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| Frustration boils at public hearing for people who ride Detroit's buses a week before service cuts (256329) | |||
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Frustration boils at public hearing for people who ride Detroit's buses a week before service cuts |
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Posted by Gold_12TH on Sat Feb 25 22:12:17 2012 "We came to the meeting so we could speak up and express ourselves, but we never got that chance," said Charlene Broadus who rides DDOT buses.And it's what the City of Detroit considers a "public hearing" that is also sparking outrage among some citizens who ride the city's buses. On Friday, bus riders had hoped to be able to talk to city officials about their concerns over the drastic cuts in service, but instead each person was only able to sit down with a court reporter to document their comments. People were also given large sheets of paper to write down their concerns. "They're only doing this meeting to look good. This isn't about the people right here," said Cassandra Emerson who spoke with tears in her eyes. The changes to DDOT that take effect March 3 include discontinuing all bus service from 1:00 a.m. to 4:00 a.m. and eliminating weekend service on some routes. When Action News asked City of Detroit spokesperson Naomi Patton for any response to the anger and concerns expressed Friday over the changes in bus service, she declined to comment. Patton did say how the public hearing was organized was proper. --- http://www.wxyz.com/dpp/news/region/detroit/frustration-boils-at-public-hearing-for-people-who-ride-detroits-buses-a-week-before-service-cuts#ixzz1nS76gziY Anger at Meeting about DDOT Service Changes: MyFoxDETROIT.com The DDOT meeting about cuts to bus service lasted about 45 seconds before the chaos started. "Mr. Bing, you said you would be here today. You said people from your administration would be here today. We're tired of the shenanigans. We're tired of things being decided," said one attendee. People came to the meeting on Friday night to voice their concerns about the cuts, but the third-party service the Bing administration paid to oversee the meeting had a different idea. The plan was for people to come and sit and talk to a court reporter from an independent company. That person would type the comments on a computer. Those comments would then be transcribed and sent to DDOT. That way DDOT would know what happened at the meeting. However, the people were refusing to talk. Starting March third, all bus service will be cut from 1:00 to 4:00 a.m. Route 11 to Clairmount will be cut on the weekends. Route 46 to Southfield will be cut on Sundays, and the Imperial Express is cut all together. "What is the assumption? That the people on these lines do not work on the weekends? Is that the [assumption]? What is the [assumption] in the middle of the night, that people don't get off work or have to go to [the] emergency [room at] at the hospital and get the bus?" one woman said. "Then they get employers who are saying unless you have reliable transportation, don't apply for this job. Well, [how] the hell [are] you going to get reliable transportation out of DDOT and DDOT [wants] to cut even the sorry service that they have." "We're going to fight. We're going to push back. You see how the people feel. The people are not naive. We're not sitting around twiddling our thumbs waiting on somebody to make decisions for us. We're making our own decisions. Tonight we're saying to Dave Bing that he needs to do what we put him in office to do, and that's to manage the City of Detroit. It's not our fault that the money was stolen and now they don't have any money to provide the service for us. That is not our fault," another woman told us. "We're tired of paying top dollar and not getting [any] service in Detroit. This is one of the saddest days in the City of Detroit." This third-party service was paid to come and sit in four meetings and take notes to pass along to DDOT. The people felt like that was money that could be used to save some of the routes. They did not appreciate a third-party service that had nothing to do with DDOT being the people there to facilitate the meeting. They said they felt cheated. Click here for more information on the DDOT changes to go into effect March third.DETROIT (WJBK) -- The DDOT meeting about cuts to bus service lasted about 45 seconds before the chaos started. "Mr. Bing, you said you would be here today. You said people from your administration would be here today. We're tired of the shenanigans. We're tired of things being decided," said one attendee. People came to the meeting on Friday night to voice their concerns about the cuts, but the third-party service the Bing administration paid to oversee the meeting had a different idea. The plan was for people to come and sit and talk to a court reporter from an independent company. She would type their comments on her computer. Then they would transcribe them and send them to DDOT. That way DDOT would know what happened at the meeting. However, the people were refusing to talk. Starting March third, all bus service will be cut from 1:00 to 4:00 a.m. Route 11 to Clairmount will be cut on the weekends. Route 46 to Southfield will be cut on Sundays, and the Imperial Express is cut all together. "What is the assumption? That the people on these lines do not work on the weekends? Is that the [assumption]? What is the [assumption] in the middle of the night, that people don't get off work or have to go to [the] emergency [room at] at the hospital and get the bus?" one woman said. "Then they get employers who are saying unless you have reliable transportation, don't apply for this job. Well, [how] the hell [are] you going to get reliable transportation out of DDOT and DDOT [wants] to cut even the sorry service that they have." "We're going to fight. We're going to push back. You see how the people feel. The people are not naive. We're not sitting around twiddling our thumbs waiting on somebody to make decisions for us. We're making our own decisions. Tonight we're saying to Dave Bing that he needs to do what we put him in office to do, and that's to manage the City of Detroit. It's not our fault that the money was stolen and now they don't have any money to provide the service for us. That is not our fault," another woman told us. "We're tired of paying top dollar and not getting [any] service in Detroit. This is one of the saddest days in the City of Detroit." This third-party service was paid to come and sit in four meetings and take notes to pass along to DDOT. The people felt like that was money that could be used to save some of the routes. They did not appreciate a third-party service that had nothing to do with DDOT being the people there to facilitate the meeting. They said they felt cheated. Click here for more information on the DDOT changes to go into effect March third. The shouting at the Northwest Activities Center reflected the frustration that many said they felt Friday at a Detroit Department of Transportation public hearing on the impact of proposed cuts to bus service. Some in the audience, made up largely of DDOT riders, said they expected that Detroit Mayor Dave Bing or City Council members would be present. They also wanted to ask questions during the two-hour hearing on the cuts, which are scheduled to take effect March 3. "We're only taking comment at this hearing," said Tim Roseboom, manager of DDOT's strategic planning division. "We will not be able to answer questions." Roseboom told the audience of about 100 people that they should go to one of four easels in the corners of the room and write their thoughts or dictate them to stenographers at tables near the easels. In his short presentation reviewing the cuts, Roseboom said: "We are aware these cuts will have an effect on the riders. They can and will hurt the riders." A group of people that had moved to the center of the room said they were leaving and going downtown to protest the cuts -- which include eliminating 1-4 a.m. bus service -- at the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center. Others stayed in their seats, swapping stories about delayed buses and attempted robberies at bus stops. Still others went to the easels and began writing or took seats next to the stenographers and told of their fears about how the cuts would change their lives. Elreta Dodds, 54, wrote that to reduce the bus service in any way would be a "catastrophic deficit to an already struggling city." Mark Rodgers, 53, said he had been taking buses to work since his 1995 Ford Thunderbird broke down. It takes him 40 minutes to take three buses to get to work, and he said he is concerned about cuts to the Wyoming line. "Employers don't want to hear it," Rodgers said of excuses for being late. "You be on time, or they're going to give the job to someone else." Across the room, Cassandra Emerson, 32, shouted angrily as she stood near one of the easels: "Y'all don't care!" "Every doctor I have is along Michigan Avenue," said Emerson, who can't drive because she suffers seizures. "I'll miss my doctor's appointments." She later explained that she sees four doctors, including one who is treating her leg. "If I can't make it to rehab, I'm going to get worse," she said, beginning to weep. A woman nearby hugged her. "They don't care," Emerson sobbed. "I know," the woman said. --- http://www.freep.com/article/20120225/NEWS01/202250328/Frustrated-riders-speak-out-at-hearing-on-proposed-DDOT-bus-cuts |
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