by jboullion | Nov 22, 2010 | Uncategorized
From an article by Tom Daykin in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
About 200 people attended a Saturday rally at Milwaukee’s Amtrak-Greyhound station, asking Governor-elect Scott Walker to back off his pledge to cancel contracts for a planned Milwaukee-to-Madison passenger rail line.
Rally speakers said the rail service would create badly need jobs, provide a more environmentally friendly alternative to driving, and link Milwaukee and Madison to a national rail network that includes Chicago – and eventually Minneapolis.
Without that link, said state Sen. Spencer Coggs (D-Milwaukee), Wisconsin “will be isolated from the rest of the national rail network.”
The rally, organized by the Sierra Club and other groups, was part of a statewide action that included rallies in Madison, Eau Claire, La Crosse, Oshkosh and Watertown.
Milwaukee rally organizers asked the crowd to write or call Walker.
Walker says the estimated annual costs to state taxpayers of operating the train, $7.5 million once fare revenue is subtracted, would be too high for an underused and unneeded service.
by jboullion | Nov 19, 2010 | Uncategorized
From a post by Wallace White, principal and CEO of Milwaukee’s W2EXCEL LLC, on the BizTimes blog:
Here are my reasons for supporting high speed rail for Wisconsin:
$810 million of work for our engineering firms and contractors and some of our minority and women owned companies. For example, Norris and Associates, a Milwaukee based African-American engineering firm, had won a subconsultant contract with a HSR engineering company. He had just hired 3 engineers and now has had to lay them off. The same is true for all the other companies who had just started to work on HSR contracts.
The returned money may not just go to Illinois or New York where there are Democratic governors. Other Republican governors would love to have the money. Gov. Rick Perry and the Republican administration of the state of Texas is seeking HSR funds to run trains between Dallas, Austin, San Antonio and Houston. The Republican administration of the state of South Carolina has applied for HSR funding to connect Savannah, Charleston, Florence and parts of North Carolina. The Republican administration of Minnesota has joined the Democratic administration of Wisconsin to study HSR between Minneapolis & Madison. They have received $1 million of planning money from the federal government.
The United States is in competition with the rest of the world for economic survival. Transportation is a large part of this global effort – we are competing with Japan, China, Brazil and Europe – all of which have already committed to some form of HSR to expand their economy, reduce pollution, provide service to rural areas and to the poor. Wisconsin Governor-elect Scott Walker should understand – this is part of a bigger picture. . . .
by jboullion | Nov 17, 2010 | Uncategorized
Join us as we tell Scott Walker that Wisconsin can’t afford to say NO over $800 million dollars in federal grant funds for this project, 9,570 permanent jobs, and increased property values.
When: Saturday, November 20th, 12:00-12:45 p.m
Where: La Crosse Amtrak Station, 610 St. Andrews St
Who: Representative Jennifer Shilling, AD 95; Jennifer Dausey, UW La Crosse / Sierra Student Coalition; Marilyn Pedretti, Sierra Club – Coulee Region Group (invited)and You. More details.
If we want to save this train, we need to speak up now! Join us as we tell Scott Walker that Wisconsin can’t afford to say NO over $800 million dollars in federal grant funds for this project, 9,570 permanent jobs, and increased property values. Let’s extend the popular Hiawatha service connecting Chicago and Milwaukee. Let’s create a safe, convenient efficient way to travel throughout the Midwest. We can make a difference, IF we stand together. Please attend and bring a friend!
by jboullion | Nov 15, 2010 | Uncategorized
From an editorial in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
We need jobs; this would provide some. We need economic development; this would link the state to those networks. Think of it as state money coming home.
Governor-elect Scott Walker wants to stop a fast rail line from Milwaukee to Madison essentially because he thinks it would be a waste of taxpayer money. But what’s really in danger of being wasted here is opportunity: opportunity for jobs, for economic growth, for a modern balanced transportation system.
Walker ran on a campaign that emphasized the need for jobs, jobs and more jobs. He has promised to call a special session as soon as he’s sworn into office aimed at creating a more business-friendly atmosphere in Wisconsin. He has promised to create 250,000 jobs in his first term. His approach is right on target.
What he and other critics of rail miss is that creating a network of fast trains to connect Midwestern cities can play an essential role in helping businesses connect and in creating jobs. Providing another option to traffic-jammed freeways and hassle-plagued airports could attract new companies and young workers who prefer working on a train to sitting in traffic or being body-scanned in an airport. Add in gas prices that are bound to go up and Wisconsin’s occasionally traffic-killing weather, and traveling by rail becomes even more attractive.
Fast rail probably works best for medium-range traveling, say in the 100- to 400-mile range, which is exactly what’s being discussed here. And while speeds won’t reach the true high-speed standards of Europe and Japan, they are expected to be up to 110 mph by 2015 and will still provide a convenient service that avoids the hassles of driving and flying and allows passengers to rest or work while they’re traveling. Using rail to connect business centers and research parks in Chicago to such centers in Milwaukee, Madison and Minneapolis could help those centers interact and feed off each other for growth.
If that network isn’t built here, companies and young workers will go to places such as Denver, Minneapolis, Portland, Seattle and Salt Lake City that embrace transit, as Steve Hiniker of 1000 Friends of Wisconsin told us.
A report released earlier this year by the U.S. Conference of Mayors looked at the potential benefits of high-speed rail for four “hub” cities: Albany, Chicago, Orlando and Los Angeles. Chicago would be the center of a network that would connect the city to St. Louis, Detroit and Minneapolis (with stops in Milwaukee and Madison). The report projected “as much as $6.1 billion a year in new business sales, producing up to 42,000 jobs and $2.5 billion in new wages.”
by jboullion | Nov 12, 2010 | Uncategorized
From a blog post by Tom Content in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Wisconsin’s leadership in installing solar power compared with other Midwest states has made this source of alternative energy a bright spot on the employment front.
That’s the finding of the National Solar Jobs Census report, which ranks fifth in the nation in the number of jobs linked to solar energy.
The census was conducted by The Solar Foundation and Green LMI Consulting with technical assistance from Cornell University.
The census found Wisconsin has 2,885 solar jobs at contractors installing solar panels, as well as wholesalers and manufacturers. Wisconsin trails California, Pennsylvania, Texas and Michigan.
The census is also forecasting job growth of 9%, or about 250 jobs, at Wisconsin solar employers, in 2011.
“Over the next 12 months, over 50% of solar firms expect to add jobs, while only 2% expect to cut workers,” the report said.
“This is the first time anyone has tried to quantify solar jobs along the entire value chain by speaking directly with employers or projected with any certainty solar job growth over the next 12 months,” said Andrea Luecke, acting executive director of The Solar Foundation. “The fact that a national census is needed to examine the size and nature of the workforce signals that the solar industry is having a substantial and positive impact on the U.S. Economy.”
Luecke joined the Solar Foundation this year after serving as program manager for the Milwaukee Shines solar initiative. The report was released locally by the environmental group Wisconsin Environment and Planet Earth Solar of La Crosse.
