Respect My Authority
A Wayne County Circuit court judge ruled on Tuesday that Detroit area leaders overstepped their mandates when they tried to transfer certain powers in order to implement a regional transit organization. The Detriot Free Press reports that:
Wayne County Circuit Judge James Rashid's ruling means the Detroit Area Regional Transportation Authority [DARTA] can't apply for grants, coordinate bus service between Detroit and the suburbs or directly plan improvements to bus service in southeast Michigan.
Rashid said Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson, Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano and Macomb County Board of Commissioners Chairwoman Nancy White couldn't legally transfer to DARTA the powers they held when operating as the Regional Transit Coordinating Council.
The ruling leaves DARTA -- a grand mass transit plan in the works for nearly three years -- an impotent agency with little authority, said Renate Klass, attorney for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees locals 312 and 214, which brought the lawsuit to put an end to DARTA before it could get off the ground. The union represents Detroit Department of Transportation workers.
Federal funds destined for the start-up of the DARTA will be lost, as will much of the organization's ability to raise funds elsewhere. DARTA was apparently the latest in a long line of failed regional transit plans.
Mass transit is having problems in Detroit. Quick, someone call Oliver Stone...
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cs | 5:54 PM |
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