DARTA Resolution

CITY OF FERNDALE
RESOLUTION
METRO COUNCIL
DECLARATION OF METRO INTERDEPENDENCE

Moved by Councilman Galloway, seconded by Councilman Lennon, to adopt the following Resolution:

On Wednesday, July 6, 2005, the Michigan Court of Appeals opined that the Detroit Area Regional Transit Authority (DARTA), formed in 2002, is without legal standing to hire, plan, coordinate, build and/or manage transit systems in metro-Detroit; and

This decision comes after five years of effort by thousands of local citizens, and dozens of officials and organizations including, the City of Ferndale, the elected leadership of the City of Detroit, the Counties of Wayne, Oakland and Macomb, the faith-based group MOSES (Metropolitan Organizing Strategy Enabling Strength), TRU (Transportation Riders United) and an array of disability, educational and transportation organizations, as well as business leaders organized through the Greater Detroit Chamber of Commerce, who came together to urge the creation of a legally constituted and properly empowered regional transit authority in Southeast Michigan to plan and implement improvements to the transportation system in Southeast Michigan, thereby significantly improving the quality of life in Southeast Michigan and diversifying the economy; and

The now failed DARTA initiative was preceded by several decades of unsuccessful efforts in Southeast Michigan to integrate regional transit components into the transportation system, in a region of the State where approximately fifty percent (50%) of the State’s population resides, a region responsible for over fifty percent (50%) of the economic activity of the State; and

The failure of the State and Southeast Michigan over the decades to coalesce to see a fair return of and investment of its residents’ federal transit tax dollars to the metro-Detroit region of Southeast Michigan has contributed to above average unemployment rates, minimal coordination of the city and suburban bus systems, minimum planning to improve the connectivity of all transportation system components, an overburdened and deteriorating regional infrastructure, concentrated poverty, failure to comply with EPA air quality standards, high levels of obesity and asthma, an increasing number of cities in state receivership or on the brink of receivership, continued residential and economic segregation amongst the highest levels found in the United States, with little strategic planning on a metropolitan basis, arguably resulting in the wasting of billions in taxpayer resources and loss of over $100 million per year in job-creating transit investment opportunities; and

Having listened to the citizens of metro-Detroit and having studied this issue, Ferndale concludes that the lack of a properly organized and empowered regional planning and transit agency is denying essential transportation choices/services to large segments of the population including pre-licensed youth, college and vocational education students, large families, immigrants, the disabled, visitors/tourists, a growing elderly population, and those who may have lost their ability to drive automobiles through temporary unemployment, injury, or other medical or legal reasons, a situation which dramatically lessens the quality of life and economic vitality of the region, a situation which is likely contributing to the regretful out migration of many of the region’s 24 to 35 year olds who have received their educations in Michigan; and

Ferndale and many others have further concluded that the problems described above have reached crisis levels for a vast number of individuals and the economy, and that reversing the trends and patterns outlined herein, must be among the highest priorities of the region and State of Michigan; and

That to address our problems and new opportunities, the people and all communities in metro-Detroit must realize and embrace our inter-dependence, and craft new systems of governance appropriate for the transportation and funding challenges of the 21st Century, to supplement our basic system of local governance laid out in the 1700s, which pre-dates modern transportation systems that now cross over 200 local governmental jurisdictions in metro-Detroit and impact millions of residents, and costs billions of dollars, with significant quality of life and economic ramifications; and

Therefore, as a replacement and improvement to DARTA, the City of Ferndale calls upon Governor Granholm, the Michigan Legislature, and local, regional and state leaders to come together to pass landmark legislation, requiring the creation of a non-partisan, elected, metropolitan Council to serve as Metro-Detroit’s federally required Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) made up of 25 equally populated districts, serving the residents of Wayne, Oakland and Macomb Counties, and to plan, coordinate, and implement future transit systems, in metro-Detroit, in compliance with federal transportation funding rules and regulations, with special emphasis on coordinating said decisions with the future land use plans of each of the region’s local governments while emphasizing the connectivity of all modes of transportations; and

Ferndale further calls upon the legislature to make similar metropolitan council structures available to all metro regions of the State of Michigan (including Monroe, Ann Arbor, Port Huron, Grand Rapids, Flint, Saginaw, Bay City, Midland, and Marquette) who may also feel that their quality of life and economic situations would be enhanced by metropolitan councils that transcend traditional municipal and/or county boundaries and maximize the wise stewardship of taxpayer resources gained through maximizing coordination and minimizing conflict during these most challenging times facing our State; and

Ferndale believes modernizing regional governance for the 21st Century as described above, will bring accountability to the transportation system, spur substantial new economic activity, enhance the quality of life in Michigan, result in significant new investment in the State, and most importantly minimize waste and duplication inherent in the current system, saving taxpayers billions over the next 20 years.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that we, the Ferndale City Council, direct that this Resolution be forwarded to Governor Granholm, the State Legislature, the Michigan Suburbs Alliance, the Michigan Municipal League, the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments, and sister cities and interested organizations as directed by the City Manager, for their immediate consideration.

AYES: Council Members Weber, Covey, Galloway, Lennon; Mayor Porter

NAYS: None

MOTION CARRIED

I, Karen Pedro, Clerk of the City of Ferndale, certify that this is a true and compared copy of a Resolution duly made and passed by the Ferndale City Council at a meeting held on

July 11, 2005.

_____________________________

Karen Pedro, City Clerk

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The City of Ferndale, Michigan
300 East Nine Mile Road
Ferndale, Michigan  48220
(248) 546-2525