Wisconsin Highway Bypass Mania: This Time, Hortonville, Pop. 2,700?

More evidence of Wisconsin's penchant to over-build and waste money on road projects: Believe it or not, there is still a push to build a bypass around little Hortonville, with a population of about 2,700.

[Another great job by Sean Ryan of The Daily Reporter, by the way.]

Though we can say that Hortonville, the picturesque Fox Valley community, is twice as big as Pound, WI - - population 1,367 - - which is getting its bypass, too.

That Highway 41 project is former Assembly Speaker John Gard's legacy.

But this bypass binge is really a prescription for wrecking small town main streets.

Everyone gets a taxpayer-paid bypass these days: Mineral Point...Burlington...in fact, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation said in a study about a decade ago that by 2010, the number of bypassed communities in Wisconsin would more than double from 17 in 1980 t0 37.

And though the study played up the economic benefits to bypassing, it also said that the risk of the opposite - - economic harm - - was strongest in the smaller communities bypassed, with traffic counts on the original, bypassed routes down by as much as 72%.

Think about it, Hortonville.

Marie Rohde Freelances To Chicago Tribune On Priest Abuse Scandal

Marie Rohde, the former Milwaukee Journal and Journal Sentinel in-house expert on the Milwaukee archdiocese, has a piece in the Chicago Tribune, here.

Racine Hosts Noted Anti-Train Obsessive

From a Racine meeting on transit with Randal O'Toole, the notorious transit opponent, Bill Sell has posted a report.

O'Toole's irrelevance has been noted elsewhere.

Racine Business Community Campaigns For Commuter Rail

No fear of talk radio.

And despite the railophobes.

From TransitNow, here is what the line would serve:

Death Of A Gentle, Fine Man

I am saddened by the news that Kaz Oshiki has died.

Kaz was a wonderful, decent man, a true public servant, and a survivor of both an internment camp and World War II.

A fighter for social justice.

A patriot.

He was former US Rep. Bob Kastenmeier's long-time Administrative Assistant in the Capitol Hill office. Anyone who had contact with Bob knew Kaz.

I was one of the lucky ones, because Kaz would sometimes stop into former Madison Mayor Paul Soglin's office, where I worked in the mid-to-late '70's.

Kaz's visits were a delight - - seminars in government and governing, gossip and the news.

He was generously patient with us 20-somethings trying to manage the big city in the District.

Kaz was principled, energetic, down-to-earth and wise.

I'm so sorry to read that he died, but glad he lived a long and exemplary life.

Media Catch-Up: The Health Care Mandate Is a GOP/Tommy Thompson Idea

Count Tommy Thompson as an early supporter of the individual health insurance mandate - - now the scourge of tea partiers and Congressional Republicans.

Earth Hour - - Lights Off Tonight

Earth Day for Earth Hour

Earth Day is a month away, but another opportunity to join thefight climate change is just around the corner.On Saturday, March 27 at 8:30 PM, millions of people across the globe will take a stand against climate change by turning off their lights for one hour - Earth Hour. Earth hour is a chance to drive the environmental movement forward with one simple action. More than that, your participation will have impact outside of the usual suspects - you will raise climate awareness amongst your friends, family, and neighbors.

Help build environmental awareness - take action this Saturday for Earth Hour.

Earth Day Network is proud to be an official supporter of Earth Hour. We know that when millions of dedicated people gather to demand change, it works. Be the difference between the status quo and the substantive change needed for a more sustainable future: join us by taking action during Earth Hour.

Easy participation, here.

The State Capitol is going dark, too.

This Saturday, let's demonstrate our resolve and take Earth Hour to the next level. Visit MyEarthHour.org to find out how you can play your part.

We can't wait to see the difference you make!

Thank you for everything you do,

The Team,
Earth Day Network

P.S. Don't forget - Turn off your non-essential lights at 8:30 PM this Saturday for Earth Hour.

Law Enforcement Failed Sexual Abuse Victims

These lines jump off the page in Saturday's piece in the New York Times about church sexual assault victims in Milwaukee being disregarded at every turn:

"They also went to the office of E. Michael McCann, the district attorney of Milwaukee County, and spoke with his assistant, William Gardner.

“A criminal priest was an oxymoron to them,” Mr. [John] Conway said. “They said they’ll refer it to the archdiocese.”

Calls to Mr. McCann and Mr. Gardner this week were not returned."

Standing Up For Social Justice

And taking on Glenn Beck, too.

Social Justice is nothing to run from, or apologize for.

Kenosha Blogger On The Bottled Water Issue

Nicely done posting from a blogger I had not seen.

It Costs More To Live In The Suburbs, Data Show

Check out this tool, with the Milwaukee-Waukesha area as the example.

Interesting offering from the Chicago-based Center for Neighborhood Technology, and partners.

Here is the entire website.

Amidst His Foaming, A Worthwhile Belling Nugget

Mark Belling was in uber-rant this afternoon over the news that a bridge in the Zoo Interchange has been closed and two months of fresh congestion will further goof up the busiest interchange in the state.

Among his off-the-wall zingers:

People who live in Story Hill and object to an additional I-94 lane past their neighborhood are "crybabies;" people who live near the interchange and would lose their homes in the projected rebuilding live in "shacks;" complaints about the disruption to cemeteries in the reconstruction zone are "a crock;" and my favorite - - officials at the M7 and the MMAC who "enable" the opponents are "lefties."

Poor Tim Sheehy and his CEO constituents.

And Belling mocked those concerned about cemeteries having to move the graves of their loved ones - - including those buried on the grounds of the Veterans Administration cemetery.

And does Belling know or care that the earth in the Jewish cemeteries in the way of expanded freeway lanes is considered sacred?

But in the midst of Belling's superficiality, and the verbal and political flailing this afternoon, was one true fact:

The Zoo Interchange reconstruction scheduling (the redesign is still not a settled matter) should not have been postponed in favor of the I-94 north/south leg between Milwaukee and the Illinois state line.

That project was jump-started with stimulus funding last year.

The $1.9 billion leg was moved ahead of the Zoo Interchange project purely due to politics: the Democrats representing Racine and Kenosha Counties were united on the construction, so that project was moved forward in the timetables.

Furthermore, the traffic counts on I-94 north/south did not justify the expenditures, including one new lane in each direction, but politics, not transportation sanity, was ruling the decision-making.

Tommy Fiddles, Todd Tweets; A Tea Bag Surprise

Tommy likes guvmint health care. Oh, my.

Nice work by Cory Liebmann.

Yeah, I Know...They're Only Plants And Animals

But check out what we have in store for them.

Drivers On The Information Super-Highway Will Not Pay Tolls

I predict failure for the upcoming effort in England for leading newspapers there to charge for Internet access.

Documenting Our Region's Sprawl

Affordable housing advocates in Waukesha County have a blog and have posted links to a housing study underway by a committee set up, after more than 35 years of planning inaction, by the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission.

Data show that population densities have decreased in the region over the decades, and as the fair housing folks conclude, this means that people are living further from work and other activities, thus .

Again, it means that jobs are more inaccessible for people without cars in the region because of inadequate public transit, so the economic segregation plaguing the region, with poor people concentrated in Milwaukee, is bound to continue.

And let's not overlook the role SEWRPC has played in this dynamic, as it produced, and advocated for, a $6.5 billion regional freeway plan that includes 127 miles of new freeway lanes.

And more discreet highway plans, such as the SEWRPC endorsement of an interchange in Western Waukesha County to serve the faltering exurban Pabst Farms development and a shopping mall there that is years delayed and may never happen.

Yes, the region has sprawled out, but let's not pretend that it's all due to the unseen hand of the market and purely individual choices.

Government at many levels has encouraged the trend, with actions that include:

The creation of the interstate system and massive, related arterial and street construction.

Home mortgage and property tax deductions. on income tax returns.

Use of Industrial Revenue Bonding, tax incremental financing or office parks that use public subsidies to induce, create and move hospitals, schools (UW-M's engineering school and innovation center to the County Grounds, close to the hospital complex that used to be in central Milwaukee, for example) other businesses and jobs away from the cities.

Land-locking Milwaukee by special legislation in the mid-50's, barring further annexation and helping suburban economies grow.

Continuing suburban resistance to transit (Waukesha County killing light rail and choosing not to join a regional transit authority), and severing a bus link that got workers in Milwaukee to some suburban jobs.

Local ordinances mandating large lots or home square footage, or barring multi-family housing within their jurisdictions.

Will Lake Michigan water transfers be the next government action to guarantee more regional sprawl?

In southeastern Wisconsin, government plays a major role in pushing the economy and population farther from Milwaukee.

The cycle continues.

Splitting The New Freshwater School Would Be A Mistake

There's no good reason for UWM to split its School of Freshwater Science, as outlined in this piece.

As with the proposed engineering complex perhaps slated for the County Grounds, UWM is too much catering to the public relations agendas of portions of the private sector, and too little to student needs.

A Repentant Protester Does The Right Thing; GOP Leaders Should Follow Him

One protester makes an apology and a gesture of reconciliation for his unacceptable conduct.

John Boehner and others who whipped protesters into a frenzy should take note.

Little Room At American Enterprise Institute For Enterprise

One GOP critic of the GOP loses his job.

Highway 164 Ruling Gains Clarity, Permanence

US District Court Judge Lynn Adelman's ruling last year against expansion of Highway 164 (J) in Waukesha and Washington Counties is in its final procedural stages, with citizen activists again coming out as winners, explains the Milwaukee Business Journal.

I had posted the original ruling - - here - - but was unable last fall to devote enough coverage of the historic ruling on this blog.

I'll correct that soon.