So, they work at this for nearly five years, now, non-stop. As recently as a few months ago, LaHood & Co. are grinning ear-to-ear saying the thing is imminent while the entire time, LaHood and Bing are behind closed doors taking the piss out on the idea. As recently as
monday, the Detroit City Council was interviewing candidates to put on the board to get the project moving:
Quote:
Detroit City Council interviews candidates for Woodward Light Rail authority
Jonathan Oosting | MLive.com
December 12, 2011
The Detroit City Council held a series of public job interviews today as it looks to fill two seats on the new authority that will oversee the $550-million Woodward Avenue Light Rail project.
Mayor Dave Bing recently handed off the light rail project to the Detroit Economic Growth Corp, and while various parties argued over the management structure, Council eventually backed the formation of a seven-member authority that will help plan, construct and manage the 9.3-mile line.
The mayor and council will each have two representatives on the public authority, while the Michigan Department of Transportation, the DEGC and the private M1 Rail consortium -- which is providing roughly $100 million in initial funding -- will have one appointment each.
Council interviewed six candidates for its two positions today.
...
Council will vote on the appointments tomorrow, with each member casting a ballot for two candidates and then approving a resolution two appoint the top two vote-getters.
"I think this was probably the best batch of interviews that I remember from anytime we were searching for candidates," said Councilwoman Saunteel Jenkins. "It's good to have to choose from a lot of good candidates instead of having to scrape the bottom of the barrel."
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What has changed? This idea that the powers-that-be
just figured out Detroit wouldn't be able to completely fund operations is total bullsh%t, sorry. And, if the operating money is the problem, wouldn't regionalizing the system solve this? The capital costs have never been the problem. The Feds have gifted this project
hundreds-of-millions of dollars for the construction of the project over many years, now. This is not to mention that the city council as recently as may approved the sell of $125 million in bonds to keep moving this thing forward, and also the millions from the private backers of this.
Anyone who doesn't feel cheated or duped by this isn't being genuine. This is a complete shock and a shameless double-cross. To hell with Bing and Snyder and LaHood and the whole lot of them. You literally use five years to build up massive anticipation for this project, and in a single, backroom deal, you dash everyone's hopes a few days before Christmas?
Excuse my French, but F%ck Detroit. Let her go bankrupt, already. Good luck with the BRT, too. Leave it to Metro Detroit to build up something to its literal peak for years, and then half-ass it or let if fail altogether. There are probably but a few metro areas in this world that can snatch defeat from the jaws of victory with such consistency and with such awe-inspiring skill.
Epicfail, Detroit;
epic fail.