MichiganRadio

Detroit City Council Eyes Transit Plans DETROIT, MI (Michigan Radio) - Detroit City Council members looked for answers about regional mass transit plans at a recent hearing.

Detroit and suburban elected officials now almost unanimously agree that the region needs a mass transit system to rebound economically. What they haven't yet agreed on is what such a system would look like, or how it would be funded.

Detroit Congresswoman Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick sits on the powerful House Appropriations Committee. She says there's lots of Federal transit money up for grabs, but competition for those funds is fierce.

"I believe that the trillion dollars that I sit on in DC is you all's money," Kilpatrick told the Council. "But you have to come and get it with first class projects, i's dotted and t's crossed."

In order to qualify for Federal funds the state must approve a regional authority to operate the system. Legislation to create such an authority is being drafted in Lansing.

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