Milwaukee Holiday Parade Cancelled

After 92 years, the Milwaukee Holiday Parade is canceled for the first time, and maybe forever... https://t.co/iJoF7rWL3Y

— Bobby Tanzilo (@BobbyOnMKEcom) August 29, 2018

The Law of Unintended Consequences strikes again: The surprise cancellation of Milwaukee's holiday parade was due in part to construction on the streetcar system. https://t.co/HLK97LhqJm

— Dan O'Donnell (@DanODonnellShow) August 29, 2018

From BizTimes Milwaukee:

The organizers of the Milwaukee Holiday Parade are retiring from putting on the annual event, prompted by a lack of funding and logistical challenges associated with downtown construction.

Barring another organizer or sponsor deciding to continue the annual parade, last year’s parade will have been the last, organizers said in an announcement today.

Four members of the DeGrace family, which has put on the event for the last 66 years of the parade’s 92-year history, announced their decision to retire on Wednesday morning.

...Aside from a lack of funding, [parade producer Suzanne] DeGrace Spaeth said, several factors culminated in a “perfect storm” this year, including vendor changes, downtown construction and route logistics.

“There is a lot of great construction going on in Milwaukee and the landscape of Milwaukee is changing but it does present kind of an issue when you’re trying to put on a parade and you stage and de-stage in various locations,” DeGrace Spaeth said.

Boston Store, a major sponsor of the parade, closed following the bankruptcy of its parent company The Bon-Ton Stores Inc.

In addition to that funding evaporating, the streetcar played a role in killing the parade that has been a Milwaukee Christmas tradition since 1927.

Staging the parade is a massive undertaking, and sadly no new sponsors or organizers have come forward.

The DeGrace family organized the parade for 66 years, keeping alive a community event that brought joy to generations. That's quite a legacy.

Milwaukee Streetcar Construction

Milwaukee completes construction of initial streetcar route https://t.co/0wLKXl3bDv pic.twitter.com/7556CnfRpa

— JSOnline - NewsWatch (@js_newswatch) June 26, 2018

I guess this would be exciting if this were the early 20th century.

Milwaukee Streetcar

The District is seriously considering scrapping its current D.C. Streetcar vehicles, just two years after they first carried riders https://t.co/qbh7BwSGil pic.twitter.com/qWTx8fg9Jd

— WTOP (@WTOP) February 26, 2018

From WTOP:

Only two years after the D.C. Streetcar launched, the District is already seriously considering a plan to replace its vehicles.

In responses prepared for a D.C. Council hearing Tuesday — which happens to be the two-year anniversary of the first passengers’ trips down H Street NE — the District Department of Transportation said there have been problems already with getting spare parts to complete repairs in a timely manner. One manufacturer is out of business, and the other is overseas, so the issues are likely to continue.

“Long term parts availability will likely require reverse engineering parts,” DDOT officials wrote to the council’s Committee on Transportation and the Environment. The agency said it is exploring a strategy of acquiring vehicles in the future that “considers the feasibility of disposal of the current fleet.”

Federal Transit Administration guidelines set a streetcar’s typical lifespan at 31 years. Even if the current fleet runs for another five years, it would still have only been in service for seven. The cars arrived a few years before the line opened for passenger service.

Is this the kind of stuff we can expect in Milwaukee?

Wonderful.

Milwaukee Common Council Passes Streetcar

Milwaukee's Common Council is onboard with Tom Barrett's trolley.

The streetcar is very popular with a select few.



Many see it as a boondoggle of mammoth proportions and a giant leap backwards.

From WISN:

The Milwaukee Common Council has passed the controversial streetcar project.

Nine of the 15 council members supported the project at the group's January meeting. Opponents then voted to reconsider the item, putting off the final vote until today.

A motion to reconsider the passing votes failed 6-9 on Tuesday. Therefore the original January approval votes now stand.

"I'm betting on the future of the city of Milwaukee," said Mayor Tom Barrett, who has championed the project from day one. "I believe you're going to see investment and growth along and near the route."

Barrett said the four-mile fixed downtown route may turn some off, but he believes expansion routes will be added to the Third Ward, Fifth Ward, UW-Milwaukee and even the airport in the future.

"It is a fixed route, which to some people, there's opposition to that," he said. "But there's a reason. Employers, developers, retailers, know it's going to be there for the next 10, 20, 30 years."

Freeways are fixed routes. So are streets. We already have fixed routes. Good grief!

It's not like a streetcar will bring fixed routes to the table in terms of development, as Barrett suggests. Employers, developers, and retailers know freeways and streets will be there for the next 10, 20, 30 years, too.

A streetcar only brings headaches. As transportation, it's terribly limited. It can't easily be moved or redirected.

In sum, it's not smart.

"Does the benefit outweigh the cost?" asked council president Michael Murphy. "Yes there is risk, but there is risk in everything in life. The reality is, as a city, do we not take risks anymore?"

Oh, my God.

That is not a good argument.



I don't want to go back.

Now that Milwaukee gets a trolley, when will the Common Council vote for rotary phones & ice block delivery for the courthouse?

— Brian Fraley (@Dailytakes) February 10, 2015

_________________

Tom Barrett says, Milwaukee "has momentum."

I agree. However, we differ on the direction of that momentum.

#MKE has momentum, let's keep it going http://t.co/TYOPaSlrPV

— Tom Barrett (@Barrett4MKE) February 10, 2015

Josh Zepnick's Parents Frightened By Knock At Door

I don't want to make fun of an elderly citizen frightened by someone knocking at the door at 7:00 PM.

Instead, I'll address FOX6 News and Josh Zepnick, the Wisconsin Assemblyman who threatened Dave Sobelman.

Here's the story as reported by FOX6:

A Milwaukee couple says they were unfairly frightened by a canvasser who came to their door, hoping to get their signatures in an ongoing petition drive against the proposed downtown Milwaukee streetcar — and they happen to be parents of state Rep. Josh Zepnick.

Rep. Josh Zepnick (D-Milwaukee) says he’s not playing politics. Rather, he says he’s simply protecting his parents.

It was Thursday evening, January 22nd, around 7:00 p.m. when Jeri Zepnick heard a knock at her door.

“I heard this pounding on my front door. I got so scared! I thought somebody was breaking into the house,” Jeri Zepnick said.

Jeri Zepnick and her husband were visited by a petitioner, requesting their signatures on a petition against the proposed downtown Milwaukee streetcar. But that didn’t matter.

“That scared me half to death! I said, ‘don`t you ever come back to this house again pounding on the door like that,'” Jeri Zepnick said.

Jeri Zepnick’s son is Rep. Josh Zepnick. He says during his political career, he’s done plenty of canvassing. What happened to his parents, he says, isn’t the right way to address any issue.

“Respecting peoples` privacy is also a big issue, and it`s one that, you know, supersedes how passionate you are on the debate,” Rep. Zepnick said.

It's flat-out embarrassing that Josh Zepnick would turn a knock at the door into a newsworthy matter. It's embarrassing that he would exploit his mother this way.

Equally embarrassing: FOX6 News spent two minutes of the newscast on an elderly person being frightened by someone knocking at her door.

That's loony.

Politicians do go door to door. People circulating petitions do go door to door.

They do knock.

That's not a violation of one's privacy.

It's unfortunate that Jeri Zepnick was terrified, but this story should not have been on the news.

It doesn't appear that Jeri Zepnick was all that frightened. She answered the door and yelled at the canvasser. Someone "scared to death" wouldn't open her door and address the individual she supposedly thought was breaking into her home. She'd call 911. She certainly wouldn't open the door.

This story makes Josh Zepnick look crazy.

And FOX6, what is wrong with you? Sending a reporter out to interview someone claiming to be scared by a knock at the door?

Wow.

Sobelman's, Josh Zepnick, and the Streetcar

Josh Zepnick, state representative for Wisconsin's 9th Assembly District on Milwaukee's south side, has a problem with Dave Sobelman, owner of Sobelman's Pub and Grill.

Why?

Sobelman does not support the idioitic Milwaukee streetcar project.

Read: Sobelman: 'I would never waste my own money' on the streetcar

Sobelman's remarks are measured and reasonable.

There is an overwhelming amount of people against this project, but the proponents pretend not to hear them. Let me help get the word out.

We don't need to spend $124 million on a streetcar that runs in a 2.5-mile circle where we already have public transportation!

As a small business owner with a little experience, I would never waste my own money on this and I don't think those proponents would either. The mayor says he's betting on the future of this city. The problem is he's not doing it with his own money.

Sobelman is right.

The proponents refuse to listen to the people. They act as if there is no opposition.

In response to a Facebook post citing the Biz Journal piece and suggesting a boycott of Sobelman's, Zepnick wrote:

"Ain't noboday got time for that!!! Sobelman really piss me off on this one. Talk about no civic pride for a place that profits off my city...good food, but you go there: its crowded, staff is snotty/cranky all the frickin time, parking sucks, and its not safe at night. Hope City reconsiders his sidewalk seating permit for this summer!!! bwah ha ha..."

Yikes! (Zepnick has a problem with "its" and "it's.")

That's a state representative's response to a city business owner giving his opinion on the city's multi-million dollar boondoggle?

Inappropriate.

Mark Belling has the screen grab of the post here.

It's not going anywhere.



This is an embarrassment.

A state representative is conducting himself like an Internet troll.

Sobelman's is a great place.

I can't imagine anyone being so crazy as to deny one's self a Sobelman's burger and boycotting the business because Dave Sobelman doesn't support the streetcar.

In fact, all this talk about Sobelman's is making me hungry, quad hungry.

Actually, I've never had a quad, but I am hungry for Sobelman's.
___________

Sign the Milwaukee Streetcar Petition.

STOP THE STREETCAR RALLY

STOP THE STREETCAR RALLY: Alderman Bob Donovan here at Elk's Lodge at 5555 W. Good Hope. I'll be on stage at 1pm.

— Vicki Mckenna (@VickiMcKenna) January 17, 2015

Nate Hamilton: Streetcar Ad

Nate Hamilton, Dontre Hamilton's brother, is featured in a radio ad targeting Milwaukee's streetcar project.

We know that Nate Hamilton doesn't mince words. Remember when he declared, "We need to protect our own communities ... so we can get rid of these pigs that kill us"?

Referring to the police as "pigs," just after the two officers were gunned down in New York, was not smart.

While Hamilton isn't as vicious in his streetcar ad, not suggesting lashing out violently, he does take aim at Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and District Attorney John Chisholm and Milwaukee aldermen.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has a transcript of the ad:

"This is Nate Hamilton. My brother Dontre Hamilton was shot 14 times by a Milwaukee police officer; once in the back. It was ruled a homicide in police custody. He was only resting in a downtown park.

"For over 235 days, Mayor Barrett and DA Chisholm dodged our calls for justice. Funny how Tom Barrett's precious trolley gets the fast track and so many of our aldermen and the beautiful people downtown are ramming this down our throats, yet justice for our people is at a standstill.

"I'm calling out Aldermen (Milele) Coggs, (Ashanti) Hamilton, (Russell) Stamper, (Willie) Wade, (Jose) Perez, (Robert) Puente and (Nik) Kovac. Let's make this a teaching moment for Tom Barrett, John Chisholm and the business elite who don't give a damn about our rights and could care less about our people.

"Mayor Barrett's precious trolley symbolizes how our community is treated and represents government sanctions, racial oppression and the continued segregation of our downtown. The trolley's key supporter, Ald. Bob Bauman, has even admitted this project doesn't even benefit the minority community.

"Aldermen, stand with the people. Defeat Mayor Barrett's precious trolley."

The ad ends with an announcer saying: "Paid for the Black Lives Matter Coalition."

I find it difficult to join forces with Nate Hamilton, because of his anti-police agenda.

However, when it comes to Milwaukee's idiotic trolley project, I agree with him.

"Defeat Mayor Barrett's precious trolley."

Milwaukee Streetcar Petition

STOP THE TROLLEY MADNESS!

From FOX6 News:

Milwaukee Aldermen Bob Donovan and Joe Davis, Sr. announced a citywide petition drive on Monday, January 5th — to force a binding referendum on funding for the proposed downtown streetcar project. Their goal — 31,000 signatures in 60 days.

Donovan and Davis plan to run against each other for mayor in 2016. But now, they are teaming up — opposed to Mayor Tom Barrett’s $123 million streetcar proposal.

“My constituents have made it very clear that they don’t see a return on investment in this particular initiative,” said Alderman Davis.

“You can support this, you can oppose it. I am simply saying give the people a voice,” said Alderman Donovan.

From Citizens For Responsible Government:

Introduction

A broad coalition of City of Milwaukee constituents is fighting to stop an ill-advised and wasteful proposal to build a 2.4 mile, fixed-rail streetcar system in Downtown Milwaukee.

CRG Network has agreed to provide legal, technical, and logistical support for a direct legislation petition to require a referendum by City of Milwaukee voters prior to the construction of any taxpayer supported rail project over 20 million dollars. Here is the text of the proposed direct legislation.

Prior to the start of any physical construction of any municipally financed (in whole or in part) rail transit system requiring a capital expenditure of $20 million or more in municipal funds or funds guaranteed by or supported by an express or implicit promise of the City, whether or not such promise is legally enforceable, the Common Council shall submit to the electorate a binding referendum for approval of the construction of the system. Failure of the referendum shall preclude the City from proceeding with or otherwise permitting construction of such system or any part thereof using any City funds or revenues. The wording of the referendum shall provide the specific purpose, location, and the total estimated construction costs of the system, including an estimate of the costs to be funded directly or indirectly by the City. Nothing in this section shall be construed to preclude the City from exercising its role in the engineering, planning or design of an urban rail transit system.

...

What is Direct Legislation?

Wisconsin’s Direct Legislation Statute, section 9.20, gives voters a direct voice in local matters and provides a procedure by which voters may compel local government to pass or put before the public for a popular vote a proposed ordinance or resolution. You can read more about direct legislation in this excellent article found on the Wisconsin State Bar website.

How Many Signatures are Needed to Pass Direct Legislation?

Petitioners must collect signatures equal to 15% of the number of votes cast at the last gubernatorial election. That number is 30,800 signatures but the goal is 35,000 signatures given that some signatures may be disallowed for various technical reasons.

How Long Do Citizens Have to Collect the Signatures?

By staute, citizens have 60 days to collect the necessary signatures. However, the goal is collect and file them before the next Common Council vote scheduled for January 21. 2015. This deadline date may change for various reasons such as a rescheduling of the Common Council vote.

Who Can Sign the Petition?

Only eligible voters residing in the City of Milwaukee can sign the petition. You are not required to be a registered voter, only an eligible voter (i.e. at least 18 years of age, reside in Milwaukee, voting privileges not suspended).

Who Can Circulate the Petition?

You do not have to reside in Milwaukee to circulate a petition. Any person eligible to vote anywhere in the U.S. can circulate a petition for signature.

Where Can I Get Copies of the Petition?

You can preview and print the petition online by clicking here. You can also pick up copies of the petition at any of the events and locations listed below (this list will be updated frequently).

Tuesday, January 6th, 5PM to 7PM
Serb Hall
5101 W. Oklahoma
Milwaukee, WI 53219
(there will be 10-minute petition training sessions every half hour at this event).

Where Do I Return Completed Petitions?

Completed petitions can be returned by mail, dropped off at the events and locations listed below, or you can request a pick-up by phone. Note that petitions must be return no later than 1 day prior to the deadline date for filing the petitions (currently January 21, 2015)

BY MAIL

CRG Network
PO Box 371086
Milwaukee, WI 53237

BY PHONE

414-801-0800 Hotline
Leave a message with your address and a location the petitions can be found if no one will be at home.

DROP OFF LOCATIONS

To be determined. If you have a location willing to serve as a drop-off point please call our hotline at 414-801-0800.

Gary Goyke - Streetcar Lobbyist: Taxes

What is with these Democrats and taxes?

They want to raise taxes. They want to increase the burden on taxpayers for their pet projects, but they can't seem to pay up themselves.

Democrat Gary Goyke, lobbyist for Tom Barrett's idiotic streetcar, wants taxpayers to fund this useless plan, millions upon millions upon millions of dollars.

Democrat Goyke should pay his fair share in taxes.

From Brian Sikma, Media Trackers:

Media Trackers discovered this week that political supporter of Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, and Wisconsin Urban and Rural Transit Association (WURTA) lobbyist Gary Goyke has a record of failing to pay his taxes on time. Public records show that Goyke, a former Democratic state senator from Oshkosh who has been twice convicted for campaign and ethics law violations, failed to pay $142,710 in unemployment, income, sales and withholding taxes.

WURTA has been a strong advocate of both the Talgo high-speed rail project and the Milwaukee streetcar.

Goyke’s record of tax law violations took place from 1983 to 2002 and his total outstanding tax bills tallied up to $199,499 once fines and penalties were included. During the 2010 campaign Goyke and his wife, Nancy, contributed $5,500 to Mayor Barrett’s gubernatorial campaign, and the 501(c)4 political fund that Goyke chairs endorsed Barrett’s campaign for governor. In late September Goyke, on behalf of WURTA, awarded Milwaukee Alderman Bob Bauman a leadership award for his work on the Milwaukee streetcar project.

“The Milwaukee streetcar is the pet project of Mayor Tom Barrett and Alderman Bob Bauman,” said Brian Sikma, communications director for Media Trackers, a conservative, non-partisan watchdog organization. “It comes as no surprise then that one of their mutual political supporters, who happens to be a shady lobbyist, supports the streetcar project.”

“It is interesting that a lobbyist and political insider who can’t pay his taxes on time would support a streetcar program that will be built – and very likely run – by taxpayer money,” Sikma said. “Thousands of Milwaukee and southeast Wisconsin taxpayers pay their taxes on time. With the projected cost of building the streetcar rising as high as $130 million, Goyke is a hypocrite to be unwilling to pay his own taxes while using his political influence to argue that millions of other taxpayer’s dollars be spent on a wasteful, unnecessary and ill-advised project.”

Goyke, pay your own damn taxes!

Milwaukee Streetcar: $70 Million Utility Work

MacIver News Service reports that Mayor Tom Barrett's folly, the streetcar in downtown Milwaukee, will have a dramatically heftier price tag than originally advertised.

The price tag for a controversial streetcar in Milwaukee continues to grow, with the revelation from Wisconsin’s utility regulators that costs to move utility lines for the boutique transportation project could exceed $70 million.

Cynthia Smith, general counsel for the Public Service Commission, explained the new figure in a letter to two Republican legislators who want to know if ratepayers outside the City of Milwaukee will be on the hook for paying for the costs.

THE PROJECT

The $64.6 million, 2.1-mile rail line would be funded by $55 million in federal transit aid (previously allocated twenty years ago) and $9.7 million in tax-incremental financing district funds. Supporters assert that rider fares, downtown parking fees and advertising revenue will the $2.65 million annual operating cost. The Milwaukee Common Council has approved the project although they have withheld the release of funding for the project pending additional information regarding associated costs such as those described by the PSC in their letter to the senators.

THE ASSOCIATED COSTS

As we reported last month, Racine County Republican State Senator Van Wanggaard sent a letter to Public Service Commission Chairperson Phil Montgomery seeking more information about the proposal.

In their response to Wanggaard and fellow Republican State Senator Leah Vukmir, the PSC confirmed the utility-related costs associated with the project could exceed $70 million.

...“At this time, it does not appear that the City has identified an “adequate health, safety or public welfare justification” for the Streetcar Project and therefore the utility (and its ratepayers) would not be obligated to pay for it. Rather, the project appears to be proposed by the City in its “proprietary” capacity and not in the exercise of its police powers and the costs should likely be borne by the City.”

Wanggaard believes the PSC’s letter alleviates his concerns that Racine utility ratepayers could be responsible for paying the cost of moving telecom and other utility infrastructure to construct the Milwaukee line.

“I am pleased that the Public Service Commission agrees that the costs of this purely local project should be paid for locally,” Wanggaard said. “My interest in this project has been, and continues to be, ensuring Racine residents are not picking up the tab for this Milwaukee transportation desire.”

In 1949 a consulting firm told the city it was time to get rid of its previous streetcars, saying, among other things, Milwaukee lacked the population density to make their operation feasible. March 2, 1958 was the last time a streetcar ran its route in Milwaukee. Since then, the population density of the city has decreased by nearly half.

You knew that this streetcar would involve millions of additional dollars. That was a given.

Does the city of Milwaukee have a spare $70 million just gathering dust at the moment?

This is insane.

Milwaukee Streetcar Line

It would be nice if a streetcar line in Milwaukee would spark development, increase business, and improve the overall quality of life in the city.

That would be nice, but it's a pipe dream.

This is a major time warp.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

After nearly 20 years of debate, Milwaukee aldermen voted 10-5 Tuesday to build a modern streetcar line downtown.

They stopped short of final approval, however. In response to concerns raised by Comptroller W. Martin "Wally" Morics, the Common Council agreed to limit spending to engineering expenses for now, and to seek a review by the comptroller before releasing money for construction.

Still ahead in the next year are key decisions about how to run the line, how to pay its operating costs and how to resolve concerns raised by utility companies about moving their underground lines out of the way of the streetcar tracks.

The measure now heads to Mayor Tom Barrett, the plan's chief advocate, for signing.

"We know there's a lot of work to be done," Barrett said. "I view this as a significant step, but by no means do I view this as the end of the road."

Plans call for a 2.1-mile line, from the lower east side to the downtown Amtrak-Greyhound station, starting in 2014. Streetcars would run every 10 minutes on weekdays and every 15 minutes on weekends and during late-night and early-morning hours.

Modern streetcars, resembling light rail vehicles, would run on rails laid in streets, draw power from overhead wires and operate in traffic.

Rails laid in streets, overhead wires.

This would be a step in the right direction, if this were the 19th CENTURY.

...Utilities have warned it could cost $50 million or more to move utility lines along the initial route, but utility and city representatives have agreed those early projections are likely to come down with design adjustments and possibly even a route change. The council voted to cap the initial segment at $64.6 million and trim costs if needed.

Barrett has said he wants the streetcars to be operated by the nonprofit company that runs the Milwaukee County Transit System, but no formal deal is on the table.

Downtown Ald. Bob Bauman said the streetcar line would stimulate development, expand the tax base, create jobs and improve mobility for downtown workers, residents and visitors.

City officials predict the project will create 680 jobs at construction and supply contractors with the initial route, or 1,080 if the extensions are included. The extensions also would raise the number of permanent operating and maintenance jobs from 20 to 35.

The council voted 12-3 to reject south side Ald. Bob Donovan's move to subject the project to a referendum in the spring 2012 elections. Donovan cited the potential utility costs and Morics' concerns about insufficient information, while deriding predictions of economic development along the line as "incredibly rosy."

Of course, it will cost more than projected. That's certain. Additional costs will pile up. They always do.

I think Donovan's idea of having a referendum on this is an excellent idea.

Let the people of Milwaukee decide if they want a streetcar line.

It shouldn't be jammed down their throats.

Council members are probably afraid of a referendum because they know people don't want a streetcar line.

So, in their arrogance, they're bypassing the people, acting like they know what's best for the community.

They view residents as dolts, incapable of choosing the proper means of transportation to suit their needs.

...[Mayor Tom] Barrett, Kovac and Bauman said they viewed the initial line as a starter system that could be expanded if it is successful, with potential extensions to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Marquette University, Mitchell International Airport and various neighborhoods.

"This will remain controversial until people start riding it," and then begin clamoring for extensions to other parts of the city, following the pattern of similar systems elsewhere, Barrett said.

People are going to be "clamoring for extensions to other parts of the city"?

Yeah, right.

Back in the 1800s, streetcars replaced horses. That was progress.

This isn't progress.

It's a waste.

I'd rather have horses than streetcars.