Local voters may decide transit tax - www.hometownlife.com - Michigan

Local voters may decide transit tax - www.hometownlife.com - Michigan

I'm unsure what Ferndale's city council was thinking when they passed a resolution supporting a county-wide sales tax increase to 7% at a time when the economy is sputtering and there isn't a single plan for implementing mass transit that would benefit the county, much less the city of Ferndale.

The biggest transit plan we've heard about is $600 million to widen 18 miles of I-75 from Eight Mile to M-59. That's a plan only an oil company would love. With gasoline approaching $3/gallon and the region's infrastructure stretched to its limits widening I-75 does little for citizens but great things for real estate developers. In fact, it's irresponsible. Irresponsible with taxpayers money, irresponsible to further stretch already stretched infrastructure, and irresponsible for promote longer commutes in single-passenger vehicles while soldiers are fighting someplace America would have limited interest in if it weren't to protect our oil supply.

Lastly, it's irresponsible of our city council to support any tax increase for a mass transit system that doesn't exist in real life, doesn't exist in blueprint, and only exists in our imaginations.