Enough is enough!
STOP THE INSANITY!
The Mayor Tom Barrett, lib elite, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel-endorsed, wasteful, pointless, aimless streetcar plan for downtown Milwaukee should be buried now.
The desperation of the elitists to win this battle is pathetic.
Barrett's scheme to "bypass Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker and set up a city-owned streetcar system with $91.5 million in long-idle federal transportation aid" reveals what extremes he's willing to go to get his little 3 mile loop of tracks laid.
The streetcar system might be more extensive than the three-mile downtown loop originally proposed by Barrett, the mayor said Tuesday. It could be operated under a contract with either the non-profit company that runs the Milwaukee County Transit System or the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Transit Authority, which is trying to set up a commuter train line.
Walker denounced the idea, saying the move would be "an attack on the bus system." He claims the streetcars would compete with the county's cash-strapped bus system for state and federal aid; Barrett denies that.
...Barrett said he had asked the city attorney's office whether that agreement meant the federal money could be used without further county consent when the study committee agrees on a plan. The county has one vote on the panel, as do the city, the Wisconsin Center District and the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce.
...Barrett said he had proposed the express buses as a compromise with Walker, but if the county doesn't move on the issue, the mayor might ask the panel to drop the bus routes and back a more extensive streetcar system.
In other words, Barrett defines "compromise" as "doing it my way."
An editorial in today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, not surprisingly, defends Barrett's attempt at a power grab. The Board is fully in Barrett's corner when it comes to any effort to usurp Scott Walker's influence. (This is the same Board that moans about "dictator" George W. Bush's relationship with Congress.)
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett says he's going to explore whether the city should bypass Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker to move the community ahead on mass transit. Although Barrett's frustration is understandable, we would hope it wouldn't come to that. Cooperation always makes more sense.
But if Barrett does make that end run, it will be Walker's intransigence on rail that led to it. Walker argues that by insisting on Barrett's three-mile downtown streetcar loop, the mayor isn't really trying to reach a settlement. We respectfully disagree.
As we said the other day, the mayor and the county executive both need to bend, but after talking to each of them again, we believe more than ever it's Barrett who has been doing most of the bending. Maybe not over backwards, as the mayor implies, but clearly enough to get Walker to agree in turn to throw the issue of a rail component, whether light rail or streetcar, into the transit discussion.
Is this about "bending" or about spending federal funds in a manner that will best benefit Milwaukee CITY and COUNTY residents?
Scott Walker would be derelict in his duty to serve Milwaukee County residents if he did NOT challenge Barrett's streetcar folly.
Yes, compromise is important; but I don't see the point in compromising on something that is so clearly a mistake.
The fact is the proposed streetcar plan would serve a minuscule, elite portion of the population.
I think Milwaukee's light rail libs want the streetcar for purely selfish reasons, as some sort of lib status symbol, showing that the city is in the "big leagues" when it comes to lib pet projects.
I sincerely believe that they are knowingly willing to squander funds that could help less well off sectors of society just to satisfy their "light rail envy."
Bottom line: The standard of serving the greater good should be applied in this case.
The fact is Barrett's 3 mile downtown Milwaukee streetcar loop does not.
4 comments:
OR the Mayor's plan is about economic development. A very similiar line in Portland is credited with creating 1.4 BILLION dollars of development. Damn the Mayor for trying to increase the tax base.
Beside if he'd proposed a light-rail system that connected the inner-city with the burbs and downtown what would you say then??
No, the plan is not about economic development and that's the problem.
It's a streetcar to nowhere. It's about spending money because it's there.
Barrett doesn't know how to increase the tax base, though he's damn good at taxing. He picked that up in Washington I guess. Then again, that theory doesn't really hold up. What's Jim Doyle's excuse?
If Barrett proposed a light-rail system that connected impoverished areas of Milwaukee to where the jobs are, then I would want to know the costs of builiding and maintaining it.
The problem with any rail system is that it's on RAILS.
Meanwhile, Milwaukee continues to embarrass itself by letting the federal transit money sit and lose value. We can spend nearly $1billion on a interchange, but not free federal money on a relatively well thought out transit option.
The loop is a beginning. I fail to see how this loop which gets people within a few blocks of most downtown entertainment destinations is any sort of waste. The OTHER part of the system, the express bus system is what would be used to get people in and out of the city to jobs in the first place. I love how the anti-"choo choo" crowd always forgets about the COMET portion. Its hilarious!
Actually, the most hilarious thing about this whole thing is Walker's "its an attack on the bus system". Actually, Scotty, dropping 13 more routes and increasing fares while losing ridership and cutting jobs is an attack on the bus system. Thanks to your boy Scott, the parks and bus system continue to crumble.
Also, fixed rail transit is generally much cheaper to maintain and operate than a bus system due to - A) a fixed rail, and B) electric vehicles.
Compromise was Barrett shooting down the original Connector Study, and proposing a much smaller portion of a rail system. Not compromising is Walker's continued "boondoggle" rhetoric and not even considering the option.
The loop would be the beginning of a colossal waste.
Stubbornness is not a virtue.
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