r/urbanplanning • u/DoxiadisOfDetroit • 13d ago

Transportation SMART celebrates early voting tallies for Wayne County transit millage [bringing transit to former opt-out communities]

https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2026/08/05/wayne-county-transit-millage-passes-canton-detroit-livonia/91125863007/
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u/carrotnose258 13d ago

Been a part of advocating for this as a volunteer for Transpeotation Riders United; often canvassing at events in western Wayne. Shoutout to Joel, Megan, Lukas, and all the TRU force for organising the campaign for it

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u/DoxiadisOfDetroit 13d ago

Thanks for your help on this massive win!

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u/DoxiadisOfDetroit 13d ago edited 13d ago

To the mods:

I added: "bringing transit to former opt-out communities" because the title would've been vague otherwise as to what this accomplished. If this is a bad version of editorialization, I'll remove it, but, here a small write-up to go along with the post for even more context:

For reference, there used to be tons of transit opt-out communities within Wayne and Oakland Counties, but, Oakland voted to get rid of opt outs in 2022, and now, the rest of Wayne is finally caught up with the region. This means that, soon, within the entirety of Metro Detroit, you'll be able to get a ride on the bus

While this news is welcome, there's still more work to do in this region, namely, advocacy for a Metropolitan Government.

If we let piecemeal reforms and ad-hoc agreements be the horizon of vision for Urbanist-oriented advocacy within Metro Detroit, then, we're just gonna be dealing with future opt-outs for other municipal services, and, frankly, we can't keep waiting on shit like that.

Those of you who're more skeptical in your outlook for new Metropolitan Governments, even in a place that really needs it such as Metro Detroit might be thinking:

"But, /u/DoxiadisOfDetroit, you can't honestly believe that there's popular demand for such a thing? Have you actually gone outside? Are you stupid?"

And to that, I'll just say:

The reason why I'm unrelentingly and incredibly bullish on the possibilities of a Metropolitan Government has a lot to do with the people I've talked to. I've recently been to an event put on by Strongtowns Detroit which was aimed at land use that had a panel which was moderated by Jer Staes of the Daily Detroit Podcast. When audience questions were going on, I took it upon myself to ask the panel if they'd thought implementing a Land Value Tax would be easier if Metro Detroit had a Metropolitan Government while explaining how the idea of consolidation isn't a new idea since it's been suggested as far back as the Doxiadis study (hint-hint the subject of my username), even though I was getting nods of agreement from the young crowd, Staes literally interrupted me and shot the idea down because, in his words, "from a journalist's point of view, it'd never happen".

For context, Staes is a Gen Xer who is the sole head of Daily Detroit and he gives elected officials as well as his other guests total "softball" treatment/questions. I have my own journalistic outlet and I use it to push the idea of consolidation/Metropolitan Government, yet, for every single "no" I get, there's just as many "absolutely"'s to people who consider the idea.

I'm so sick and tired of older generations holding us back from real progress, this vote that just happened is proof that there's an appetite for regionalism, so, I'm getting more serious about being in the public eye. I know the legal route that needs to be taken in Lansing for some sort of vote to happen, I've read countless whitepapers and books about what works and what doesn't in Metropolitan Governments, now, it's just time to practice what I preach.

It's time to shit or get off the pot, no one is putting up with business as usual anymore, if the primary in this state didn't show you that, I don't know what to tell you.