Michigan's infrastructure is in shambles. Answers aren't easy

[TexasTowelie]

Drive on any pothole-ridden street, and it’s clear: Michigan has an infrastructure problem. Solutions, though, aren’t so easy.

That’s partly because the cost of a solution, estimated at $4 billion annually, is so vast, according to experts Wednesday at Michigan Solutions Summit sponsored by The Center for Michigan and Bridge Magazine in East Lansing.

“We are in peril at a variety of levels,” from roads, to water and sewer, to the state’s electrical grid, said John Walsh, state budget director under Gov. Rick Snyder.

The term-limited governor is pushing for fee increases to help pay for some of the improvements, including increasing fees to $4.75 per ton to dump trash in landfills to raise $79 million to replace an expiring bond fund used to clean up contaminated sites, and a $5 water surcharge to all state residents to raise $110 million for drinking water repairs.

Read more: https://www.bridgemi.com/public-sector/michigans-infrastructure-shambles-answers-arent-easy

[safeinOhio]

1. Moved back to Michigan from Ohio.

Ohio gas tax. 28.01 cents per gallon
Michigan gas tax. 40.44 cents per gallon

Yearly car registration

for me, 3 times more in Michigan.

Car insurance
More than 2 times as much in Michigan

Pot holes
More and deeper in Michigan.

Dirt roads
None in North West Ohio
Lots of em all over Michigan

To stupid to copy what works in other states
Michigan

[3Hotdogs]

2. I would like more information. You report higher taxes and fees in Michigan than Ohio.

Yet conditions are worse in Michigan. What practices should Michigan copy?

[safeinOhio]

3. I forgot to add

You don't have to pack a lunch and take a day off on a visit the DMV in Ohio. Plus, they hand you you drivers license right after they take your picture and print out your title, not mailed a few weeks later.

The ones that work better than the current ones.

[citizen blues]

4. What practices should Michigan copy?

Democracy.

Michigan hasn’t been one since 2011 when the Republicans passed the “Emergency Management” bill. This bill allows the governor to overturn any local election and disband any locally elected governing body like city councils, county commissioners, and school boards by declaring a “budget crisis” and appointing an “emergency manager” instead.

Do you remember back in 2011 when the Republican Governor Scott Walker tried a manufactured “budget crisis” to disband the unions? While Wisconsin was first and the most publicized, several other Republican controlled states like Ohio and Florida also tried it. Well, Michigan is the one state it worked.

This was direct application of the shock doctrine that Naomi Klein has written extensively about. The only thing that stopped it was thousands and thousands of people rising up and taking to the streets. (Remember 100,000 marching on the Wisconsin State capital building?)

Michigan was the one state it wasn’t stopped and the “emergency management” system stayed in place. Since the state has become a full on kleptocracy. Under the guise of budget crises, emergency managers have been looting the state. Public parks have been sold of to private golf club developers, the Detroit stadium was sold at a fire sale rate, etc. in the meantime, roads are crumbling and water systems contaminated.

Make no mistake, this is the Republicans’ national model. Privatize everything to make a profit. With Trump in the Whitehouse, sooner or later a big enough crisis will come where the Republicans like Paul Ryan, will implement the shock doctrine. That’s why Republicans refuse to oppose him.

[llmart]

5. Great summation.

I've lived in other states but am now in Michigan. I clearly remember when I moved here thinking, "Why are there dirt roads and septic systems in relatively nice subdivisions? Do people really like dirt roads and furnaces that use heating oil and propane for their houses since there are no gas lines on those streets?" It still baffles me. I asked someone one time why their roads had so many potholes and most of the time they would say it was because of their bad winters. Huh? I grew up in the snow belt of Ohio and we didn't have the awful pothole problem. Plus, how many other states have worse winters?

The sad thing to me was how many Democrats voted for Snyder being fooled by his "one tough nerd" moniker and his whiny voiced TV ads. Now his lackey, Schuette wants to continue the degradation of the state. I did not live here when Milliken was the governor, but from what I've read, he was actually a decent Republican. Michiganders used to pride themselves on their education systems and commitment to the environment, but all I've witnessed is the race to the bottom that Michigan now enjoys.

[3Hotdogs]

6. Thank you.