Tag Archive: Rapid Silver Line

Apr
05
2011

Appeal Filed in Response to The Rapid Bus System’s Vindictive Freedom of Information Act Reply

The Rapid's FOIA Bomb

Today Jeff Steinport, co-founder of Kent County Families for Fiscal Responsibility (KCFFR) and manager of the group’s ITP Watch project, filed a Freedom of Information Act appeal with Don Lawless, the chairman of the Interurban Transit Partnership board (also known as The Rapid). This appeal is a result of The Rapid’s vindictive and illegal response to Steinport’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request relating to The Rapid’s operations and expenses.

The original FOIA request from Steinport asked for information on The Rapid’s ridership on a per-route basis, the amount The Rapid spends with several companies, and more detail on the proposed Silver Line bus route, which was rejected by voters in 2009. The original FOIA letter requested a waiver of fees because the information asked for was in the public’s interest and the public has a right to know how their money is spent before they are asked for a tax increase. State law provides for a waiver of such fees if the disclosure is in the public interest. The Rapid is requesting a 31% property tax increase on May 3 with much of the new tax increase going to fund the failed Silver Line bus route.

The Rapid denied the fee waiver request for no valid reason and proceeded to waste dozens of hours of staff time and nearly 1,700 pages of printouts. The resulting bill was for $450, just for asking for important information on how The Rapid operates.

“All government agencies have a procedure where they notify the FOIA requester that the cost will be over $50, yet the Rapid did not do this, contrary to their own practices,” said Jeff Steinport. “In fact, The Rapid is sending a message to taxpayers that they’d better not ask how The Rapid spends their money, and if they do, The Rapid will slap them with a bill for hundreds of dollars just for asking.”

The Rapid was judged the least transparent government entity in Kent County after a survey by KCFFR showed how little it made available online. The Rapid received a transparency score of “D-”, a result of virtually no financial or operational data being available to the public.

The appeal filed today demonstrates how The Rapid violates both the spirit and letter of state law and how The Rapid fears public disclosure of its spending and operations. “Taxpayers in Grand Rapids, East Grand Rapids, Kentwood, Walker, Wyoming, and Grandville need to ask themselves if a government agency which consistently misleads the public and shows contempt for taxpayers deserves more money,” said Steinport.

For much more detail, read the full 21 page appeal here.

The appeal is also available online, posted on the Scribd web site.

Feb
01
2011

It’s Official: The Rapid asks for a 31% tax increase in May

The Rapid’s board of directors announced last week that they are pursuing a 31% property tax millage increase on May 3rd to fund, among other things, the failed Rapid Silver Line bus system in Grand Rapids. ITP Watch, a project of Kent County Families for Fiscal Responsibility, is opposing this tax increase for the same reasons we opposed it in 2009.

This $26 million tax increase will cost each household $190 more in property taxes for those residents of Grand Rapids, East Grand Rapids, Kentwood, Grandville, Walker, and Wyoming.

Here are some facts regarding The Rapid and this tax increase request:

  • The proposed Rapid Silver Line would clog up Division Avenue, Michigan Street, and Monroe Avenue during rush hour by closing one traffic lane so that only the Rapid Silver Line could use it, leaving only one lane for cars
  • The Rapid Silver Line would run slower than the bus that currently runs nearly the same route
  • Voters already said NO to the Rapid Silver Line in 2009 – but the politicians at The Rapid didn’t get the message!
  • The average Rapid bus operates about 90% empty
  • The Rapid loses $4.31 for each and every rider that uses the system
  • The Rapid just spent over $30 million on a new garage so that their buses could be stored indoors
  • The Rapid spent $250,000 on a piece of art for their headquarters
  • The Rapid is giving their employees raises while most other government entities are cutting back
  • The Director of The Rapid is one of the highest paid government employees in the county

The Rapid needs to do a better job of spending the money it already has before asking for more!

Stay tuned for further updates as we post more details about this upcoming vote.

If you would like to distribute a flyer to friends and neighbors, to explain to them what this tax increase is about, please feel free to use our flyer, available here.

It’s also important to contact your City Commissioners, State Representative, and State Senator and urge them to publicly oppose this massive tax increase.

Feb
03
2010

Rapid Silver Line Tax Increase Retry is Full Speed Ahead

The ITP’s board meeting in December of 2009 had a discussion about the Rapid Silver Line. It’s clear that they are pressing full speed ahead with coming back to voters to raise taxes, again, for this failed and inefficient project. You can read the meeting’s minutes here.

Mr. Jaiyeoba gave an update on the Silver Line bus rapid transit project and the environmental assessment process. A Power Point presentation was given describing the project, where we are today, potential impacts being considered in the EA, results of the recent traffic analysis and the next steps in the project.

We are working to get a copy of the Power Point presentation referenced in the minutes for more detail. Our guess is that they will try again either this May or in May of 2011.

Apr
21
2009

Rapid Silver Line Vote No Flyers – Download and Print

taxesWe now have available “Vote No” flyers available for everyone to download and print. There are four per page, making it easy to leave these reminders with friends and neighbors. The flyer simply states: “Vote NO on the $70 million bus tax increase on Tuesday, May 5th. For more information, visit www.itpwatch.org.”

>> Download the flyer here in PDF format <<

If you have ideas for more ways of getting the word out, please contact us at info@itpwatch.org

Apr
13
2009

The Rapid’s New Silver Line – Another Waste of Taxpayer Money

We urge the voters of Grand Rapids, East Grand Rapids, Kentwood, Walker, Wyoming, and Grandville to vote NO on the Tuesday, May 5th ballot. The ITP is asking for another tax increase to fund the so-called “Silver Line” bus route. Why should you vote NO?

  • The Silver Line will actually increase congestion on Division Avenue because two (of the four) lanes of traffic will be cut off to normal traffic during peak hours, so that the new BRT buses will have priority over all other traffic. That means that during rush hours, traffic will only be allowed one lane each way on Division Avenue.
  • Rapid buses already travel this “new” route. The new Silver Line will only duplicate efforts and accomplish nothing new.
  • This new bus route is being called a Bus Rapid Transit line (BRT). However, the length of the route is 9.87 miles and the travel time for that route is 36 minutes. That works out to a little over an average of 16 miles per hour. How do they call this rapid?
  • Increasing taxes by $70 million during the worst recession since the Great Depression will only serve to kill more jobs in the Grand Rapids area.
  • Very, very, very few of the residents of the ITP area will see any benefit whatsoever. Residents of Walker, Grandville, and East Grand Rapids will see no benefit at all.
  • The dedicated lanes for these buses will eliminate crucial parking for the small businesses along Division.

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