BACK TO ~     References and Publications


Letter to the Federal Transit Administration

February 26, 2008


U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Transit Administration
400 Seventh St., S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20590


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.*




NOTE: The publication below is in PDF (Printable Document Format)-for viewing & printing purposes. To view & print these publications, you will need the Adobe Acrobat Reader plug-in installed in your browser. If you don't have the plug-in, it can be downloaded FREE from Adobe's web site at: http://www.adobe.com/prodindex/acrobat/readstep.html

To return, use the "back" button on your web browser

Click Here ~ Disparate impact complaint



*The list of organizations to get a copy of the above letter

Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG)
535 Griswold Street, Suite 300
Detroit, MI 48226

Michigan Dept. of Transportation (MDOT) - State Transportation Building
425 W. Ottawa St. P.O. Box 30050
Lansing, MI 48909

Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation (SMART)
535 Griswold Street, Suite 600
Detroit, Michigan 48226

Detroit Department of Transportation (DDOT) www.ci.detroit.mi.us/ddot
Attention: Customer Service Information Center
Comments & Suggestions
1301 E. Warren Ave.
Detroit, MI 48207

Transportation Riders United
500 Griswold, Suite 1650
Detroit, Michigan 48226



Back to.. References and Publications | Top of Page