The city officials will have to vote by the end of this month if they wish to opt out of SMART (Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation), but council members are torn about whether to continue with the regional bus service.
At a Saturday morning study session, former Mayor Jerry Ellis stopped by to say, in no uncertain terms, that it was time to dump SMART.
“I’ve been studying this for 10 years,” he said. “I’m a firm believer in regional transportation, and SMART is not regional transportation at all. It’s a bus to nowhere, it doesn’t work.”
He said the city has been staying in the system for 10 years hoping that things will improve, and it just has not happened. The only way to move forward, he said, is to opt out of SMART and get in tune with whatever system is brought to replace it. If Farmington Hills, and other cities, don’t let SMART die—there will be no changes.
“I urge the city to opt out, we’ll have a year to figure out how to move people who use the system around,” Ellis said.
Council member Ken Massey said that residents have long supported SMART because they believe a regional transportation system is a good thing.
“If DDOT (Detroit Department of Transportation) implodes, and I think it will, this will give Lansing an opportunity to build another system for the area,” Massey said.
Council member Richard Lerner said if voters were asked to approve the current millage amount, which generates about $2.1 million, the city would have about $1 million over and above the cost of a Dept. of Special Services proposal for creating a local system that would provide equal, and in some cases, better service. While all agreed that SMART was not filling the bill, some council members were not enthusiastic about opting out, without consulting the voters.
“I don’t see a lot of people riding the bus, but the voters overwhelmingly support SMART,” council member Michael Bridges said. “I don’t want to take this decision out of the voters’ hands.”
Officials discussed putting a local millage on the ballot as well as the SMART renewal, but that has its own pitfalls. Even if city residents vote against SMART renewal, it would still go through if the majority of Oakland County residents approve it. That would put two millages into effect if both pass.
Mayor Barry Brickner said he was leery of trashing SMART as a way to get the state to replace it with a better alternative.
“I’m not in favor of the chaos theory of local government,” he said, “where you stop something and hope someone else will react.”
The SMART decision will have to be made on or before the council’s Jan. 23 meeting.
Clarifications: Council member Richard Lerner's statement regarding the amount of money the city would have if voters were asked to approve the current SMART millage amount has been clarified. Also, opting out of the SMART system requires a vote of the council.
There is some confusing information in this article. The Council does not have to vote to stay with Smart (opt-in). The Council would have to vote to Opt-out of Smart. If the Council moved to Opt-Out, then the residents of Farmington Hills would not be offered the opportunity to vote on the Smart millage. I agree with your statement, the residents need to let the Council know their feelings about keeping Smart or Opting out.
As a SMART system rider, I too am concerned re: the viability of SMART. Granted, a regional transportation system would be better for all concerned. However, council says they can come up witha better solution. What exactly would that be? Livonia opted out a couple of years ago and has the spottiest, most inane and inconvenient service. There is now talk that THEY want to opt back in because they CANNOT provide the services needed, much less how much it costs them to run the service. It also interesting to note that Livonia leases their buses/vans from SMART! Eevryone will suffer if mass transit is not available; the elderly, handicapped, the working poor who can'y afford a car, students and Park and Ride patrons (who will be VERY upset at their increase in gas costs and additional parking fees into the hundreds od dollars!) I was talking to a SMART driver. According to the financial people, the Gratiot run in Macomb County brings in $15K per day, on a BAD day. The Michigan Ave and Woodward lines bring in easily that much a day for their runs/day. Do the math, SMART IS NOT GOING BROKE!! They made the cuts in ANTICIPATION of a deficit. That would be like me having my own business and the closing it because I MIGHT lose money! That makes no fiscal sense! So, in short, vote to keep SMART, because you don't have anything to replace it!
I respect your opinion, but I offer two quick comments. The first is that one man's "waste" is another man's valuable investment. The second is that the total millage rate for a Farmington Hills resident is 40.8265 mills (or about $20 per $1000 of home value). Of this, 0.59 mills goes to the Public Transportation Authority ($0.30 per $1000 of home value). I doubt that this is the burden that led to even one home foreclosure. It is a person's choice to use, or not use, the bus system. I have chosen to use it, and this has allowed me to reduce by one the number of cars I own. I calculate this savings to be more than $400 per month. I suspect that if more people really looked at the financial side of this, many more would choose to ride, and the bus system would be expanding rather than fighting for survival.
go to the City Council meeting Jan. 17 at 7PM and share your 2 cents worth with everyone there??