratio on that as well. All in all this will in the long haul save money and encourage more public transit, and also reduce congestion on the highways.
Oink Oink, I smell pork
Perhaps because the operating cost per passenger-mile being lower than for busses.
Cut benefits and pensions for retired city workers? Does the new city manager agree with this project. There is liable to be a civil war in Detroit before this is over.
Cut benefits and pensions for retired city workers? Does the new city manager agree with this project. There is liable to be a civil war in Detroit before this is over.
HUH!!!
When I saw this news item I just knew it would generate an especially histrionic outburst by Jeffery G. and I was not disappointed. I don’t know why he bothers as he is just over the heads of the “pseudo-intellectual socialists.”
Seriously, I hope they get the Woodard Ave light rail built and a high speed rail line to Chicago also. The same thing that happened to Detroit happened to different degrees to many other cities in the U.S. I realize that many people don’t care much about Detroit but they should. Our cities are an important resource that we can’t afford to waste.
@Joseph - Great comments. To build on your what you wrote, it’s important to note the huge role that “socialists” have played in the development of US railroads. From the very generous land and mineral grants given to the early railroads, the government’s involvement in building the transcontinental railroad, the Chicago CREATE project, railroad dispatching during WW2, safety mandates & improvements, research… the list goes on and on. It’s been a critical role, and without it we’d probably still be riding ox carts.
But I expect that to one nut even the Louisiana Purchase is “evil socialism” because it involved the government. Call it socialism if you wish, but it was endorsed by leaders such as Jefferson and Lincoln and is an important part of what made our railroads, and our country, great.
Detroit, despite its problems, has some great gems and is well worth visiting. Their art museum is truly world class, and just outside is Greenfield Village, a monument to American ingenuity.
Regarding comments we’ve seen about “producers” and “takers”: let’s look at this via an interesting mental exercise. Put on one side the producer states (those that pay more to the federal government than they get back) and on the other side the taker states. Then divide the country into those states that have a “better” service of Amtrak (even though our “better” passenger rail system is laughable to the rest of the civilized world) and those that have minimal service. In almost every instance the producer states have better Amtrak service than the taker states. Coincidence? Or have the producer states begun to realize what Europe and Asia have long known: that investments in passenger trains make for a better economy and society?
Let’s keep America rolling!
First, let me say that we do not need Jeff down here. We already have Goose Island State Park.
Second, as long as this is private funding the issue of reduced pensions, etc., should not come in to play. The investors have no obligation to honor those payments. It may even turn out that as Detroit comes out of its financial abyss this project may then promote enough new economy for the retirees to be granted new benefits. That we do not know, but other areas have come back from financial disaster very nicely. Just think about Orange County, CA.
Uhh Jeff ol’ buddy. You think that you will “blast right down the middle of I-75 during rush hour” Well good luck with that little fantasy, ranking right up there with all the other gibberish that rolls out of your mouth.
Incidentally this project is majority funded with private money which includes the bulk of it from Wayne State University, Quicken Loans, the Ilitch companies, Penske Corp., Compuware, Chevrolet, Chrysler Group, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, the Detroit Medical Center, Henry Ford Health System, the Ford Foundation and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. The Hudson Webber Foundation has also pledged $1 million.
And by the way you wouldn’t recognize a socialist if they were standing in front of ya with a sign proclaiming themselves as one.
Please go back to goosie island and have a beer and chill.
Oh my goodness. Jeff is right…histrionics aside.
There is no justifiable rationale for this project. Consider:
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Amtrak on/offs in FY12 for Detroit totaled 66,571 (putting Detroit at a distant fifth in the top 5 Michigan stations). Even if we were to be wildly optimistic and assume that 25% of Amtrak’s originating/terminating passenger were to ride this streetcar, the numbers are still not compelling.
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Arguments made for this streetcar system are reminiscent of those made in favor of the Detroit People Mover. In Detroit, “build it and they will come” is disproved on a daily basis. That system had a projected daily ridership of 67,000. In reality, the system averages 2,000-2,500 on a daily basis.
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Multi-modal is just not compelling for a trip, be it a daily commute or a longer ride. This is true with regard to downtown for both Amtrak and the proposed SEMCOG service.
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There is no “there” there. Detroit is hollowed out: people and businesses have moved to the suburbs and beyond in great numbers. Take a cruise down Woodward on Google Street View to get a better sense of this. It is bleak.
And then there is the qualitative and unavoidable truth that Detroit is a scary, dangerous place. Scary as in a violent crime rate of 1129.13 per 100K residents - and that is what is reported. Property crime is even more prevalent.
Given this, could you, in good conscience, take your kids to a baseball game and wait around for a streetcar to take you back to a dingy Amtrak station and then wait some more? Would you come into Detroit for a business trip on Amtrak and take a streetcar downtown to your hotel?
It is noble that the Kresge Foundation and leading private businesses are investing in this project. It would be even better if these same organizations would focus on security and economic opportunity for the people of Detroit first.
Are there any extensions being contemplate yet? One the one hand, I ddon’t exactly see this and/or the proposed commuter rail line being the cure for all of Detroit’s ills, both projects surely ought to be able to make at least some contribution to Dtroit’s rebirth, such as it is. I have been reading lately about there being some silver lining of hope for the city although it obviously does have a good long way to go. As far as that people mover’s concerned, the biggest drawback that thing has always had is the fact that it’s only a one-way loop and that doesn’t help it one bit.
This is an excellent streetcar project for Detroit and it will compliment the new $600,000,000 home of the Detroit Red Wings near Woodward Avenue. There are several new buildings and businesses appearing in and around the Woodward corridor and this streetcar development will facilitate their growth. Good things are happening in Detroit. Go Tigers! Go Red Wings!
I like Detroit. It’s not as scary as its critics make out. I like streetcars. But somehow this all seems like a terrible waste of money. There must be better ways of investing 125million in the city’s regeneration.
The M-1 corridor is the most logical core of Detroit to develop. It is one of the city’s few remaining strengths,and supporting it can be a key toward the city’s rebirth. The “new Detroit” may be a city of corridors rather than a city of neighborhoods. Also for those of us to still enjoy taking Amtrak to Detroit and then VIA rail from Windsor to Toronto, the planned streetcar service would be very helpful.
Detroit needs more than more and more money. Detroit needs to reinvent itself for its’ people, to grow from the rubble to once again become the pride of the state. It needs compassionate, honest, and intelligent leadership for its’ people, to provide hope and opportunity for the everyday working man or woman. This can only be accomplished by the moral integrity and shared commitment of the leaders and the population itself. There has to be first steps and subsequent steps to get this done and if this streetcar project turns out to be a step in the right direction, so be it.