by jboullion | Jul 22, 2009 | Uncategorized
From an article by Steve Schultze of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
A renewed effort aimed at pressuring Gov. Jim Doyle and state legislators to agree to sales tax funding for transit in the greater Milwaukee area was launched Wednesday with a new panel of regional government and business leaders.
The Milwaukee County Committee on Long-Range Transportation Planning, with representatives from six southeastern Wisconsin counties, was named by Milwaukee County Board Chairman Lee Holloway to keep the sales tax idea alive this year, Holloway said.
Legislators included authority for a 0.065% sales tax for transit and public safety for Milwaukee County in the new state budget bill, but Doyle vetoed the provision, saying he wanted a regional solution for transit.
Holloway has been harshly critical of Doyle for the veto, but the County Board chairman said Wednesday he’s hoping for a local transit sales tax recommendation from the panel can be delivered to Doyle and legislators by September, for action in the fall session.
by jboullion | Jul 22, 2009 | Uncategorized
From an editorial in the Wausau Daily Herald:
Ever since Lee Sherman Dreyfus came up with the term “ruralplex” to describe the way Marshfield, Stevens Point, Wausau and Wisconsin Rapids could work together, it’s been apparent that central Wisconsin can be more than the sum of its parts.
Over the years, we’ve consistently been in favor of initiatives to connect central Wisconsin’s cities, whether that meant establishing Central Wisconsin Airport as the region’s hub, encouraging University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point to expand its offerings throughout the area, or even exploring the possibility of a regional jail.
But one of the most fundamental ways for the cities of central Wisconsin to be connected is simply to make it easier for people to get from one city to another.
Several area mayors have begun exploring options for creating a commuter bus line that would connect the area — a loop through the southern cities of Stevens Point, Marshfield and Wisconsin Rapids, heading north to CWA, Wausau, Marathon and Merrill. This is a project with the long-term potential to spur economic growth, and strengthen the cultural capital of central Wisconsin as a whole.
by jboullion | Jul 21, 2009 | Uncategorized
From an article by Mark Pitsch in The Capital Times:
In a first step toward building a Midwestern high-speed rail line connecting Madison with Chicago and the Twin Cities, Wisconsin is buying two passenger trains from a Spanish company that will hire state workers to assemble and maintain them.
The $47.5 million purchase is expected to create 80 jobs initially, and company officials said Friday they are considering assembling the trains at Janesville’s General Motors production plant, which closed in April idling 1,200 workers. Sites in Milwaukee are also under consideration.
Gov. Jim Doyle, local officials and transportation experts said the rail line would spur leisure travel to and from Madison and link the city, home to UW-Madison and its technology-related research, to the economies of Minneapolis-St. Paul and Chicago.
“It’s very exciting for our state, for the economic growth of our region,” said Teresa Adams, a UW-Madison engineering professor who runs the Midwest Regional University Transportation Center. “It’s certainly good for our economy. There are a lot of intellectual hubs to be connected.”
by jboullion | Jul 13, 2009 | Uncategorized
From an article by Patrick Marley and Larry Sandler in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Gov. Jim Doyle will offer a plan to fund buses in Milwaukee County and elsewhere in a couple of weeks, according to legislators who have met with his staff.
Legislative Democrats said Doyle aides told them he would unveil a plan to address regional transit soon – but Doyle’s team didn’t provide any details. The meetings occurred Thursday.
The talks follow the collapse of efforts to forge a deal in the 2009-’11 budget.
Doyle had proposed a single regional transit authority for southeastern Wisconsin, wielding power over both public buses and proposed commuter trains, funded by a 0.5% sales tax in Milwaukee, Kenosha and western Racine counties. That followed the recommendations of the interim Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Transit Authority.
But when the budget came out of the Legislature, lawmakers had limited the three-county RTA to overseeing the proposed KRM train line and had changed its funding to an $18 rental car fee, up from $2 a car. They also sought a Milwaukee County transit authority that would levy a 0.65% sales tax, with 0.5% for the financially troubled Milwaukee County bus system and 0.15% for municipal public safety agencies.
Doyle vetoed the Milwaukee County authority but kept the three-county body, saying he wanted to see a truly regional transit solution. That veto enraged Doyle’s fellow Democrats, who control the Legislature and who retaliated by cutting $35,000 for a KRM study. Also furious was Milwaukee County Board Chairman Lee Holloway, who vowed to appoint himself to the new RTA board and vote against KRM consistently.
Milwaukee Democrats support the rail line but said they would prevent it from advancing until the county bus system was improved.
“My bottom line is I’m not going to entertain further KRM discussion until we fix Milwaukee’s transit system,” Rep. Tamara Grigsby (D-Milwaukee) said.
by jboullion | Jul 2, 2009 | Uncategorized
From an post by Jeramey Jannene on Urban Milwaukee:
When the budget finally made it to his desk, Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle used his extensive veto powers in a lot of ways. The most significant of which was arguably the line-item veto of the Milwaukee Transit Authority and the proposed 0.65% sales tax increase for Milwaukee County. Doyle did not veto SERTA, the authority which is to run the KRM commuter rail line, and the $18 rental car tax. This veto puts back on the drawing board Doyle’s proposal for a three-county sales tax to fund the KRM and bus service in Kenosha, Racine, and Milwaukee Counties, while at the same time not delaying the KRM development process.
The move, which many see as a slam of Milwaukee by Doyle, arguably shouldn’t be completely viewed that way. Doyle did propose a three-county sales tax of up to 0.5% for Milwaukee, Racine, and Kenosha Counties to establish an authority that would operate all of the transit in the area including the KRM. Doyle’s reasoning for the veto was that the MTA didn’t have a regional approach.
