It’s fantastic news for taxpayers and for fiscal sanity in the Grand Rapids area. Last night the expensive and redundant Rapid “Silver Line” tax increase request went down in flames. The overall vote total was 52% against and 48% in favor, but when looking at the six cities in the Rapid service district, we...
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Just Say No to the Silver Line The supporters of the proposed $110 million Silver Line bus system in Grand Rapids tout it as a “Bus Rapid Transit” line. The proposed route of the Silver Line is up Division from 60th Street, a jog around the hospitals around Michigan street, and back to the...
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Grand Rapids Pundit has received one of the pro-Silver Line post cards in the mail, as I’m sure many residents of the ITP service district have (Grand Rapids, East Grand Rapids, Walker, Wyoming, Kentwood, and Grandville). This post card, which you can view here, exemplifies the continued contempt that the ITP/Rapid has for the...
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The ITP/Rapid transit agency is again asking taxpayers for a tax increase on Tuesday, May 5th. Once again, they are using an off-election date to try and get as few voters as possible. If you live in Grand Rapids, East Grand Rapids, Walker, Wyoming, Grandville, or Kentwood, you should vote no on May 5th. ...
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The Detroit News has a short article today on the dropout rate of Detroit Public Schools students. The article states that a report from Education Week, a weekly education newspaper, has done a study showing that Detroit’s dropout rate is 75%. You can view the report’s web page by clicking here. However, the bureaucrats...
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Brief summary of the election two weeks ago: The Rapid’s tax increase passed (but at 58% Yes, compared to 66% Yes last time). Of the six cities in The Rapid’s tax authority (Grand Rapids, East Grand Rapids, Kentwood, Walker, Wyoming, and Grandville), three of them voted NO on the Rapid – Grandville, Walker, and...
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Don’t forget to vote tomorrow (Tuesday, May 8th). There are three tax issues on the ballot in Grand Rapids, and everyone in Kent County gets to vote on the Grand Rapids Community College tax hike. If you live in Grand Rapids, East Grand Rapids, Kentwood, Walker, Wyoming, or Grandville, you get the pleasure of...
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As you may all know (or not know), the Grand Rapids Public Schools millages both passed last week and everyone’s property tax will go up another $110 per year, on average. Since November of last year, taxes for residents of Grand Rapids have gone up about $206 per year. And they wonder why the...
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Amongst all the humorous banter about how government can make a city cool (an oxymoron if we’ve every heard one), a pollster released the results of a survey of college students this week. They were asked what makes a city cool. It wasn’t nifty bars or government-funded entertainment district studies, or whoppingly expensive light...
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