General Motors Bankruptcy/Mass Transit

[Hypestyle]

Blessings to All who Read This:

I live and work in Detroit, Michigan. In my opinion Detroit bears the greatest burden in light of recent events concerning the automotive industry companies. Unemployment was already a major problem here and now it is worse. Now that the federal government, via taxpayer money, are majority stakeholders in General Motors, I feel that the engineering and mass-production/assembly resources at GM (and if possible, Chrysler) can and should be used to help design and implement comprehensive mass-transit systems like high speed rail, light rail, and alternative-fuel buses for use both regionally and nationwide. Weren’t the auto factories refitted during World War II to build tanks and such? The American auto industry’s backyard of Michigan would be great to start pilot projects connecting cities with 21st century transit systems.

Public Transit systems help to lessen the overall fuel emissions made by the vehicles we drive. It also helps those who currently can't afford their own vehicle meet family, work and school obligations. It would be a means of bolstering America’s workforce and go a long way toward strengthening the economy. In the midst of public debate on what GM’s restructuring means, I feel that there is a missed opportunity not being explored. The auto companies historically had not supported mass transit if only because it theoretically detracts from their revenue. A governmental “hands off” mantra is not the proper approach to this unique and virtually unprecedented situation.

In the interest of uplifting this issue, here is some contact information for elected officials and others--

Elected Officials contact info:
Mr. Barack Obama, President of the United States (& Mr. Joe Biden, Vice President)
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
www.whitehouse.gov

Mr. Ray LaHood, US Secretary of Transportation
U.S. Department of Transportation
1200 New Jersey Ave SE,
Washington, DC 20590

Mr. Matt Welbes
Federal Transit Administration
East Building
1200 New Jersey Ave SE
Washington, DC 20590
Dept. of Transportation website- www.dot.gov

US Senators- www.senate.gov
US House of Represenatives- www.house.gov

News Programs/Pundits/Activists contact info (websites & snail mail)
NBC News www.nbc.com, www.msnbc.com
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, N.Y. 10112
NBC/MSNBC: Rachel Maddow; Brian Williams; Keith Olbermann, Chris Matthews, Ann Curry, matt lauer, Meredith viera

CBS News www.cbsnews.com
524 West 57th St.
New York, NY 10019
Katie Couric; Bob Schieffer

Rainbow Push coalition-
930 E. 50th Street
Chicago, IL 60615
www.rainbowpush.org


National Action Network-
106 W. 145th Street
Harlem, New York 10039
www.nationalactionnetwork.com

ABC News www.abcnews.com
7 West 66th Street,
New York, NY 10023
Charles Gibson, Diane Sawyer, Robin Roberts, Chris Cuomo

PBS www.pbs.org
Public Affairs Television
450 West 33rd Street
6th Floor
New York, NY 10001
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/letters.html

Ralph Nader www.nader.org
P.O. Box 19312
Washington, DC 20036

CNN- www.cnn.com
One CNN Center
Atlanta, GA 30303
Soledad OBrien, Larry King, Anderson Cooper, Don Lemon, Tony Harris, TJ Holmes

[sceneless]

Good idea, but don't forget Detroiters have been yearning for mass transit for decades. The people mover was supposed to do alot more than drive in a circle, but something happened. Either mayor Young ran outta money or it was blocked by the suburbs. I hear a few different stories. Supposedly, there's a light rail that's getting built on Woodward, but we'll see. They been talking that mass transit shit for years, but I never see any results. My theory (and it's just that) is the big 3 played a big role in blocking mass transit around here, because this is the "motor city" after all. It's cool that you're trying to do something, but this shit won't happen until the people of Detroit speak out.

[jahluv]

I will say this for GM - they were/are innovators in the development of Hybrid buses. There are fleets of them rolling all over the US...

http://www.electricdrive.org/index.php?ht=d/ArticleDetails/i/8898
http://www.gm.com/corporate/responsibility/reports/05/400_products/...
http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/01/22/dc-auto-show-1-732-more-ord...

And I agree with you Hypestyle... GM could take many of their soon to be shuttered plants and convert them to mass transit production. This is an avenue that could make them some cash and save some jobs. Problem, few cities are in financial shape to make the investement in good mass transit right now. Hard to sell stuff when customers can't afford it...

[MissE]

This sounds like a really good idea. I think if it's given a "Green" spin you might be able to get some interest from government backers since the development and further promotion of seems to be a big priority right now.