2011 The Rapid Tax Hike for slow Transit Bus to Nowhere Grand Rapids Pt 2

I did a return visit on April 14, 2011. Tons of empty buildings remain. Some look like they are occupied and have signage but it is signage from buildings that came and went under already in last two years! READ the environmental study of the SILVERLINE on the Rapids website. It delinates how many major intersections from 54th street to Franklin are expected to FAIL if the silverline is voted in. (intersections expected to Fail include 54th, 48th, 44th...28th, Burton and more.. The Study had one remedy for the traffic congestion problems all along Division: DON"T use the SIlverline as a rapid transit bus. and OPERATE IT WITHOUT the Traffic Signal Priority system so you have a duplicate bus that is no faster than the current one! WOW!
The Rapid has hatched a plan to sell this poorly planned not-rapid transit bus with the big tax increase to college students to get the SIlverline through. They have taken advertisements about the Silverline off television hoping voters won't realize the Rapid's plan has this Silverline NOT Rapid transit bus attached again. . VOTE NO to higher taxes on May 3 -besides higher taxes during a recession causing more foreclosures, the new bus will HURT the poor as it will have fewer stops. More taffic congestion will hurt Division avenue business districts. First video shows Downtown Monroe Mall/Center at 6:30 p.m. This video goes back Downtown while all the stores are open at 3:45 p.m. The Monroe Center mall appears very, very dead showing no need for replacing the current bus to this area. The most populated area seems to be near the Police Station/Parole Office/Secretary of State offices at the end.

ANOTHER CONCERN:The absolute caos this would mean as far as traffic on Division avenue is a concern for school children, drivers, and it would cause people to avoid the area. The Rapids Environmental study revealed that major Division avenue intersections from 54th to Franklin street would FAIL. Congested traffic will only cause road rage, higher commute times, and problems for those transmitting children to schools. It will also hurt Division avenue as people will AVOID THE AREA to escape the congestion. Area residents near Division avenue will be stuck with the mess. Read the study. The link is on bottom right hand corner of Rapids website.

RAPID TRANSIT system in Portland is glorified by supporters of this bus but they fail to note that Portlands bus system has tunnels for buses, trains, arial trams and doesn't share the road with cars.. and the fare is much higher than our bus fare. A whole dollar higher! .Portland has 2 major ocean front state parks downtown and much milder winters but they still close their route in winter months .

Supporters of this 50 million replacement (this is only phase one of rapids plans) bus on one street say places like N.Y.C. and L.A. have buses like this. Big fact that is ignored: these cities also have population densities to support the bus. Grand Rapids doesn't have the population to support the currently running buses (many all over town are empty or nearly empty during afternoon and evening hours. ) State of the art Hybrid Electric Buses with bike carriers and wheel chair ramps run till nearly midnight.
Grand Valley State University has its own bus going back and forth from downtown to Allendale till 3 a.m. on weekends. GREAT IDEA: Take some of the evening empty buses and redeploy them to have more stops during peak times if a faster bus is sought. This would COST ZERO DOLLARS and save millions in federal funds and prevent a needless tax on families during this recession See other video and visit http://www.kcffr.org for more information. .Current bus stops everywhere have not spurred any jobs or redevelopment. Millions were spent on Monroe Mall cause they said this would bring back retail and bring jobs but it is a ghosttown.
Alaskan wised up and said NO to the Bridge to Nowhere. Kent Country residents need to say NO to unnecessary and costly changes that will hurt cash strapped families during this recession. Even if times were great, we can't justify spending local and federal monies on something that is destructive to the neighborhoods and totally unnecessary.

Don't fall for the hype. EXISTING BUS STOPS ALL ALONG DIVISION HAVE NOT SPURRED ANY REDEVELOPMENT OR JOBS! If anything the expansion of the Rapid seems to be married with the area's decline. VOTE NO May 3th and encourage your friends and neighbors to do the same.
The poor who rely on the bus will walk further and pay more to ride. Tax payers will pay more! Area residents will deal with traffic gridlock.

Visit www.itpwatch.org
and www.grandrapidsbustaxhike.org
for more information.

VOTE NO on May 3th.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Bus
• The Rapid
• Millage
• taxes
• Wyoming Michigan
• Grand Rapids Michigan
• The Silverline
• Rapid Transit
• federal debt
• Kentwood Michigan
• Grandville Michigan
• Medical Mile
• Recession
• Walker Michigan
• downtown
• ballot

[lotsofcats33]

FYI: Very interesting .. George Heartwell mayor of GRAND RAPIDS went to the Rapid days before the last SIlverlne vote and had the proposed Silverline route changed

to keep it out of his Heritage Hill Neighborhood.. as they were concerned with excessive, congestion, noise, and vibration! Seems George doesn't want this in his neighborhood but it is okay if ruins other neighborhoods..

[LenaLosAngeles1983]

What was the outcome of this Silverline Rapid vote? I have watched both of the videos and was curious to find out.

[lotsofcats33]

The voters narrowly defeated this, but the city and counties are bringing it back up for vote in a few months. Many problem with this bus proposal: it removes most bus stops so the poor who rely on the bus the most have to walk a lot farther to get to the stop! Stupid. Commerical landowners who want their long vacant properties bought up are pushing this.

[Odawaman]

Grand Rapids could spend our dwindling tax dollars on something more sensible. We have a good bus line now, problem is, nobody uses it, why would a new bus bring more traffic downtown?

VOTE NO ON THIS BUS TO NOWHERE FIASCO!

[lotsofcats33]

I think it might divert people away from Division to 131 as Division is very busy during peak times and eliminating two lanes is going to result in terrible traffic bottlenecks, especially where peolple try to go to industrial park areas,schools, or Rivertown Crossings via 44th street. Rapid Transit in Portland Oregon and NYC ect uses its own road devoted only to the bus. NYC has subway unerground.  Bad plan, bad politics will increase fares, congestion, and pedestrian injuries and waste taxes$

[sunbeansnflowersluv]

This would make Division avenue a mess for commuters, area homeowners and school kids. The CEO makes a six figure income so his family won't be crossing the busy street or stuck in traffic. I hope this is voted down once and for all.

[jdgator95]

No offense but that seems like a dull dull place, kinda depressing too

[Odawaman]

I live near Division and I feel very sorry for those who live off dead end streets as they won't be albe to get out and the people who will lose their houses unnessarily.. A system like this should have its own road and a more populated city to go with it! Vote NO! we have a very adequate bus system with Hyrbrid electric buses now and they dont get much use in evening. I know as pass bus stop near my home and I see the empty buses running all night. ThIS IS NUTS! pay for more empty buses?