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…
This week the non-partisan Kent County Open Government Project released their first annual survey of local government openness. Each major unit of government in Kent County was rated based on the amount of information made available to the public through its web site. The survey looked for important transparency topics such as availability of contact…
In April of 2007, The Rapid made a big deal about purchasing two hybrid-electric buses (pictured below). They claimed that these buses, at a cost of $510,000 each (compared to about $290,000 for a regular bus) would reduce pollution and double the miles per gallon of a regular bus. According to an article in the…
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…
Another example of The Rapid’s continued baffling behavior! An article that The Rapid posted on their own web site, showing that spending too much money on public transit achieves the opposite of the intended effect, was suddenly removed when a commenter on the Grand Rapids Press web site pointed out the absurdity of The Rapid’s…
The ITP has finally released their Transit Master Plan on the web. You can view it by clicking here. Here are some highlights: The plan calls for not one, but two bus rapid transit (BRT) lines. This is the return from the dead of the failed Rapid Silver Line, which was already defeated at the…
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…
The Rapid’s Silver Line proposal failed at the ballot box on May 5th. The vote was 53% against and 47% in favor. This is the first time in many years that a tax increase request from The Rapid was turned down. More significantly, of the six cities in the ITP region (Grand Rapids, East Grand…
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…
You may not be aware that the RAPID offers a shuttle service to and from the Gerald Ford Airport. If you’re not familiar with the Air Porter service, here are the details. The shuttle goes between the airport and three downtown hotels: The Amway, the Courtyard by Marriott, and the Days Inn. Sounds like a…