Reba Villarosa of Inkster boards a SMART bus in Livonia. A referendum passed 55-45 percent to withdraw from SMART and use a 0.5-mill tax to expand community bus operations for seniors.Livonia votes out of SMART, jeopardizing bus system
Comment on this story
LIVONIA -- One of Metro Detroit's biggest suburbs wants to dump the region's beleaguered bus system, leaving a gaping hole in an already patchwork service.
Livonia residents voted Tuesday to give the City Council approval to withdraw the city's $2.4 million tax subsidy of the Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation (SMART), prompting worry among bus advocates that other suburbs may follow suit. The council is expected to make the move official by year's end.
With 100,000 residents, Livonia would be the largest city to end the service, which serves Detroit and 50 of 103 suburbs in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties. Farmington Hills officials are debating whether to bow out of the system in 2006.
"There are fears other communities might get the idea to save some pennies by doing what Livonia did," said Mike Whims, a spokesman for Transportation Riders United, a mass transit advocacy group.
"People still need to get to work, get to school, get to doctors, yet we continue to make it more difficult."
Also in Tuesday's suburban elections, two incumbent mayors were dumped: Willie Payne in Pontiac and Greg Pitoniak in Taylor.
Elsewhere in the suburbs, voters approved millage proposals in Eastpointe, Grosse Ile, Berkley and Harrison Township that collected taxes for everything from city services to roads.
Several other measures failed, including a proposed tax increase in Royal Oak, roads millages in Lincoln Park and Rochester Hills and a city services tax in Belleville.
In an unexpectedly large Livonia turnout, a referendum passed 55-45 percent to withdraw from SMART and use a 0.5-mill tax to expand community bus operations for seniors.
SMART officials downplayed the result, but it could have a profound impact on not only the local economy, but also the future of mass transit in southeast Michigan.
The result means that bus service would end in Livonia next fall, leaving the most prosperous corner of Wayne County without public transportation links. Canton Township, Plymouth and Northville opted out of the system in the 1990s.
Those communities and Livonia are home to 136,000 jobs, according to the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments. SMART takes some 1,000 riders each day to jobs in Livonia, according to its general manager, Dan Dirks.
"Bus service has always been contentious in Livonia," Dirks said, noting that city officials have threatened to pull out of the system three times before. "Taking care of people from the outside has never been a top priority."
The result also could influence ongoing debate about expanding mass transit throughout Metro Detroit, Whims said. Opponents in Lansing could seize on the vote as proof that suburbanites don't want expanded transit.
Ironically, Livonia is withdrawing from the bus system even as its use is increasing. Daily ridership has increased some 15 percent since last year to about 41,000 riders a day.
Census figures show that less than 1 percent of Livonia residents use public transportation, however, and many residents felt taxes could be better spent. The subsidy cost owners of $200,000 homes about $60 a year in taxes.
"It's not a wise use of taxpayer dollars," said Jeff Anagnostou, 45, a civil engineer. "Buses often run far below capacity. There must be a better mechanism to spend our tax dollars."
On its surface, the vote pitted arguments about fiscal austerity against maintaining a safety net for those who need the bus. But like other issues involving Livonia -- and mass transit -- race loomed large.
Although its demographics are similar to many other suburbs, Livonia continues to battle its stigma as the "whitest city in America." It earned the nickname because of a Census report: At 95 percent white, it's the most homogenous U.S. city with a population over 100,000.
Livonia's population has since dipped, but the notoriety remains -- as evidenced by ongoing debate about a 24-hour Wal-Mart at the defunct Wonderland Mall. The plan has drawn hundreds of opponents, a few of whom made headlines complaining it would attract too many African-Americans from Detroit.
"The bus issue isn't racial. It's about getting your money's worth," said Patricia Holmes, 65, a saleswoman. "People want to use racial issues to put our city down."
You can reach Joel Kurth at (313) 222-2610 or jkurth@detnews.com.
Copyright © 2005
The Detroit News.
Use of this site indicates your agreement to the Terms of Service (updated 12/19/2002).