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Public v Private transit duke it out for favor in legislature

Currently there are two proposals for a light rail transit system on Woodward Ave. One proposal is sponsored by the city of Detroit, the other by private investors.

Right now, the two proposals are still being discussed by all parties including state and city officials as
well as business leaders, according to Dan Cherrin, spokesperson for interim Detroit Mayor Kenneth Cockrel Jr.

The public transit proposal includes the $371 million, 8-mile-long Light Rail Transit up Woodward Avenue that
was approved by SEMCOG (Southeast Michigan Council of Governments) in July. When the proposal
was first approved, DDOT estimated construction would begin in 2011 with a 2013 completion. Cherrin said he didn't know if these goals were reasonable or not. At the moment he said the main focus is to take the best parts of each of the private and public proposals and create one plan that will benefit the city most.

"Each proposal has merits each proposal has issues that need to be worked out," Cherrin said. "We’re working on constructing a solid regional transportation system."


The private line proposed is called the Woodward Transit Catalyst Project and calls for a $103 million light rail line that serves a 3.4-mile stretch in the downtown and Wayne State areas according to Crain’s Detroit Business. This is considerably shorter than the DDOT proposed line, but it is part of a larger plan to keep building the rail up to Eight Mile Road.

This proposal is backed by Detroit business billionaires such as Quickens Loans founder Dan Gilbert, Compuware CEO Peter Karmanos and Penske corperation CEO Rodger Penske according to Cherrin.

“Right now we are working to unify those two proposals … that will help us get federal funding,”
Cherrin, said. With the private and public proposals merging into one public one as part of DDOT, both federal and private funding will be an option. “[With] any plan you’ll see a combination of private and public funding,” Cherrin said. “All parties are in dicussions.”

PAlin Gets A PRANK (seriously)

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On a prank call, Sarah Palin thinks she's talking to the prime minister of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, but she is really talking to a comedian on a radio show in Montreal, Canada. HERE'S THE AUDIO thanks to Huffingtonpost.com. The part about this that I find funny is that she actually that the Prime Minister of France wants to talk to her about her fake porn with countless references to American pop culture. This is prickly.