Transit forum reveals some Detroit mayoral candidates don't know what they're talking about

The latest forum put on full display how much — or little — Detroit mayoral candidates know about issues transit advocates have spent years fighting for.

Danetta Simpson struggled to answer questions and keep her phone on silent at the latest candidate forum Wednesday. Photo: Samuel Robinson

Transit advocates stumped some candidates for Detroit mayor Wednesday with questions related to bus driver pay, the city’s transportation budget and eliminating parking minimums for developers.

Transportation activist and taxicab driver Michael Cunningham kicked off the forum by inviting attendees to join him for a rendition of “Wheels on the bus.”

“The circle I’m around are poor and they’re trying to rise,” Cunningham said. “You can’t rise if you can’t get to work on time.”

Danetta Simpson and Joel Haashiim walked into the Wayne State building across TechTown about five minutes late.

When asked to commit to doubling the city’s department of transportation budget, Haashiim said he would double driver’s salaries, ignoring a member of the audience reminding him the question posed to each candidate was whether he supported doubling the entire department budget.

DDOT pays its drivers at $19, topping out at about $26, which has contributed to a high turnover rate, advocates said. They say it costs about $25,000 to train operators who walk away weeks later. SMART, Southeast Michigan’s regional transit system, recently increased wages to top out at around $32.

Simpson said she used to take the bus to school and work, but didn’t directly answer the question. She said she would do “everything I can to put things into the budget whatsoever.”

Before Simpson’s answers, she turned her back to the crowd to read the question off the screen.

At one point on stage, Simpson attempted to turn her phone off after it kept ringing on stage until John Barlow, sitting two chairs away, grabbed it out of James Craig’s hands to turn it off. Craig was also struggling to switch Simpson’s phone from “ring” to “silent.”

Haashiim also didn’t directly answer questions. When asked about making driver wages competitive with SMART, he said he would conduct a feasibility study, “because there’s been many attempts to help or build a better transit system. However, everyone that has been in that position has failed.”

An $800,000 downtown mobility study, called the People Mover system plan, is currently being conducted by AECOM Great Lakes.

Haashiim also stressed the need for additional revenue from the state or the federal government to improve the city’s transit system, claiming in his closing remarks he has direct connections at the White House, a line that voters have heard from Craig since he announced his campaign.

When asked about zoning laws that require developers to include a minimum amount of free parking, which advocates say inflate costs for developers which are passed along to end-users, Simpson didn’t appear aware of what was being asked.

“If you don’t keep it under control, you have people parking up in grasses, blocking sidewalks and driveways, etc,” Simpson said.

Jenkins said she would support reducing parking minimums, while Craig said he would “certainly take a look at it.”