Apr 19, 2007

Leave the driving to us is subject of annual Ecology Center meeting


With gasoline hovering near the $3 a gallon mark and carbon emissions increasing, the place to be is at the Ecology Center's annual meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday April 25 at the Kerrytown Concert House, 415 N. Fourth Avenue in Ann Arbor.

The meeting will feature a presentation about the new commuter rail proposals for Ann Arbor, Detroit and southeast Michigan. After years of discussion and planning, new commuter rail services - between Ann Arbor and Detroit, between Ann Arbor and Livingston County and throughout the Detroit metropolitan area - are on the verge of start-up.

This has been a hot topic in Livingston County for years, and if you have the choice between commuting in your car south from Livingston County to Ann Arbor on U.S. 23 or sitting on a train reading your morning newspaper the choice is obvious to me.

Some of the region’s top transit experts will join the Ecology Center to discuss the latest plans. Megan Owens is the Executive Director of Transportation Riders United, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving transportation access and mobility in Greater Detroit. Eli Cooper is the Transportation Manager for City of Ann Arbor and the chief planner of the City's "Model for Mobility" transportation vision.

The Ecology Center annual meeting will also include program updates, environmental awards and election of the Center's Board of Directors. The meeting is open to the general public and admission is free.

For more information, please call (734) 761-3186 ext. 120.

The Ecology Center is a membership-based, nonprofit environmental organization based in Ann Arbor. It was founded by community activists after the country's first Earth Day in 1970, and the Center is now a regional leader in the struggle for clean air, safe water, healthy communities and environmental justice.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Global warming is a lie, being perpetuated by Al Gore. Don't fall for it.

Communications guru said...

You are so misguided.

Anonymous said...

one can only hope that real mass transit is on the horizon. I highly doubt it based on the prices that were quoted in the paper. To give up the convenience of your own car to pay more for a trip into Ann Arbor (or Detroit for that matter)is a bit unreal. It has to be affordable, it has to be convenient, and it has to be reliable. You have to drive or be driven and dropped off at the pick up point, commute to wherever the drop off point is, and then connect with some sort of transport that gets you to your workplace on time... Is anyone polling potential riders at their workplaces? It seems mighty complicated. Ann Arbor has a decent bus system, but will it take you where you want to go WHEN you want to go? I'd love to see a system like what they have in the Washington DC area. Reliable, affordable, and you get to where you need to be with ways to connect/transfer where needed.