Well Southeastern Michigan Taxpayers can breath a little bit easier (for 2018 at least). One potential drain on our wallets has been thwarted, but there is another one in the offing.
{More below the fold}
(4)Nuh Uh.
(0)With County leaders going off-script and not following the established speaking points. When your (possible) PR-firm goes and takes a page from the Coleman A. Young (The First) Playbook and employed a time-worn (and easily recognizable) tactic which hopelessly backfired. When The Bridge Magazine (of all people), comes out and tells people that the latest iteration of mass transit, the Q-Line, over-promised its potential and hilariously underperformed when it comes to paid ridership and maintaining schedules. Now comes the Michigan Legislature throwing yet another log on the fire that is the RTA.
{You’ll need to click below to find out what that is}
(5)Nuh Uh.(0)Local leaders aren’t warming up you your schemes. The scuttlebutt is that focus group testing isn’t looking too good either (not having a real plan with real numbers didn‘t help). Lately, you have enlisted local business “leaders” to help in promoting your cockamamie strategy, but wouldn’t you know it, they aren’t getting that much traction either.
So, who are these people and why are they employing the last refuge for desperate men?
Here’s a hint: All the more reason to hold onto your wallet a little more tightly around Detroit.
{I’ll tell you who they are below the fold}
(10)Nuh Uh.(0)It’s amazing what falls under the radar in the local news.
So recently, Oakland Co. Exec. L. Brooks Patterson announced that he will not be supporting the RTA tax when it come up again on the ballot again this fall.
The response was very predictable. The leeches and parasites (aka Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and Wayne Co. Exec. Warren Evans) threw a hissy fit that a.) they weren’t notified in advance, b.) they felt that they already had an agreement in place to jam it down Southeastern Michigan Taxpayers Throats, and c.) the RTA would collapse like a house of cards because the cost to Wayne County would be too great.
The sycophants of the leeches and parasites in the local media (read: The Freep) threw an equally unimpressive temper tantrum..using the same talking points.
Well, guess what?
Macomb County got into the act as well (and it doesn’t look too good for the RTA tax).
{More below the fold}
(8)Nuh Uh.(1)While I don’t agree with Oakland County Exec. L. Brooks Patterson on some things (okay…most things), kind of like a stopped clock, he finally got something right for a change.
According to The Detroit News, during his annual address to Oakland County last night, County Exec. Patterson came out whole-heartedly and unequivocally against the RTA Tax v 2.0.
Why should ANYONE be made to pay for something that they will not use?
No, the ballot proposal hasn’t officially been announced for the ‘18 General yet. My snitches tell me that they are still working out on how to best polish this heaping, steaming pile of bull droppings, without much success.
Good luck on that.
Citing the lack of hard facts from what those pulling the levers behind the scenes will actually do with the monies collected, much like one of the laundry-list of problems with the last proposal, County Exec. Patterson said this,
“… I can’t do it. I won’t do it,” he said to a standing ovation. “And I will never, ever betray the public trust I respect and represent.”
I should stress that County Exec. Patterson received a standing ovation from those in attendance during that particular portion of his speech.
This isn’t something that you get when, according to RTA tax supporters, people overwhelming support your plan.
Pay us so that we can placate the mass transit snowflakes by driving around town empty.
This should (hopefully, anyway), have some affect here in Macomb, where Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel is also having some serious difficulty signing off on this.
And did I mention that the roads here in Southeastern Michigan look like the 107th used them for light target practice?
Fixing them takes money, too.
I’m not going to add anything more at this time due to the fact that my considerable folder on these con-artists just got a little bit bigger, and I’d like to keep my powder dry…just in case.
I will be adding more when this story unfolds.
Stay tuned.
(8)Nuh Uh.(0)"And it will benefit dozens of Detroiters..."
As if last year’s defeat of the RTA tax hasn’t discouraged Penske and the rest of the pro RTA tax crowd (not to fear…it’ll be back on the ballot in less than two years), they now find themselves in the sights of the (Not So) Pure Michigan crowd!
Hmmmmm, WHY hasn’t the republican legislature repealed the law authorizing this shakedown yet?
Anyway…just a little something to bring a smile to you this afternoon.
Submitted w/o any further comment
Some of the language isn’t exactly SFW, so turn down your speakers for about a minute.
(7)Nuh Uh.(0)"First rule in government spending: Why build one when you can have two at twice the price?" - S.R. Hadden (John Hurt) "Contact"
I’m going to throw out a few hypothetical questions to the readers here at RM, and I’d like to get your candid response.
Ready?
Here we go…
{Click the red box to continue}
(5)Nuh Uh.(0)
The 20 year Regional Transit Authority, 1.2 mil property tax plan is on the ballot in four Southeastern Michigan counties, on November 8th. The public doesn’t seem to realize that this property tax will be imposed on all four counties, even if one or more of the counties reject it. A big change from past millage requests specifically designed to shove this tax down anti tax Macomb County’s throat. Michigan’s tax-and-spend establishment really wants this tax to pass.
The RTA master plan is $ 1.22 billion in new fare revenue, $ 3.1 to $ 3.3 billion in new property taxes, and $ 1.7 billion in new Federal & State subsidies. A grand total of $ 6 billion, more or less. Let’s say that the relatively modest increase in vehicle revenue miles provided by the RTA master plan – 32% – doubles their ridership. That $ 6 billion cost, divided by 78,327 new passengers, equals $ 76,602 per passenger over the 20 year period. You could buy every one of those 78,327 new riders a new car and pay for their fuel and insurance as well. Instead, RTA will treat them to the urban mass transit experience.
Urban buses and other mass transit vehicles have a special ambiance with their diverse ridership and high level of maintenance. This experience is enhanced by the faint aroma of pepper spray, plus the full array of odors you would encounter in a hospital emergency room during an overwhelming disaster – except for disinfectant. Bus scheduling allows those too poor to visit a casino or play online slots at Wizard Slots the opportunity to gamble daily on punctuality at their workplaces.
Why riders are unwilling to pay 20% of the cost of mass transit, and why mass transit funding has to be extracted from taxpayers using the threat of foreclosure. On top of this, mass transit advocates have to raid road funding and vehicle registration fees to deliver their ‘service’. No free market economics here, despite strong support from the Chamber of Commerce types.
(8)Nuh Uh.(0)RTA Funding Could Buy All Their New Riders New Cars, And Pay For Their Fuel and Insurance To Boot!
The new Regional Transit Authority of Southeast Michigan is out today with their transportation master plan to soak taxpayers in Macomb, Oakland, Washtenaw, and Wayne Counties for another $ 3.3 billion in property taxes over a 20 year period.
RTA CEO Michael Ford released the regional mass transit plan RTA will submit to voters on November 8th under PA 387 of 2012. A 1.2 mill property tax increase and $ 1.7 billion in new Federal & State subsidies will provide four new bus rapid transit lines, 11 cross county connector lines, one regional rail line, and some extended/intensified local service.
Let’s have some fun by subjecting the new RTA regional mass transit plan to some real, pre Common Core, mathematics.
(16)Nuh Uh.(0)Spectacular Death in Michigan No Bar to Success in Washington
While Michiganders were being entertained and infuriated by the lies of Proposal 1 proponents, few of us noticed that the very same roads funding strife is reaching a crescendo in Washington. The Federal Highway Trust Fund spends about $ 50 billion dollars on ‘transportation’ across the U.S.A. each year. Michigan received $ 1.39 billion from the HTF in Fiscal Year 2014 for new construction of roads and bridges, along with mass transit activities. As a point of reference, Michigan spent an additional $ 2 billion of funds raised within the state for the same ‘transportation’ purposes. The Federal HTF paid for 40.9% of Michigan ‘transportation’ spending in FY 2014.
Funded in the past by an $ 0.184 per gallon Federal gasoline tax ($ 0.244 per gallon on diesel fuel), the Highway Trust Fund’s traditional fuel tax revenues have fallen to about $ 34 billion. The Federal government has been supplementing the Highway Trust Fund from general deficit spending revenues since 2008. In Fiscal Year 2014, the Federal government supplemented the Highway Trust Fund with $ 11 billion in general revenues.
How did this happen?
(13)Nuh Uh.(0)
