Tag: Roger Penske M-1 rail boondoggle

Friday's news that the PulteGroup Inc. - one of the nation's largest home builders - will move its Bloomfield Hills headquarters to Atlanta in 2014, prompted immediate public criticism from Quicken Loans' Dan Gilbert.

"If rumor true @Pultehomes is moving HQ to Atlanta then punk CEO & intertebrate board even worse than its P&L (profit and loss) last 5 years & that's hard to do," Gilbert tweeted just before 1 a.m. Friday morning.

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For some in this state who are enabled with stopping traffic connecting our Peninsulam Amoenam, the taxpayer trough is bottomless.  Not to mention the Federal handouts.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood met with Gov. Rick Snyder and the state Senate Republican leader Tuesday on the long-stalled regional transit authority.

LaHood praised the meeting with Sen. Majority Leader Randy Richardville and said progress was being made. He said he planned to meet with the state House Speaker Jase Bolger early next month.

"I believe within the next month or so we will be able to make some announcements and we're making a lot of progress and I things are moving in the right direction," LaHood said.

In February 2010, the Transportation Department awarded $25 million for Detroit light rail as part of a 9.3-mile, $500 million project that was to travel up Woodward to Eight Mile.

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Speaker Bolger, here's a chance to redeem yourself with stopping this wasteful progressive agenda by a No Go in the House on Gov JenniRick Snydholms' utopian Regional Transit Authority.

Got kicks? Every Detroit student who shows up on the cash-crucial Student Count Day will be able to answer "yes" thanks to a donation from Bob's Classic Kicks in midtown.

BCK, 4717 Woodward, made an arrangement with the school district to give away a free pair of black leather Nikes to every student who comes to class on Oct. 3, the day when students are counted and their numbers used as the basis for per-pupil funding from the state and federal government.

The more bodies in class, the more money schools have all year.

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The union representing Detroit's bus drivers has asked the City Council to put pressure on the transit agency to help stop the spread of bedbugs on buses.

About 50 Detroit Department of Transportation drivers have reported seeing the bugs on buses, and some have been bitten within the past year, said Henry Gaffney, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 26.

After receiving a letter from Gaffney in May, DDOT chief executive Ron Freeland said Thursday he asked a maintenance crew to investigate and sent a letter to the union later in the month saying any infested bus would be cleaned.
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Their bites affect people similarly to that of a mosquito, said Erik Foster, medical entomologist for the state Department of Community Health.

"Bedbugs have been found in public transit, school buses, public buses, airplanes," Foster said.

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Can't say that I blame any form of civilization for trying to leave Detoilet.

via The Detroit News

The Target Fireworks will go off as planned this month, but the cash-strapped city will get help from county and state authorities to help keep downtown secure, Mayor Dave Bing said Wednesday.

Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties and the Michigan State Police have committed to helping with public safety and offsetting security costs estimated at about $700,000, Bing said in a statement. This year's fireworks are set for June 25.

"After assessing the considerable public safety costs, we have reached out to and received the support of Wayne, Oakland and Macomb sheriff's offices and the Michigan State Police to help ensure that this year's fireworks display would go on as scheduled," Bing said.

Bing added the city will need help with other big downtown events.

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Is there anything that Bing and the city can do without using other peoples money?  Amazing.  Target decides it wants to get some advertising by propping up an event in a war zone, and the public gets stuck with paying for their zookeeper.

A123 in April received a two-year extension on its deadline to spend a $249.1 million grant from the federal government, originally received in 2009. The money was to be used for the construction of new lithium-ion battery manufacturing facilities in Michigan. A123's Livonia plant opened in 2010, and its Romulus plant opened last year. The company had $120 million left of the $249.1 million grant.

The hiring announcement comes after the company has hit financial problems. In March, A123 said it would spend about $55 million to replace defective battery packs in five battery packages that were assembled at its plant in Livonia.

In addition, financial losses have accelerated. In its 2011 earnings, A123's loss grew 69 percent to $257.7 million from the year earlier. And in April the company reported a first-quarter loss of $125 million -- a 133 percent increase from the  $53.6 million loss during the same quarter in 2011.

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But dammit, when it's a taxpayer funded hole you just put 400 new hands on the shovel to keep on digging.

Mayor Dave Bing and Gov. Rick Snyder met today in Bing's office with LaHood; businessman Roger Penske, chairman of the M-1 project; and several members of the Michigan's congressional delegation to discuss the issues.
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Penske said he was "very excited" about LaHood's comments that he is in favor of the project. "We have to be sure we have all the technical information available to us," he said. "There's a concern, potentially, about who's going to run this."

Penske said it was clear the federal government wants a regional transportation authority [think bridge] to help with the project.

Investors with the M-1 group submitted their plans to federal officials in April. Group officials said they had raised most of the $137 million needed to build the line and pledged to pay 80 percent of the annual cost of operating it through 2025.

The rail line would extend 3.3 miles from downtown, north to the New Center Area.

Can y'all get over the size of the stones on those like Roger in the Billionaire Club walking around with their hand out for taxpayer money?