[nfbmi-talk] From Ann Arbor

[Fred Wurtzel]

Hello,

 

For those of us missing Newsline, here is an important editorial from the
House of Representatives Speaker Pro Tem from Ann Arbor.  Of course
transportation is important to all of us blind folks.

 

Guest column - House Speaker Pro Tempore Pam Byrnes, D-Lyndon Township

Guest column:

 Michigan can't lag behind on high-speed rails

Posted: Oct 4, 2010 at 8:24 PM [Oct 4, 2010]

A massive national effort is underway to upgrade our transportation
infrastructure.

While the current federal administration is setting the nationwide vision
for rail

travel, Michigan is dangerously close to falling out of the equation.

Our state has routinely cut funding for Amtrak. Our rail service from
Detroit to

Chicago takes 5.5 hours, is unreliable and doesn't run frequently enough. We
can

no longer dodge this critical investment. Unless we want to be left behind,
Michigan

must show Washington we're truly committed to a comprehensive overhaul of
our rail

system. We must continue to modernize our rails now to attract federal
dollars to

make that happen.

A comprehensive effort for transit in our state would lay the ground work
for Michigan

to reap all the benefits high-speed rail travel has to offer: creating
construction

jobs, connecting businesses and helping them grow, cutting travel time to
hubs like

Chicago by a couple hours, reducing our dependency on foreign oil and
helping new

industries locate here.

The drawbacks of not upgrading our rail system should serve as even greater
motivation

to act. With all of Michigan's economic struggles, we can't afford to fall
further

behind. We've all seen the devastating effects of the auto industry's delay
in adjusting

to the global economy and how it helped deepen our recession - we're paying
for it

daily in lost jobs, home foreclosures and continued cuts to priorities like
education

and public safety.

High-speed rail will make Michigan a better place for businesses to succeed.
We have

top-notch research institutions, unparalleled manufacturing know-how and
fine colleges

and universities that continue to produce qualified graduates. It would be
tragic

to let this all fall by the wayside because we're not connected to a modern
regional

transit system.

Naysayers will roll out the same old arguments about government spending.
And I understand

that, but we're not isolated from global change. We can't sit idle, because
the world

will leave us behind - and they'll do it in part - on high-speed rails. We
don't

have a choice. Yes, this will take investment, but innovation and progress
always

do.

I'm not saying we need a 220-mph bullet train tomorrow - that's not really
feasible

without smaller steps first - but we need to move Michigan forward. Letting
our transportation

fall even more behind is like putting a big "Closed For Business" sign up
across

Michigan. We can't afford that. We need jobs, we need businesses and we need
investment.

Investors, entrepreneurs and federal transportation officials are looking
decades

down the road to determine how to use their resources today.

 We can't let our short-term struggles force us into short-sighted policies
that

will hinder our recovery and haunt us for the next century. The stakes are
just too

high.

The future of our state and our children will be dictated by the decisions
we make

today. If we choose not to develop high-speed rail we will lose more jobs,
more employers

and more investment. We need all those things to rebuild our economy, move
Michigan

forward and create a brighter tomorrow. We need to develop high-speed rail
in Michigan

and we need to do it quickly.

House Speaker Pro Tempore Pam Byrnes, D-Lyndon Township, can be contacted by
phone

at (517) 373-0828 or toll-free at (800) 645-1581. Her e-mail address is

pambyrnes at house.mi.gov