Link to Oakland Press Article.
A recent article in the Oakland Press touches on the lack of transit opportunities in many suburban communities. The articles state that the major cities all participate in SMART, including Pontiac, Southfield, Troy and Royal Oak. Ferndale, Birmingham and Auburn Hills also participate. Novi does not particpate in SMART, and with 53,000 residents and a tax base exceeding $3 Billion dollars, is still not considered a major City in the County (we get little respect in the newspapers…see comments by Economic Development Czar Doug Smith below).
Coincidentally, we also received an email that spotted this comment online along with many others discussing mass transit in the region….It attempts to make a case for why bus service to Novi and the distant suburbs would benefit Economic Development and the regions residents in general.
“I used to work in a chain restaurant in Novi by the Farmington Hills border. One of the waiters there was from Detroit, and he told me one day that it was a 2 1/2 hour bus ride to get from the D to Novi (He’d take SMART to Farmington Hills and walk the last 5 minutes). I asked him why in God’s name does he come out this far for a job, and he said that you have to come out this far for the best combination of consistent hours and good wages (tips).
This restaurant functioned fine, but we were ALWAYS hiring. You couldn’t get anybody to apply but high schoolers and college-age kids who’d show up hungover to every lunch shift. Where were all the unemployed folk?
Maybe you can get a minimum wage job closer to the D, but these are better jobs. I’d average 13-14 dollars an hour as a waiter. 12 Oaks Mall pays well above minimum wage. Heck, even the burger king by my house was hiring people in at 10/hour with a friggin’ signing bonus. This is just Novi, too.
Say what you want about whether mass transit is feasible or beneficial to the region OVERALL, but I have no doubt it would help out unskilled labor in Detroit get to these unfilled jobs in the outer burbs.”
The question is, how much longer can we continue to ignore the need for mass transit throughout the region, including Novi. With gas over $3.00 a gallon and climbing, how can we reasonably expect to fill all the service industry jobs available without some form of mass transit. A Free Press article originally published in 1998 could easily have been written today.
GETTING WORKERS TO NOVI JOBS 2 DETROITERS START SHUTTLE SERVICE TO MAKE UP FOR CUTS IN PUBLIC TRANSIT
Detroit Free Press March 10, 1998
JEFF GERRITT Free Press Staff WriterFrustrated by patchwork regional public transportation, two Detroiters have started a nonprofit foundation to take city workers to suburban jobs.
Attorney Tony Jenkins and job counselor Gary Shelton hope to have at least one leased van running from downtown Detroit to Novi this week to replace an express bus to Twelve Oaks mall that was cut in January.
The Detroit Department of Transportation express shuttle served about 15 workers. The department’s decision to end roughly 20 suburban routes affected about 1,500 Detroiters who traveled to suburban jobs.
Sears at Twelve Oaks is holding open the jobs of the seven Detroit employees left without a ride.
“We want to get these people back to work as soon as possible,” Shelton said. He and Jenkins started looking at Detroiters’ transportation needs after the DDOT cutback.
Meanwhile, some people are questioning the City of Novi ’s decision to snub the suburban bus system by refusing to participate in the transportation millage. SMART won’t run buses into Novi without the money.
“They’re a major employment center and, from an economic development perspective, it absolutely makes sense,” said Jeff Kaczmarek, Oakland County’s director of community and economic development.
Sears District Manager Allen Greenfield called Novi ’s decision shortsighted. Without public transit, he said, stores will feel the pinch.
“We’re continually understaffed and so is the mall,” Greenfield said.
Novi is one of 37 Oakland County communities not served by SMART. The next millage election will take place Aug. 4. To get SMART service, a city council or township board would have to request it by June.
That’s unlikely in Novi , where City Manager Ed Kriewall, Mayor Kathleen McLallen and Councilman Hugh Crawford say they’ve heard little from citizens about bus service. The millage would cost Novi about $700,000 a year.
McLallen said some Novi manufacturers have set up transportation for employees.
Shelton and Jenkins started the People Who Care Foundation to raise money for transportation for Detroiters who need rides to jobs.
Jenkins, a Detroit Urban League board member, said he donated $1,000 to get the foundation started. He and Shelton plan to have one van running from downtown Detroit to Twelve Oaks by Friday. The van would leave Detroit about 8 a.m. and return about 3 p.m.
One 15-passenger van will cost the foundation about $850 a month to lease. Riders will be charged $25 a month. The foundation would pick up the remaining costs.
Janet Jackson, who lost the Sears job she held for 14 months, said she’s ready to go back to work. The east side Detroiter said not having a car has hurt her efforts to find work.
In these difficult economic times, SMART needs to work with local communities on alternatives to a millage to better serve this region. We challenge Hayes Jones and the SMART board to find ways to make it easier to offer services to those who need it the most.