Downtown transit system comments

At Thursday's West Michigan Regional Public Policy Conference, Carol Coletta, pesident of a national network of urban leaders known as CEO's for Cities, talked about how cities can attract the next generation workforce - those in the 24 to 34 age group.

Coletta spoke about the characteristics of cities that that age group finds alluring. A member of the audience asked whether it was important for the core city to have dedicated transit system serving just the downtown area.

"Absolutely not," she replied.

Upon hearing that remark, a few people in the audience glanced toward Peter Varga, CEO of The Rapid transit system, and Jennifer Kalczuk, spokeswoman for The Rapid, who were both in attendance.

Varga said the Colletta's comment didn't concern him much because he didn't think people really understood what she was saying.

"What she was saying was that urban areas don't really need a small downtown transit system: What they need more is a robust regional transit system. I don't think she understands our context here, but if she did understand I think she would say that we have the transit system we need."

Anne Bond Emrich, reporter