foolmenot.comThe Grand Rapids Press bought the Governor’s story when she said signing the West Michigan mass-transit bill would hurt Wayne County… Not so- by vetoing the bill she has written off West Michigan voters in her quest to be re-elected, but she has solidified the Detroit area by showing “she cares” for them... It will also not hurt her as she attempts to rebuild her relationship with Kwame Kilpatrick, Detroit Mayor, whom she had at one time also written off.
The “Press” makes a good case for the Governor to have signed the bill, which in effect exposed the Governor’s politicizing it… The “Press” should have said so!
Full article follows…
Friday, December 30, 2005
Gov. Jennifer Granholm's year-end gift to West Michigan turns out to be a large lump of coal. Her veto of a mass-transit bill Tuesday, right after Christmas, showed no care for this region's needs and even less consideration for the legitimate requests of leaders here.
Deciding factors clearly were Wayne County politics and the priorities of mass transit there.
The effect of Ms. Granholm's veto, unless overcome next year, will be to deprive the Grand Rapids area of a $14.4 million grant offered by Congress and to stall planning for a major mass-transit improvement in Kent County.
The money is in the new six-year federal transportation law and is for use toward continued planning of a county "fixed guideway" rapid transit service. This would be a light rail, trolley or guided bus corridor extending from downtown either along South Division Avenue to 68th Street or on a yet-to-be-determined path to Ford International Airport. The project has been under study for the last four years, led by the six-city Interurban Transit Partnership (ITP) -- "The Rapid" -- and helped by federal funds obtained through U.S. Rep. Vernon Ehlers, R-Grand Rapids.
The bill vetoed by Ms. Granholm was designed to qualify Kent County for the new federal grant, while taking no money from the state Treasury. Sponsored by Rep. Jerry O. Kooiman, R-Grand Rapids, the bill merely would have amended the law under which the ITP is authorized, "Public Act 196," to permit a public vote at some time -- perhaps six or eight years away -- on a 25-year property tax to fund the project. Public Act 196 currently allows only five-year millages. The possibility of the longer time frame is needed to qualify for the $14.4 million.
Grand Rapids Mayor George K. Heartwell, learning of the governor's plan to veto, pleaded with her not to do so. In going ahead, Ms. Granholm said she objected to the "crass political motivation" that limited the measure to Kent County "while leaving behind the rest of the state." She specifically noted that the bill doesn't help the Detroit area in obtaining a $100 million federal grant for planning a rapid transit line from Detroit to Ann Arbor.
The complaint about the Kent County limitation is confounding. Ms. Granholm has signed scores of bills addressing local needs, most recently one two weeks ago that offers a tax break to a warehouse in Constantine. Hundreds of laws are written to serve only Detroit. Somehow a bill designed to benefit Kent County is a problem -- a political one -- for her.
But the Kent County-specific language is plainly appropriate. The ITP is the only Michigan transit authority organized under Public Act 196 that has rapid-transit funds in the federal transportation law. Only Kent County is advancing on such a plan. No other county. No other city. The federal law does earmark funds for the Detroit area, but no transit authority exists under Public Act 196 or any other statute to undertake and fund such a project. Indeed, the Detroit area has failed at least nine times to come together on a regional transit system. For the governor now to hold up the Grand Rapids/Kent County project because nothing similar is in the works for Detroit is as unfair and as it is damaging.
A major reason for Detroit's deep economic and social problems is the long-standing lack of a rapid-transit system. Grand Rapids and Kent County are trying to avoid that mistake. The governor ought to be in full support, leading the charge for precisely what Rep. Kooiman is trying to accomplish. Instead, narrow partisanship over the bill was reflected in almost united Democratic opposition. Grand Rapids' Rep. Michael Sak was among just three House Democrats voting for the bill.
Deep divisions in Southeast Michigan over mass transit won't be settled anytime soon. Grand Rapids and Kent County should not have to suffer for that lack of consensus. Another try on the Kooiman legislation must be made next year and the governor must find a way to support it. This is not about denying Wayne County. It is about advancing on an opportunity in Kent County. The governor of the state -- of all of Michigan -- needs to help on that.