Friends of Transit Ready to Help Move Our Community Forward!
(Grand Rapids)—January 27, 2009—The Rapid Board is poised to ask the citizens of its six member cities for the needed support to make rapid transit a reality for the first time in Michigan. And Friends of Transit is ready to do its part in the campaign to educate area voters and get out the “yes” vote on May 5, the tentative millage election date.
The Rapid Board is considering a millage request for the May 5 ballot at its January 28th meeting. After years of study, the federal and state governments are ready to provide the dollars needed to build the Rapid Transit line; The Rapid now must secure the local dollars needed to operate the new service.
“This is about jobs and development,” stated Rick Chapla of the Right Place, Inc. “Not only will there be jobs in the building of the new Rapid Transit line, but this type of service will attract new development and in fill redevelopment along the entire line.”
“This really is a new kind of service,” said David Doyle, Friends of Transit Co-chair and long-time transit supporter. “As the experience of other cities across the country has shown, this kind of investment in rapid transit has spurred development along the new lines. I am very excited about how this will help the Division corridor rebound.”
If the Rapid does place the measure on the May ballot, Friends of Transit is ready to get to work. “As in the past three successful campaigns, Friends of Transit will gather the wide array of community support behind the measure and work tirelessly to educate voters on the need to support this Rapid Transit initiative,” said Doyle.
What makes this proposal unique is that, if passed by the voters, The Rapid will stand to gain $40 million in federal capital dollars to support the building of the Rapid Transit line. The proposed service will run from 60th Street on South Division north until Wealthy Street and then run throughout the downtown area to support such employment and educational centers as Spectrum Health’s Butterworth campus, St, Mary’s Medical Center, DeVos Place, Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids Community College and the GVSU Cook-DeVos Health Sciences Building.
Friends of Transit is the citizens ballot committee organized under Michigan’s campaign laws to work to pass the millage requests placed on the ballot by The Rapid. Friends of Transit helped to successfully pass millages in 2000, 2003 and 2007 with “yes” votes totaling 65%, 66% and 58% respectively. For more information, contact either co-chair, David Doyle or David Bulkowski or visit www.Rapidyes.org.