Dear Editor,
Thanks to Supervisor Pat Kittle for his thorough breakdown of yet another big government boondoggle – Regional Transit Authority (RTA) (“Southeast Michigan Regional Transit Authority,” Jan. 8).
County Executive L. Brooks Patterson did a great job of keeping north Oakland County out of this expensive mess for many years. Now, the newly appointed, not elected, county executive wants us to pay for RTA?
We are tired of paying for programs that do NOT benefit us. My wife and I are on a fixed income and cannot afford more wasteful government programs.
As Mr. Kittle states in the article, bus service would stop at M-59 with NO benefit to Independence Township. Why should we pay for this?
Since most of the buses I have seen south of M-59 are largely empty, I’ve got a couple of ideas. Since various forms of public transportation already exist in southeastern Michigan (e.g., SEMTA, SMART, etc.) perhaps their services could be augmented by Uber, Lyft, taxis, and other private sector resources – not the gratuitous expense associated with providing buses that are vastly underused. Finally, if the communities south of M-59 want greater public transportation, they can pay for it.
On this subject, we insist that Macomb, Wayne, Washtenaw and Oakland counties stay out of our pocket.
Nadia and Ron DeLorme
Independence Township