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Troy mayor recalled for opposing transit center

From the Detroit Free Press:

Janice Daniels

Troy Mayor Janice Daniels said being recalled from office is a burden removed.

The day after Troy voters  removed the controversial mayor from office, Daniels expressed relief at the outcome. The recall passed Tuesday,  52%-48%.

“I’m going to have a great burden lifted off of my shoulders because I won’t be faced with this relentless, merciless, vicious, unwarranted attacks on my person that would have probably gone on for the next three years had I won the election, so it’s probably for the best,” Daniels said in brief comments late Wednesday afternoon.

Daniels, a tea party favorite, was elected to office last year and has been embroiled in a string of controversies regarding her comments about gay people, her opposition to accepting federal funds for a transit center and her public dressing-down of the former city manager.

Read more: http://www.freep.com/article/20121107/NEWS03/121107074/troy-mayor-janice-daniels-recalled

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Editorial: Keep light-rail opportunity on track for city, region

From the Detroit Free Press

A planned light-rail system on Woodward in Detroit could jump-start a regional transit system, providing a foundation metro Detroit could build on after decades of detours and dead ends.

But the rail project can’t move forward without match money from a consortium of private investors who have tentatively agreed to fund it. They include the Kresge Foundation and business leaders such as the Ilitch family, Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert and Compuware Chairman Peter Karmanos.

The consortium’s financial commitment has been questioned lately by some observers, who say private investors aren’t happy with project delays caused by federal environmental requirements, or with Detroit’s new role as the lead agency.

So it was reassuring to hear Matthew Cullen, CEO of the M-1 Rail initiative, pour cold water on those reports. In an interview with the Free Press editorial page last week, Cullen said private investors remain fully committed, even though their role in the project has changed from owner-operators to investors with no direct say in governance.

“We embrace it,” he said.

Read more: http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110109/OPINION01/101090454/Keep-light-rail-opportunity-on-track-for-city-region&template=fullarticle