Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Being Without High Speed Rail

Detroit has a population of 987,956 residents. (This is dismal considering the greatness of the City's past glory and the nearly one million more that once populated it.) Many residents are a part of the working poor or near or below the poverty level. Although General Motors, Chrysler, and Ford are located in Detroit or its suburbs are without cars. (Maybe its the nearly 4,467,592 residents who are a part of the Metro Detroit area that they seek to constrict. Hmmm? I hadn't thought about these when I saw the map initially.) If Detroiters alone were expected to save the Big Three, they would have done so by now. From the map below it is clear that a high speed rail, built with the funds of the stimulus package, will not run through Detroit.

Although many mothers and fathers rely on public transportation to get to work within the City and outside of it, a high speed rail has been strictly forbidden in Detroit. This is ridiculous. Detroiters alone, even suburban residents, cannot be expected to secure the viability of the Big Three. And what ever happened to choice? As you can see by the map above, Detroit is not one of the likely cities to get a high speed rail.

Perhaps letters should be sent to Governor Granholm requiring her lift the ban that Henry Ford Senior was said to impose over a century ago. There is always talk about a rail, but it never seems to happen. The People Mover which circles 2.9 was suppose to be the start of a high speed rail. It was completed in 1987 and it only circles downtown like the trolley on Mr. Rodgers neighborhood.

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