RTA Vote This Week Could Have Big Implications for Future of Transit in Metro Detroit
Macomb County executive outlines his concerns and RTA CEO pushes for action.
Thursday is a critical day for the future of mass transit in Southeast Michigan. The Regional Transit Authority of Southeast Michigan (RTA) will hold an up-or-down vote on its master plan to improve public transportation in Metro Detroit.
The vote was delayed after Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson and Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel raised some last-minute concerns about the plan.
Hackel joins Detroit Today host Stephen Henderson to outline those concerns.
“The question is, OK, are we all going to have an equal voice moving forward into all of the funding issues? And right now, as it stands, the answer is no,” says Hackel.
“If this was put on the ballot as it is today, in Macomb County, it will get defeated,” he says.
RTA CEO Michael Ford also joins Detroit Today to push for an affirmative vote on the master plan on Thursday.
“We believe that we have a strong plan,” says Ford. “We believe that we are doing our best to listen to the concerns and have proposed some ways to address those concerns right now.”
“It would be a travesty, in my opinion, to not even be able (to give voters) the chance,” to have a say on the proposal, he says.
To hear more of the conversation, click on the audio player above.
