Wisconsin Is Open For Contract Cancelation, Bad Faith And Lawsuits
Walker's people cancel a $116 million train maintenance contract. That'll help with all this confidence and certainty and business climate and job-creating malarkey Walker keeps feeding us.
8 comments:
I keep wondering if this hatred of trains is all tied to "Agenda 21" that all the conspiracy folks are worried about. Here is the crazy version: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/is-the-soros-sponsored-agenda-21-a-hidden-plan-for-world-government-yes-only-it-is-not-hidden/ And here is the official UN version: http://www.un.org/esa/dsd/agenda21/
They have conferences on this and environmental writers have been warned that the word "sustainable" should not be used.
Hating the train so much is weird. Maybe they feel the recall is inevitable and want to bankrupt the state so whoever wins will have to deal with that.
The hatred isn't directed at the trains, it is directed at the hundreds of millions of dollars for the operation and ongoing maintenance for the relatively few number of users.
How is that Milwaukee Bond rating these day?
The hatred directed towards rail transportation is fueled by right-wing radio. During the first energy crisis in 1973, I lived in Connecticut and had an 86 mile round-trip commute to work. Gas was rationed and I spent an hour per week waiting in line for gas. I swore I would never depend on a car to get to work again. I moved to Oak Park, Il and commuted by CTA to Chicago's Loop. Then Madison, WI where I walked or biked to class. I now teach energy efficient architecture at UW-Milwaukee where I bike to campus 9 months and bus 3. My transportation expenses run $500 per year. My wife owns a car and commuted to Racine County. Gas, insurance, maintenance and capital costs for the car are roughly $5,000 per year. I judge cities by the quality of their public transportation. As a university professor, I have had the privilege of visiting cities around the US and the world. Holland leads the world in terms of low per capita transportation costs. Portland, OR; Seattle and Minneapolis have made wise investments in rail transportation for their metropolitan areas. My wife and I drive I94 to visit family in Northern Illinois often. The planned 1.9 billion dollar lane expansion will probably not shave more than 5 minutes of the trip, even during rush hour. Only a fool for a governor would take $200 million of state education money for highways while turning down half a billion federal dollars for rail transportation.
Michael Utzinger
RD, that "relatively few" number of users is still far more than will need the $2billion cloverleaf Walker is building.
Relatively few users? Nonsense. Clearly, RD, you have not done the most basic research which shows that the Milwaukee-Chicago line is one of the busiest in the country, with seven to eight runs each way almost every day (one less on weekends).
And clearly, you have not been near the train station or probably not even in the city to see how busy it is. We're often there on Friday nights, picking up out-of-towners, and it's open for business to the max, the way that the state was supposed to be. . . .
Oh, and Anon 9:24, about that bond rating? You really need to read up on the reason, too: Moody's states that it's owing to cuts in state aid -- read: Walker -- while it praises the city's fiscal management -- read: Barrett.
Oops, better find someone smarter than Sykes or Belling to feed you your lines before you c'mon back here for more fun for the rest of us.
Hey, Prof Utzinger! One of your students here!
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