RoboCop won't keep our best and brightest here; Woodward Light Rail might

Your move, creep!

Today’s news was peppered with puffery about the ridiculous flap over the Detroit RoboCop statue. But if you were diligent, you could find real news in the form of this story on the exciting light rail project that looks (finger crossed) like it might actually happen along Woodward Avenue in Detroit. There’s a video, too.

Yes, it’s expensive. So are roads. So is owning, maintaining and insuring a personal vehicle (which 25 percent of Detroiters don’t have). Light rail critics don’t seem to have any alternatives better than shuffling along with a broken status quo that isn’t working for many, many people in this proud city and the inner-ring suburbs that neighbor it. “Just say no” is not a plan.

RoboCop won’t keep our young people from fleeing to cool cities like Chicago. A modern public transportation system might. This is a start.

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Weeks-long China traffic jam puts Michigan's construction season tie-ups to shame

In China, a 62-mile long traffic jam is entering its 10th day. Hopefully, this will get the attention of the Michigan Department of Transportation. Despite steadfast efforts this summer, MDOT – like the rest of the country – is falling behind the Chinese.

Michigan’s summer traffic tie-ups are legendary, but the Chinese traffic jam is now the gold standard and the envy of all developed nations.

It’s not that our elected officials aren’t trying. From the advent of the Model T, Michigan has steadfastly resisted investing money in public transportation options that might reduce road congestion; squabbled over who might control hypothetical regional transportation authorities; and created cities and suburbs that require personal vehicles to get to jobs and shopping centers.

But it’s not nearly enough, as China’s latest world-leading achievement proves. So we need to try harder.

We can start by getting rid of these do-gooders, Michigan by Rail, who are hosting more than a dozen public forums this summer and fall on the future of rail transportation in Michigan.

Whatever you do, please do not encourage them by checking their web site, finding an upcoming forum near you and giving them your input, which in turn will be given to MDOT and federal planners as they try and improve public transit options. And by all means, don’t let your elected officials know that you support public transit as a convenient alternative to building more and bigger roads.

If we want to catch up with China, we’ve got a lot of work to do.
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Toxic cocktail of sewage overflows among worst in Metro Detroit rivers in 25 years, says the Freep

This spring’s heavy rains resulted in some of the most voluminous dumping of raw and partially treated sewage into Southeast Michigan’s rivers in the past 25 years according to today’s Detroit Free Press: http://bit.ly/cRQVcm

Two local beaches had bacteria counts 1,000 times higher than levels considered safe. More than 10 Metro Detroit beaches were closed last week due to the pollution.

I know this is a bit repetitive with one of last week’s posts http://bit.ly/bLX2eu. But does talking about raw feces in our rivers ever get old? No, I didn’t think so!

We consider ourselves a pretty civilized society, here in the early 21^st Century in the most powerful nation in the world. How bizarre that we’re still discharging huge quantities of what the Freep’s Steve Neavling calls  “…a toxic cocktail of rainwater, fertilizers, human and industrial waste, chemicals, parasites and other pollutants…” directly into our neighborhood creeks and rivers.

The Freep story is the first I’ve heard of State Rep. Sarah Roberts’ bill to “require health officials to notify the public immediately of overflows and contamination on a popular web site or other medium that is easily accessible.”  It sounds reasonable to me, as long as we remind ourselves that notifying people isn’t a substitute for fixing the problem.

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