Hello! I'm Luciano Marcon. I'm in for Jer as he's been working on interviews for our mayoral candidate series, and a special something he'll be ready to announce this weekend. Let's get into it.

I'm a Metro Detroiter in my 20s, and transit is something me and my friends talk about. It's a big part of the choice of whether we stay in our region or go after jobs elsewhere.

I went to the annual Transportation Riders United's (TRU) annual The State of Transit event this week, and I want to share a few takeaways from the event.

If TRU sounds familiar, that is because Jer chatted with TRU's Executive Director Megan Owens last month on the podcast about the idea of doubling the funding for transit in the City of Detroit.

Metro Detroit gets what it pays for - and it doesn't pay for enough

Per person, Detroit spends less than $200 a year. That's not just behind places like Chicago or Philadelphia that you might think use a lot of mass transit, but it's behind Cleveland. Columbus. Milwaukee. Kansas City. Indianapolis.

For all of my life, we have been hearing that Detroit is a shell of itself. But if we don't invest in ourselves, we can't expect anyone to invest in us.

I'm the exception to the rule for staying here among my friends.

I think Detroit can and should build a transit network that not only rivals metro areas around the world but also makes people take notes. This isn't even a question to most of the people my age who I know.

We need more reliable service

"I like to ride transit. I don't want to schedule it. I hope, for all of us, we can start to make it that way," said Patty Fedewa, a transit rider.

As someone who grew up in the area, I don't use public transit often because it is inconsistent. There are bus stops near my home, but I've never considered riding them because I was raised to be on time.

I have ridden the QLINE twice, and I treat the People Mover like those kiddie rides in grocery stores that rocked back and forth when Mom dispensed a quarter.

I've been fortunate enough to have a car or rely on people for a ride. People who have no choice but to rely on transit services should not have the burden of it not working.

We as a region can't expand transit without first protecting what services we have. Our state and federal legislatures are often a "divided house." We can't hope that someone will not freeze our funding — our tax dollars. We need to protect our money to maintain and invest in our community services.

More transit means more jobs (and that people can keep them)

Our state's population is getting older, and school enrollment is falling off a cliff.

Wayne County Executive Warren Evans touched on how we can improve our region's economy and keep people my age from leaving for opportunities by thinking of public transit as economic development.

Cars have become synonymous with personal freedom, but they are also really expensive. Michigan still has high insurance costs despite legislative reform, and the cost of having a car keeps going up.

Evans said that by improving public transit throughout Southeast Michigan, not merely Wayne County, we can all grow because we will better connect people to job opportunities, local businesses, and arts and entertainment.

We have limited resources, including human capital, and big decision-makers in Southeast Michigan need to work together to lift ourselves up to grow. Otherwise, other regions will continue to run laps around us.

We're going to have to do this together

State Representative Jason Morgan, State Senator Mallory McMorrow, and Wayne County Executive Warren Evans stressed that they want people, both in TRU and outside of the organization, to hold themselves and their colleagues accountable.

County Executive Evans said:

"We need to hear from people. People need to take a stand. What I need is for folks to be advocates as we go through this so we can get off a dime and get something done."

Rep. Morgan talked about how people should be persistent even when plans don't come to fruition.

And Sen. McMorrow talked about effective communication.

"When I've seen really successful advocacy, is when every single member of the senate has heard from the same constituent at the same time. Moms Demand Action is very effective. They bring cookies, and they'll kill you with kindness. ... When you keep showing up, your legislator realizes, "I can't ignore this anymore."

Sen. McMorrow also said call to action forms on timely issues are good, but personal stories are much more effective, even though they take a little bit of time.

With that being said, I'd love to know your thoughts in the comments, or email us - dailydetroit@gmail.com.

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If you've made it this far, thanks for reading and letting me into your inbox. Jer will be back behind the keyboard this weekend.

-Luciano