Waukesha County's Long Hostility To Transit Links With Milwaukee
I thought I'd repost a few lines from several Waukesha-related transit items from this blog or a Crossroads piece in I wrote that look relevant in light of a meeting about transit and water - - troubled waters - - scheduled for a Common Council meeting Wednesday in Milwaukee City Hall.
Each headline is a hyperlink, and clicking on it will take you to the full text - - and remember, Milwaukee's conditions for selling water to a community like Waukesha include proving that there are transit plans in place that have been effective as a job opportunity tool for Milwaukee residents:
...a written report to the aforementioned communication file indicating that the community has adopted and implemented...
D-3. A comprehensive public transportation plan and can demonstrate that such plan has resulted in the expansion and improvement of public transportation links between persons living in the City of Milwaukee and job opportunities in the community which has applied for water service. Such plan may include, but is not limited to, participation and inclusion in the Southeast Wisconsin Regional Transportation Authority or an equivalent entity.------------------------------------------
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Waukesha Officials To Cut Transit Links, Again - - And Undercut Water Plan, Again
Cutting transit to Milwaukee, again, are we?
Including service from downtown Waukesha to Milwaukee, the Journal Sentinel reports.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Waukesha County Considering Fresh Barrier To Milwaukee Job Seekers
Cut a bus route to the New Berlin Industrial Park.
This is getting routine for Waukesha County...
Monday, June 21, 2010
Another Milwaukee-Waukesha Bus Route Eliminated
Now it's a line to Quad/Graphics.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Waukesha County Opts Out Of Regional Transit; Milwaukee Should Do The Same With Water
Well, it's official; The Waukesha County Board of Supervisors has decided - - unanimously - - to decline joining a regional transit authority.Sunday, Sept. 14, 2008
The railroad not taken
Had talk radio and suburban opposition not sunk a 1997 plan, we’d be riding sleek transit by now
A starter light rail system was recommended for Milwaukee County in a major state-funded regional transportation study in the 1990s that had considerable public and private sector support.
But conservative AM talk radio and opposition in Waukesha County blocked further study of light rail for Milwaukee, even though $241 million in federal funds was set aside specifically for transit improvements in Milwaukee County.
Had plans unfolded on schedule, the starter light rail, with an estimated 21,000 riders on weekdays, would have opened in 2006 and run about 10 miles from the Third Ward to Summerfest, downtown, Miller Park, the Milwaukee County Zoo and the County Grounds...
Extensions to Milwaukee's north side and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee would have generated support, and light rail could have assisted Waukesha County commuters because years of Zoo Interchange and I-94 reconstruction are planned west of Milwaukee...
But Daniel Finley, a Republican then-Waukesha County executive, vetoed his board's resolution over the light rail element, even though the proposed line didn't extend into Waukesha County.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
The Freeman Balks At Regional Transit Cooperation, Milwaukee Rail
Said the Freeman, Waukesha's daily paper, on 6/28/08:
Regional leaders, including some from Waukesha County, were involved in several discussions this week to discuss regional transportation issues.
The Waukesha County Action Network held talks about funding transportation and regional leaders attended a summit in Milwaukee to discuss transportation and mass transit.
We’d like to address a few items that came up during the discussions:
First of all, while we are fine with regional partnerships and cooperation, we remain firmly against Waukesha County being part of a regional transit authority.
It doesn’t make sense and is not in the interest of Waukesha County residents is to establish a regional transit authority that has the power to raise your taxes and will have aims that mostly benefit Milwaukee...
Leaders repeatedly referenced Mark Belling’s recent Freeman column critical of mass transit. But instead of taking his opinion into consideration, many of the leaders chalked it up to the NEGATIVE climate surrounding the regional transit issue.
This dismissive attitude from some of these leaders toward those who oppose a regional transit authority is arrogant and condescending.
The reason there is negativity toward a regional transit authority is because it is a bad idea that would cost taxpayers a lot of money. Of course, we realize we will now be labeled as part of the NEGATIVE alliance against light rail and high taxes. We can live with that.
Friday, December 21, 2007
Dropping A Workers' Bus Route Is Fail-Fail-Fail: No Transit - - No Water, Period.
Here's how one leading Waukesha County official put it to the Journal Sentinel:
'Waukesha County Public Works Director Richard Bolte said he also did not sense any strong sentiment for maintaining the service when County Board members debated and approved the 2008 budget with no money for Route No. 9.
'The route's low ridership makes it a logical candidate for elimination, Bolte said.
"I didn't push the route real hard," he said, "because I didn't think it was worth saving...."
3 comments:
"It doesn’t make sense and is not in the interest of Waukesha County residents is to establish a regional transit authority that has the power to raise your taxes and will have aims that mostly benefit Milwaukee..."
REWRITE:
Hmmm- it doesn't make sense and is not in the interest of Waukesha residents to establish a water system that has power to raise taxes and will have aims that mostly benefit Waukesha.
Leaders repeatedly referenced Mark Belling’s recent Freeman column critical of mass transit. But instead of taking his opinion into consideration, many of the leaders chalked it up to the NEGATIVE climate surrounding the regional transit issue."
And once again - the issue of talk radio dominated by the right wing spewing lies coordinated by the likes of Rove
with their daily talking points need to be addressed by a coordinated effort to bring progressive competition to southeastern Wisconsin. Is there justification for considering a lawsuit to force a plurality of opinion in Wisconsin over the airways. Where there is progressive stations such as in Dane County WTDY 5k watts and in Racine WRJN 1k watts their influence pales to WISN 50k watts daytime, 10k nighttime and WTMJ 50k daytime,10k nighttime. WISN and WTMJ dominate the airways from Milwaukee to Racine and north beyond Sheboygan and northwest into the Green Bay and Appelton and west nearly to Madison. Perhaps the formal complaint to the FCC re WISN and WTMJ will bring some changes.
"Based on the first seven days of the recall campaign, we are finding that WISN is airing an average of about 80 minutes, and WTMJ about 88 minutes, per day of Pro-Walker/ anti-Barrett and pro-GOP anti-Democrat messages. On the pro- Barrett side, we have identified a total of just six and one-half minutes of pro-Barrett messaging over the seven days on WISN, and 13 and a half minutes of pro-Democratic messaging on WTMJ.
Considering that the programs monitored air for more than 15 hours daily, this represents a small percentage of total airtime.
However, should one wish to purchase that much time during a campaign, the cost would be quite high. It is difficult to precisely say how many dollars such airtime would cost, as stations charge lower rates to candidates than they do to supporters of candidates, and they charge different rates to various supporters. Stations also are reluctant to release what they consider proprietary information. Based on inspections of the political files our team conducted of public files at WISN and WTMJ, we can say that one radio advertising spot costs roughly $100 to $200, depending on the length and the time of airing, which means that WISN is giving Walker and his GOP supporters between $16,000 - $32,000 in free airtime every day, and WTMJ is giving Walker and his GOP supporters between $18,000 to $36,000 in free time daily.
Most of the time has been given to supporters of Candidate Walker, although the candidate himself has appeared as a guest on six programs since the race began May 9th."
Since Waukesha has decided to secede from the state of Wisconsin they had better start taking water conservation and water recycling technologies seriously.
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