SEWRPC Hearing Had Groundhog Day Feeling

Transit users, community activists and advocates for transportation spending fairness in the SE Wisconsin region spoke in favor Tuesday evening of a genuine regional transit system and a Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission more attuned to an urban needs during a public comment session that is part of a quadrennial federal review SEWRPC needs to pass to retain some federal planning and project authority.

The federal reviewers listened, took notes and even let speakers go a tad over the time allotted to each speaker. The meeting was held at State Fair Park: written comments can be submitted until 7/16/12 at: wisconsin.fhwa@dot.gov.

It was a focused, intelligent and informed meeting, but with a certain "Groundhog Day" (the movie) feel to it.

Addressing the meeting is Brian Peters (l), Housing Policy Advocate at IndependenceFirst

That's because the same themes - - too much spending on highways in the region that principally serves white and upper-income residents; diminished transit services that penalizes lower-income minorities, who then find growing transit-related limitations on their housing and job opportunities; the disproportionate suburban presence on the SEWRPC board (zero commission representatives for City of Milwaukee residents, though taxed for SEWRPC); the lack of a SEWRPC Milwaukee office while SEWRPC's Pewaukee offices are not service by transit, etc. etc. - - were presented just as earnestly at the 2004 and 2008 input meetings, after which incremental changes in SEWRPC practice and realities were recommended or instituted.

So it's good to create a record with the hope that someday, a bureaucrat or policy maker in the Federal Transit Administration or the Federal Highway Administration will look at the cumulative, repetitive record and whip SEWRPC into shape.