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Letter to the Federal Transit Administration
February 26, 2008
U.S. Department of
Transportation The December 7, 2006 conclusion by the Federal Transit Administration ~ FTA of complaint #DOT 2006-0238 against the regressive bus service reductions implemented by the Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation ~ SMART was a request they conduct a more detailed demographic analysis of the population that would be impacted, both positively and negatively, by the changes in question under Chapter III of Circular 4702. The results are negative based on the physical characteristics alone when compared to the previous state of condition as described at https://savethefueltax.tripod.com/state.html The November 8, 2005 city of Livonia, MI election to opt out of the Wayne County Transportation Authority ~ WCTA was a choice to pay for an illegitimate agreement (House Bill 5467) to merge with the Detroit Department of Transportation - DDOT or to make the state fuel tax defunct by eliminating handicapped facilities on large public buses crossing county jurisdictions with a permanent city property tax increase. Neither choice was with any regard to the basic needs of the elderly, handicapped and the low income. Thus, the FTA approval of $1.4 Billion dollars in grants for the SEMCOG RTP 2514 and 935 freeway expansion projects are discrimination because the utilized matching state grants are from the same financial assistance that was once derived to support the extinct "SMART Middlebelt 285" bus route. The correlations of destructive urban sprawl and the economic decline of the city of Detroit and its inner suburbs in relation to the approved grants are ignored and instead obscured by the use of false propagandas to promote new tax mechanisms and increases. Thus, I request that Livonia rejoin the WCTA to openly protest the foreseeable consequences of the approved projects which were submitted to the FTA offices twice with references. Please support "Operation Bring Back SMART" by paying for prominent advertising to allow the August 2010 property tax renewal to be capped. This will enable the registered voters to demand the federal and state taxes on fuel pay for the restoration of SMART or no more transportation tax increases. Copies to all the organizations contained in the above website.*
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*The list of organizations to get a copy of the above letter
Southeast Michigan Council of Governments
(SEMCOG)
Michigan Dept. of Transportation (MDOT) - State
Transportation Building
Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional
Transportation (SMART)
Detroit Department of Transportation (DDOT)
www.ci.detroit.mi.us/ddot
Transportation Riders United
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