State, Local Rail Plans On Track

As I predicted earlier on this blog today - - and, yes, I confess this wasn't too tough - - both Milwaukee's streetcar plan and the state's high-speed train program moved forward.

The high-speed project gets a better-located Madison stop - - close to the Capitol, as I said more than a year ago should happen. The newly-announced station below the Capitol at Monona Terrace is a very good choice.

Additionally, Milwaukee's streetcar plan is a step closer to ground-breaking, thanks to a a 3-1 vote by a planning committee made up of public and private sector reps.

The only off-note was the opposition of the County Executive's appointee, but that is nothing more than another Pavlovian burp by GOP gubernatorial candidate and current transit-killer Scott Walker.

Walker needs to convince the GOP base that he is anti-Milwaukee, despite his perch as County Exec, so what better way to prove it to out-state and suburban voters than to tamp down on a key public service in Milwaukee?

Talk radio will hail Walker's obstructionism: the party of No and their boosters need a healthy hit of negativity every day, so this can do for the Thursday fix.

So all in all, for the rest of us and progressive public services - - a good day.