Developer Action Needed to Spur Light Rail Plans

Private investors and developers must come forward and plan around proposed rail lines in Detroit if there is any hope of transit materializing, according to this editorial.

1 minute read

April 30, 2008, 7:00 AM PDT

By Nate Berg


"Anonymously and behind the scenes, they have worked for more than a year on a plan separate from one the city unveiled this week. The sooner their efforts become public, the better. The city and the entire region need transparency to figure out how this proposal -- using private money to build light rail from Hart Plaza to Grand Boulevard -- can mesh with a larger plan being worked out by the Regional Transit Coordinating Council and its CEO, John Hertel."

"Unless these developers show their hand, they will be perceived, unfairly, as trying to compete with or even undermine Detroit's plan."

"However, no one should believe the city's plan is a done deal. To raise hopes again on transit, and then dash them, would be lethal for southeast Michigan, which desperately needs a success after decades of high-profile flops."

Friday, April 25, 2008 in The Detroit Free Press

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