This Is The Week To Push The Streetcar Plan, Milwaukee

Milwaukee's Common Council will decide this week whether to move the downtown streetcar plan forward, so let's get involved and help make it happen.

Check out www.themilwaukeestreetcar.org and attend a public information meeting at the Public Market on Water and St Paul Monday July 11 from 4 to 6 p.m. 

Make sure you email support to mayor@milwaukee.gov with copies to Council Pres. Willie Hines at whines@milwaukee.gov and Alderman Michael Murphy at mmurph@milwaukee.gov

Here are major benefits to the long-delayed system:

Transportation:

·         Improves transit mobility to and between key residential, employment and activity centers.

·         Maximizes transit accessibility and choices for residents, employees, and visitors.   Accessible, low floors for level boarding for disabled, elderly, strollers, bikes.   Service every 10-15 minutes.

·         Has increased transit use in general in cities where it has been added to complement the existing bus system.  

·         Provides a downtown core starter system that can be expanded in the future to provide a larger more effective transit network  (NW to 30^th Street Industrial corridor; NE to Columbia St Mary’s UWM; West to Marquette, Miller Park, Research Park; S through Walkers Point, Bay View to airport; SW to Jackson Park.)

Connectivity: 

Within ¼ mile of initial route and extensions:

·         100% of downtown hotel rooms

·         91% of occupied 1^st floor retail./commercial space

·         90% of occupied office space

·         77% of downtown housing units

·         77% of total downtown public parking facilities and lots

·         Intermodal station (currently serves 1.4 million annually)

Economic Development:

·         Cities use fixed-guideway transit like streetcars as city building tools to focus and direct economic development. Cities like Seattle, Minneapolis, Cleveland and Portland have all seen substantial development occur within close proximity of their systems.  

·         City land use development analysis identified economic development potential within ¼ mile of initial route and extensions could be 9,000 new housing units, 1,000,000 square feet of new retail space, 4,000,000 million square feet of new office, $3.35 billion of new development value over 20 years.   

Jobs:

·         Streetcar supports 80,000 existing downtown employees providing convenient link between offices, services, and destinations.

·         Construction estimated to create or support 475 construction jobs, 150 jobs related to the manufacturing of the vehicles; 35 permanent operation and maintenance jobs.

·         Local employers such as Rockwell Automation and Milwaukee Composites are manufacturing vehicle parts for streetcars currently being sent to other cities for assembly.        

Other:

·         Provides an environmentally responsible transportation alternative that is energy-efficient, quiet and clean.

·         Attracts and retains young talent supporting the creative class.

·         Enhances Milwaukee’s image as a world-class city.

·         The Streetcar starter system creates city-wide benefits