Now imagine an updated rail system carrying people from the Twin Cities to downtown Chicago in less than six hours — even faster than driving and on a par with a complicated airline connection.
Oops! Don't consider it. That scenario is precisely what Walker killed when he gave back the $810 million — federal funding that would have paid the full capital costs of connecting Madison to Milwaukee.
Says Watertown Mayor Ron Krueger: "That decision will hurt the state of Wisconsin for decades to come."
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Saturday, January 14, 2012
Marc Eisen's Walker/Rail Analysis On Track
The former editor at Isthmus explains why Walker's killing the Amtrak extension was so mistaken.
I have a compatible theory to add to the Walker motivation for killing high speed rail. He understands in some way that rail empowers cities; and empowering Madison or Milwaukee is not on his agenda. Sprawl, isolation, racism, and social defragmentation work in favor of his politics.
ReplyDeleteBill Sell
It was a political gimmic that really had no foresight but appealed to those without vision and lived entirely in the present.
ReplyDeleteThis is a remarkable article in that it quotes individuals from republican strongholds who favored the highspeed rail and were making plans for business developments created as a result. Tell me. Where we're these people when Walker was running. I certainly hope that these people step up to the plate when Walker defends his policies in the recall.
Agree 100%, Bill.
ReplyDeleteIt's not a "mistaken" action. It was intended to harm Madison and Dane County, and it will succeed in that purpose.
ReplyDelete