Your voice is needed to guide Michigan
toward passenger rail service. Here's how you can
start moving the state through the three key “stops”
of 1) planning 2) selling
the idea and 3) raising
the money.
TRANSIT FUNDING
Ask your state legislators to support State Representative
Judith Scranton’s
(R-Brighton) House Bill 4002. The bill directs a portion
of sales taxes on auto leasing to transit and would
boost state transit spending by about $23 million,
or 10 percent. For more information, contact Rep.
Scranton’s office at PO Box 30014, Lansing, MI,
48909, 800-295-0066, jscrant@house.state.mi.us.
Add your voice to the Michigan Transportation and
Land Use Coalition, led by the Michigan Land Use Institute
and the Michigan Environmental Council. Contact Kelly
Thayer at the Institute, 231-882-4723 ext. 13, trans@mlui.org
or go to the Institute’s Web site www.mlui.org
under Key Issues — Transportation.
PLANNING OPPORTUNITIES
The Southeast Michigan Council of Governments is holding
public meetings through June to develop a long-term
transit vision for the region. Go to SEMCOG’s
Web site at www.semcog.org
or contact Transportation Director Carmine Palombo
at 313-961-4266, palombo@semcog.org.
The West Michigan Environmental Action Council has
completed a study of rail options for the Grand Rapids
metropolitan area. Contact WMEAC Executive Director
Tom Leonard at 616-451-3051, wmeactl@bigplanet.com
or check the Web site at www.iserv.net/~wmeac/.
The Michigan Association of Railroad Passengers is
working to advance rail options in Michigan. Contact
Executive Director John DeLora at 810-772-7842, marp@mich.com
or visit the Web site at www.marp.org.
IN PROGRESS
The Southeast Michigan Council of Governments in May
expects to have the results of a commuter rail study
for service between downtown Detroit and Detroit Metropolitan
Airport. For more information, contact SEMCOG Transpor-tation
Director Carmine Palombo at 313- 961-4266, palombo@semcog.org.
Detroit’s Metropolitan Affairs Coalition will
release this spring the results of its study on a
train-like system of rapid buses. Contact MAC’s
David Sanders at 313-961-2270, sanders@semcog.org
or read about the “SpeedLink” study at www.semcog.org/mac/mac_speedlink.html.
Lansing’s Capital Area Transportation Authority
completed a study last fall of commuter rail service
between Lansing and Detroit via Howell and Ann Arbor.
Go to the CATA Web site at www.cata.org/news/rail_study/index.html.
New state-of-the-art Amtrak trains are scheduled by
2003 to link Michigan cities with Chicago, Cincinnati,
St. Louis, Milwaukee, and Minneapolis. For more information
contact Dusty Fancher at the Michigan Environmental
Council, 517-487-9539, dustymec@voyager.net
or visit the Environmental Law and Policy Center Web
site at www.elpc.org.
–P.C.
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