Stories indexed with the term ‘transit tax’

Editor’s note: Based on early results, the transit millage appears to have passed.

It’s a Chronicle tradition to spend Election Day on two-wheeled transportation – a bicycle and a scooter – visiting as many precincts as possible and logging vignettes from the polls and points in between.

But today’s vote – in Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti and Ypsilanti Township – includes way more geographic territory than we’re accustomed to covering.

Instead of trying to visit as many polling places as possible, we’re going to settle for visiting a couple in each jurisdiction. And to cover the distance, we’re going to tap the resources of the organization that’s putting the millage on the ballot – the AAATA fixed route bus system.

So updates today will be light on polling places and heavy on the points in between. We hope readers will help fill in the gaps by leaving comments on this article with their own vignettes from the polls.

Whatever your view on the millage, we hope you’ll mark a ballot today. [Full Story]

On its website, the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Regional Chamber has endorsed the 0.7 transit millage that will appear on the May 6, 2014 ballot for voters in the city of Ann Arbor, the city of Ypsilanti, and Ypsilanti Township. The Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority board voted to place the millage on the ballot at its Feb. 20, 2014 meeting. From the statement of support: “AAATA’s plan is also sound because it offers a specific set of services for a specific amount of tax increase; a pay for what you get equation.” [Source]

According to Ann Arbor city clerk Jackie Beaudry, the first batch of absentee ballots have been mailed out to those who’ve requested them for the May 6, 2014 election.

On May 6, voters in three jurisdictions – the city of Ann Arbor, the city of Ypsilanti and Ypsilanti Township – will be asked to approve a 0.7 mill tax to support improvements to transportation service. The board of the Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority voted at its Feb. 20, 2014 meeting to place the question on the ballot.

In Ann Arbor, 1,529 absentee ballots were sent out in the first wave.

Of the 1,529 ballots, the initial distribution across Ann Arbor’s five wards appears to be skewed somewhat more heavily toward voters … [Full Story]