Yesterday, as some may have noticed if you watched it online, I was a part of series of folks who testified on the FY 2009-10 Transportation budget before the House Transporation Appropriations Subcommittee. I followed representatives from the County Road Association of Michigan (CRAM) and the Michigan Infrastructure and Transportation Association (MITA) who both called from attention to the lack of funding spent on Michigan's transportation system. At first, I thought that they stole a lot of my thunder but nevertheless, I pushed forward.
I reminded the committee that their budget, while it is all restricted funds, is important. It is important because they will fund 9,696 miles of state trunklines, 20,914 of municipal roads, and 88,961 miles of county roads. Those numbers don't change ... that is our system as we find it today and it is dying because we are planning to spend 4.8% less than we did in FY 08-09 (which was 4.7% less than the previous year).
The transportation budget is important because Michigan drivers lose $7 billion in lost time, wasted fuel, and crashes each year. And I jokingly reminded them that for those of us who struggle with our Lions and our Pistons and celebrate with our Red Wings and our Tigers - that's a lot of game time that we miss sitting in traffic.
After giving my testimony, I was asked if the House and the Senate would reach "syzygy" in order to get a funding package moving. After quickly realizing what "syzygy" means (it is a kind of unity, especially through coordination or alignment, most commonly used in the astronomical and/or astrological sense) my answer was: "To be honest, I've been praying a lot of rosaries on that. But I think that with your hard work, myself, the Municipal League and all the interest groups that are here today are more than willing to help get you there. And we hope to do so before you all leave for your summer break, because once you do - frankly - you'll be more focused on the 2010 elections than the transportation system."
And that's the truth ... so goto:http://getmichiganmoving.com/action.html and help us get them to syzygy.
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