Holy Snit Fits, Pat, Man!

Patrick McIlheran is in clear conniption mode when the news came out that the bike racks on Milwaukee County buses are gaining popularity by leaps and bounds, with their usage climbing a jaw-dropping 569% from one year ago.

Unable to simply admit he was wrong yet again, McIlheran unleashes his frustration on Milwaukee County Supervisor Marina Dimitrijevic because she touted that this was a good thing. In his snit fit, Paddy launches this:

We? Where does she get the presumption? Transit's healthier? Given how far I park from work, I now walk more than when I took the bus. And I have no idea what Dimitrijevic is talking about when she says it’s more “positive” when people are gotten out of their cars. Like what? “I’m positive that bus should have been here 20 minutes ago.” That kind of positive?

One would think that with the increasing amounts of asthma cases being diagnosed, not to mention the high number of Air Quality warnings that Milwaukee has been receiving, most sane people would think less pollution would be healthier for all involved.

And considering that some of the top business leaders have been touting the need for a better transit system in the county, I would say that any improvement in our transit system would be a definite positive.

Paddy then goes on with one of his usual paeans to the automobile, which at first made me think he was just doing the usual pro-road builder propaganda piece.

But on further thought, I think his misplaced anger isn't all that misplaced. He is just reflecting the angst that the right wingers (or in the case of the CRG - abject fear) have that a strong, progressive woman like Dimitrijevic is becoming one of the top contenders for the county executive spot.

About Those Subsidies For Roads...

Patrick McIlheran never tires of being wrong or of telling untruths if it will advance his causes.

One such example is that for the past week, P-Mac has been rehashing the same old falsities that highways are completely covered by the gas tax and are in no way subsidized by the government:

...but intercity highways are more or less entirely paid for by the user fees that are gas taxes.

It wasn't true before, and it's still not true:

The researchers wrote: “In 2007, 51 percent of the nation’s $193 billion set aside for highway construction and maintenance was generated through user fees — down from 10 years earlier when user fees made up 61 percent of total spending on roads. The rest came from other sources, including revenue generated by income, sales and property taxes, as well as bond issues.” Forty-years ago, they noted, user-fees generated 71 percent of highway revenues.

Of the 18.4 cent federal gasoline tax, 2.86 cents – about 15 percent – is directed toward mass transit projects, and an additional 0.1 cent toward environmental clean-up, according to the report. That leaves more than 80 percent strictly for highways. Even if we spent 100 percent of gas tax revenues on highways, only 65 percent of their total cost would be covered. There would still be a need for significant outside revenue – in other words, subsidies. Does that mean highways are “government waste?” Or are transportation dollars an investment to provide access to jobs and movement of goods?

One reason for the decline of the user-fee’s contribution is that the gas tax has not kept pace with inflation. Today, there is limited political appetite for a gas tax increase. Americans are also driving cleaner cars than they used to, due in large part of federal action on fuel economy. Less gas purchased means lower gas tax revenues.

So, to the critics who seem to be against all subsidies — unless they’re going to cover highway projects: let’s drop the claim that highways “pay for themselves” and have a debate rooted in fact rather than myth.

So, if Paddy knows this is false information he is spewing, why does he do it? Easily answered, gentle reader. Because road builders are grand contributors to the Republican Party, and without the GOP, the rich might actually have to start treating us lower classes as people also.

McIlheran's Train Has Been Derailed

Congresswoman Gwen Moore came out in support of the Milwaukee County Transit System, saying that it should be first priority over the KRM rail line.

P-Mac jumps on the story with a very distorted view of what actually was said:

U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore raises at least the right kind of question about plans for commuter trains from Kenosha to Milwaukee:

“Moore says she's not opposed to commuter rail but believes funding for Milwaukee County's embattled bus system must come first,” the Journal Sentinel reports.

Which is the right thing to ask: Are the train's benefits, such as they are, worth the cost?

Except that is not what she said. What she really said was:

Like Milwaukee County Board Chairman Lee Holloway, Moore says she's not opposed to commuter rail but believes funding for Milwaukee County's embattled bus system must come first.

"A new commuter line between Kenosha, Racine and Milwaukee will undoubtedly offer new benefits to our communities," Moore said in a written statement. "But I think it's important for (the Milwaukee County Transit System) to have a dedicated source of a funding because any new expenditures could come at the cost of current bus service. That's unacceptable."

She is not opposed to the KRM and points out that it would be wonderful asset. She just pointed out that the first priority would be to stabilize and enhance the current system, otherwise the KRM wouldn't have an anchor for one of its ends. Furthermore, she recognizes the fact that if something isn't done to shore up the transit system, it will only continue Scott Walker's agenda of ruining our economy and driving up unemployment.

All she is doing is following the recommendations made by Milwaukee County First.

Paddy later complains about taxes and how most people wanted a dedicated fund, as was passed in a referendum two years ago. But for my money, I'll follow the findings of the Public Policy Forum before I pay attention to a Republican opposition researcher.

Throwing Themselves Under the Streetcar

Earlier this week, the Milwaukee Common Council gave the go ahead for the preliminary engineering on putting a streetcar route through downtown Milwaukee.

Needless to say, this got the usual suspects all riled up.

Charlie Sykes started ranting about it on the radio. PaddyMac said that Barrett "hated transit."

The echo chamber, such as Peter DiGaudio and Patrick Dorwin went on the attack.

Obviously, this was all an attempt to take a swipe at Tom Barrett, since their candidate of choice, Scott Walker, is plummeting like a rock in the polls.

Only problem is the same one that usually plagues these folks: Reality doesn't agree with them.

Milwaukee Alderman Robert Bauman issues a press release that shows that the streetcars are just as popular and cost effective as Walker's bus system:

Alderman Bauman, chair of the Common Council’s Public Works Committee and a longtime public transit advocate, said the 2008 data he received from the National Transit Database – the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA’s) primary national database for statistics on the transit industry – and 2009 data directly from the MCTS “clearly shows how the downtown streetcar system will measure up nicely in ridership” with MCTS Freeway Flyer and standard routes.

For instance, he said the 3.6-mile modern street car line is projected to generate daily ridership of 3,800 passengers, a ridership level which exceeds the ridership of all 11 MCTS Freeway Flyer routes and 12 of the 29 MCTS regular trunk routes. The shorter 2.05-mile street car route is projected to generate daily ridership of 1,800 passengers, or a ridership level which also exceeds all 11 Freeway Flyer routes and six of the 29 MCTS regular trunk routes.

When measured by Passengers per Bus Hour (“PBH”), a common industry measure of transit service effectiveness, Alderman Bauman said the Downtown Streetcar Circulator measures up even better. The 3.6-mile modern street car line would generate 51.24 passengers per bus hour. This level exceeds the MCTS system average of 40.33 PBH, far exceeds the PBH of all Freeway Flyer routes, and exceeds the PBH of 24 of the 29 MCTS regular trunk routes. Only MCTS routes 27, 62, 22 and 63 generate a greater PBH.

The streetcar line would generate more passengers per bus hour than the popular route 30 which generates PBH of 50.9, the alderman said.

The shorter 2.05-mile streetcar line would generate PBH of 38.2. This performance level exceeds the PBH of all 11 Freeway Flyer routes and exceeds the PBH of 18 of the 29 regular MCTS trunk routes, he said.

Another common industry measure of transit service effectiveness is “Passengers per Revenue Mile.” According to Alderman Bauman, by this measure, the modern streetcar line also compares well to current MCTS bus service. The 3.6-mile line is projected to generate 5.67 passengers per revenue mile and the 2.05-mile line is projected to generate 4.78 passengers per revenue mile. Both measures exceed the MCTS system average of 3.15 passengers per revenue mile.

I have a feeling those numbers are going to be even higher after the aftermath of Walker's incompetence is truly felt.

Talk Radio Vs. Rail

James Rowen gives us a history lesson on how Milwaukee's talk radio has been anti-Milwaukee by sabotaging rail and mass transit and has sabotaged mass transit every chance it gets. Here's a snippet from James' post:

Though, as always, the Right exempts road building and its tax-supported billions from the perils of Big Government.

But my point today is to provide reminder of the damaging role that talk radio has played in getting us to where we are today - - a one-dimensional, congested, rail-free zone, as I wrote about for Crossroads a couple of years ago - - even though local conservative talk radio hosts en masse hypocritically and predictably jumped on the Zoo Interchange problems and pointed fingers everywhere except at themselves.

And I'm not overstating conservative talk radio influence in SE Wisconsin when it comes to whipping up fears about light rail among core suburban listeners, and in downright panicking office-holders who might stray from the anti-rail template.

Whatever Happened To Equal Air Time For Candidates?

The erudite James Rowen:

620 WTMJ AM talkers Sykes and Wagner jacked each other up at the programming noon hand-off over high-speed rail coming to Wisconsin.

To 'bolster' their case, Sykes read an email from Scott Walker, the GOP gubernatorial candidate who gets more free airtime in these parts than the Packers, that questioned who will pay for the train's operating costs.

Questions never asked when it comes to the operating costs of highways - -including repairs, patrolling, plowing - - and then the inevitable replacement or expansion.

I wonder if Walker ever claimed all of this free air time as an in-kind donation.

Call To Action - Make The Call Today!!

Fellow Supporters of Milwaukee County-

Things are really starting to move in regarding the much needed dedicated funding for our transit system and our parks system.

The state legislature is poised to consider two very important bills.

One is SB-511, which is the bill that would allow Milwaukee County to pass the half-cent sales tax for the transit system as the prelude to the RTA.

On January 19, Governor Doyle was joined by many of the area’s business leaders, each of whom pointed out that a sustainable, and even extended transit system would be good for not only their businesses, but for the entire regional economy. Without a doubt, the fact that our transit system, which has been cut by some 20% over the last few years, has contributed to the fact that the Milwaukee area lost nearly 50,000 jobs in the last year, as well as why we are lagging in our economic recovery.

No less important, even though it is receiving less attention, is AB-504, which would provide the vehicle for getting dedicated funding for our parks system. And as has been proven in New York City, parks are also vital for a thriving economy:

Such cuts could turn out to actually cost the city money. Fine parks contribute to the economy by increasing property values and, as a result, real estate tax receipts. A 2008 analysis found that the completion of the Greenwich Village section of the Hudson River Park raised real estate prices in the adjacent two blocks by 20 percent.

[...]

Parks also attract tourists and residents who come to events and activities or who just want to enjoy the surroundings, generating economic activity inside and near the park. Central Park attracts more than 25 million visitors a year, about one fifth of whom come from outside the city, according to “The Central Park Effect,” which was prepared by the economic analysis firm Appleseed for the Central Park Conservancy. The study determined that in 2007, spending by visitors and enterprises in the city’s most famous park directly and indirectly accounted for $395 million in economic activity. This activity, as well as increases in property values near the park, generated $656 million in revenues for the city in 2007.

“Measuring the Economic Value of a City Park System,” released in April by the Center for City Park Excellence at The Trust for Public Land, analyzed seven ways that city parks provide economic benefits: property values, tourism, direct use, health, community cohesion, clean water and clean air. Starting with conservative assumptions of park use and other variables, researchers calculated dollar values for each of these benefits in a different city.

Even though supporters of Milwaukee County like yourself, as well as the other like minded groups, such as the Park People and the Coalition for the Advancement of Transit, have made many calls and sent many emails in support of these two bills, I have learned that there are some legislators that state they have hardly heard a peep in support of these two vital bills. This is especially true for the leggies that represent the suburban areas.

Please take a few minutes now to call and/or email your state representative and state senator and call on them to support this bill. Everyone needs to do this, but especially those that live in the suburbs.

If you don’t know who your representative or senator is, you can find out by clicking on this link.

We thank you in advance for supporting our community by making these important calls.

Cross posted at Milwaukee County First and other places.

Transit Reality Trumps PaddyMac Fantasy

We already know that Patrick McIlheran has a deep dislike for mass transit, especially buses and railways.

We also already know that Patrick McIlheran has a deep love for roads and highways, regardless the cost.

These two strong emotions cause McIlheran to spin, skew, manipulate and even fabricate information in an effort to prove his point and to maintain his warped sense of the world intact.

Unfortunately for McIlheran, reality trumps his fantasy. Case in point, Stevens Point, who is expanding and growing by leaps and bounds, thanks to their advance mass transit system, which also is growing by leaps and bounds.

Meanwhile, here in Milwaukee County, led by another one of McIlheran's passions, Scott Walker, we have seen our transit system dying a slow death of a thousand cuts and higher fees and taxes imposed on bus riders, while our economy remains stagnant.

Why anyone but his pals Charlie Sykes and Dad29 pay any attention to him is beyond my ken.

His Train Has Been Derailed

PaddyMac scoffs at the engineering feat of a train that can travel 245 miles per hour. Giving up on his concrete ribbons of highways trying to match that accomplishment, Paddy now goes for the airplanes, which do travel much faster.

James Rowen points out that planes are fine, as long as you have an airport nearby to land at and take off from.

But there is another key point that the erudite Rowen missed. Paddy made this assertion in his post (emphasis mine):

Oh, wait: We get around in America on an even faster form of transportation. It goes about 600 mph. It beats trains on most trips, and it carries Americans 600 billion passenger miles a year, far more than the most optimistic projections for high-speed trains here. And it pretty much is funded out of passenger fees rather than general taxes.

One problem for old Paddy. How many of those pesky airports does he know of that are privately built or maintained. Even Milwaukee County took stimulus dollars to improve Mitchell Field.

But Paddy's never let a thing like the truth bother him before, why start now?

McIlheranJust Doesn't Want Us To Save Money

Preview McIlheran regularly tries to convince us that it makes more sense to spend billions on new and unnecessary highway expansions instead of on beneficial mass transit systems. No real money savings in his recommendations, but by golly, he's sticking to it.

Excuse me if I don't hold my breath waiting for him to mention that mass transit also saves people billions of dollars in gas money alone:

A new report says record-high public transit ridership in 2008 saved Illinois huge amounts of gasoline.

The report from the advocacy group Environment Illinois says overall ridership increased by more than six percent last year compared to 2007.

The report concludes that effectively saved nearly 260 million gallons of gasoline. It says that's equal to the amount of gas consumed by more than 450,000 cars in Illinois last year.

Nationally, Environment Illinois says transit ridership saved more than 4 billion gallons of gasoline. That's what more than 7 million cars burn in gasoline each year.

Brian Spranger of Environment Illinois cites the figures in arguing that more transportation funds should be spent on mass transit rather than on roads.

Help Us Save Transit, the Parks and EMS - Sign Our Petition

From Milwaukee County First, of which I am the Chair:

For many years, riders of the Milwaukee County Transit System has seen its routes get cut and the fares go up, as less and less money is available for it. Once a standard for the nation, it has been in steady decline. This year, it has been recommended by the current administration, contrary to all advice, to again slash routes by up to 40% and raise fares by charging a quarter for each transfer. This will have a devastating effect on the local economy, not just of Milwaukee County, but for the entire southeast region of Wisconsin.

Likewise, the Milwaukee County Parks System has seen cuts for each of the past 27 years. This year will be no different, except that it appears that the parks will suffer the most severe cuts yet. Some of the options being considered by the current administration is closing ALL of the outdoor swimming pools, closing both community centers, and cutting maintenance at the senior centers.

Also being threatened is the money that Milwaukee County puts towards the Emergency Medical System. Without this money being in the budget, there will be people in areas of Milwaukee County that will not receive paramedic services for medical emergencies.

Because of these growing concerns, the County Board repeatedly tried to get a referendum to the voters to see if they would approve of a sales tax increase to save these systems and give the voters relief on their property taxes. But each time, County Executive Scott Walker blocked the people from having the right to express themselves.

Finally, in November 2008, the Board was able to put the referendum on the ballot. The people spoke, and the referendum was approved. Unfortunately, despite the hard work of community-minded groups like Quality of Life Alliance and others, the proposed sales tax was distorted during the budget process, and ultimately vetoed by Governor Jim Doyle.

Without this dedicated funding source, the situation in Milwaukee County will quickly become untenable. That is why Milwaukee County First is asking you to join your voice to ours, and to the many others who also put Milwaukee County first, and are calling on Governor Doyle and the State Legislature to pass this sales tax, and to allow us to help ourselves before it is too late.

Please sign our petition:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/Milwaukee-County-First

and let those in Madison know that we will not quietly stand by and allow Milwaukee County to fall apart before our very eyes. It will only take a few seconds to sign the petition, and we will do the rest.

After you have signed the petition, please pass the word to your family, your friends, your neighbors and your coworkers, and ask them to sign the petition as well. Again the link to the petition is:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/Milwaukee-County-First

If we do this separately, we will be just whistling into the wind. Together, we will create a voice that those in Madison will have to hear.

Zippy The Pin Headed Journalist

Preview Paddy is never more at his worst than when he thinks he's being clever.

Today, he blogged about the high speed trains that he doesn't think is so high speed:

Seventy-eight mph to Minneapolis? Wow. That’s, um, well, that’s as fast as pretty much half the traffic in I-94 now travels, and those cars will actually get you to wherever you’re going, not just to the train station.

Really now. I suppose in the summer, if it's not raining, and if it's not rush hour, and you have a good traffic fairie sitting on your shoulder, that could be true.

But this is Wisconsin. Often, you don't get those kinds of breaks.

Nice Racks

Today was the official unveiling of the bike racks on Milwaukee County buses. County Board Supervisors Chris Larson and Patricia Jursik gave them a ceremonial tryout to introduce them this morning.

Sykes had a little stroke about them. He wailed about how the racks were paid for with "free money" and mocked the two supervisors for their excitement on this. Sykes then complained that this was a big boondoggle and claimed that no one would use them and they weren't good for this climate.

Sykes was, of course, lying through his teeth again. First of all, cities with much worse climates than ours have found great success with them, and where ever the bike racks have been tried, there has been a great increase in ridership.

Secondly, the federal tax dollars came from a program under the Bush administration and had nothing to do with the stimulus funding that the right try to dismiss as being "free money." The local match came from a bicycling group.

If Sykes wanted to complain about a real waste of taxpayer money, he should have talked about how Scott Walker sold the grounds and used some of the proceeds to rent the land he just sold. Or on how Walker wanted to use the rest of the proceeds, as well as the County's share of the "free $91 million" transit grant from the feds to give the beneficiaries of this land deal their own private rapid transit bus and bus route.

But the really amazing thing is that Sykes, given his past history of behaviors and attitudes, was unable to appreciate these really nice racks.

Right Wing Anti-Transit Positions Harmful To Tax Payers

We all know how Charlie Sykes nearly pops a vein in his forehead when it comes to transit issues. Likewise, the paper version of Sykes, Preview McIlheran, also will try anything to spin things in an anti-transit way.

Greg Kowalski, of Metro Milwaukee Today fame, points out the fallacy of their position of looking out for the tax payer as he points out the flawed reasoning in a post written by Kevin Fischer State Senator Mary Lazich:

It goes to show that if there is a will, there certainly can be a way. State Senator Lazich refuses to acknowledge the will, and automatically goes to the claim that there will never be a way due to “few riders” and the “failure to reduce congestion and pollution”. Indeed, senator. So in the meantime, Lazich and her pals in the legislature enjoyed spending $1.9 billion of your tax dollars to reconstruct and add two additional lanes on I-94 from the I-894 interchange to the Illinois State Line. Furthermore, the state plans to spend upwards of $1.1 billion of your tax dollars on highway improvements in the Fox Cities, as well as upwards of $1 billion of your tax dollars to reconstruct the Zoo Interchange. Also, don’t forget the $810 million of your tax dollars already spent on reconstructing the Marquette Interchange downtown.

Add those numbers up, folks. $4.81 BILLION of your tax dollars spent on freeways, $3 BILLION of which is in the Milwaukee metropolitan area. In the meantime, Lazich is having a hoot over a regional transit authority collecting funds to construct a $300 million commuter rail line, and conservative talk radio hosts have a bird over a $50 million downtown streetcar system and $100 million in bus rapid transit ideas. If you put the KRM, the streetcar, and BOTH Walker’s and Barrett’s bus rapid transit ideas in action, it would be roughly $550 million - which would only be a little over 1/4 what the total cost is for the I-94 project currently underway.

That alone places doubt in Lazich’s anger and points, and raises questions as to the true motives of why other means of transportation aren’t wanted by some conservative leaders and talkers.

Remember this whenever the right wing says that they are looking for the tax payer, because they're not.

Joint Finance Committee Asked to Include 1% Sales Tax For Milwaukee County in Budget

As previously posted by Dan Cody and Jason Haas, the Quality of Life Alliance, another group I have ties to, have released the following press release:

The Quality of Life Alliance, a group I’m a part of, released the following press release today asking for the Joint Finance Committee to include the voter approved 1% sales tax for Milwaukee County in the upcoming budget.

For the sake of our Park System, Transit, and Emergency Medical Systems, we are asking the Joint Finance Committee to include in the next State budget what the citizens of Milwaukee County have already approved: a one percent sales tax increase that will provide sustainable, dedicated funding for Parks, Transit and EMS.

“Please don?t continue to allow the voices of the 400,000 people who voted in November?s referendum to be ignored”, remarked Cheri Briscoe of Sierra Club-Great Waters Group and Quality of Life Alliance member. The referendum was advisory and requires action from the state to be enacted.

“Our Milwaukee County Park System, once proud and strong, is now limping along with an ever decreasing staff to perform daily maintenance and a log of deferred maintenance for its facilities of nearly $275 million,” added Jim Goulee, a QLA member who is also on the Board of Directors for Preserve our Parks.

This group’s attempt to gain local legislative support for enabling legislation from our state legislators was unfortunately, a tough sell. The Governor instead inserted the creation of RTA for Milwaukee, Kenosha, and Racine and funded by a sales and use tax in his proposed budget, leaving out any support for Milwaukee County Parks.

It is now becoming apparent that the proposal for the creation of the Southeastern Wisconsin RTA is not finding the necessary support from the Joint Finance Committee and may not be included in their version of the state budget. Instituting the sales tax increase in Milwaukee County would, in fact, provide the source of funding needed for a Milwaukee County RTA and could easily accommodate a broader RTA if and when it is created.

“Milwaukee County needs property tax relief and we need a solution to our looming transit and parks crisis,” commented County Supervisor Chris Larson, Quality of Life Alliance spokesperson. “Milwaukee County needs the 1% sales tax that was passed in referendum nearly months ago. Property tax payers can?t wait any longer, transit riders can?t wait, any longer, and all our neighbors who love our parks shouldn?t have to wait any longer to see these problems fixed.”

Quality of Life Alliance (QLA) is a grassroots organization made up of representing a wide swatch of Milwaukee County?s concerned citizens set out to improve our community for a stronger future. Members of the Quality of Life Alliance include transit riders, union leaders, parks supporters, and business men and women, and everyday citizens who are deeply concerned about the future of Milwaukee County and all of Southeastern Wisconsin. Quality of Life Alliance provided the advocacy effort that led to the passage of the sales tax/property tax relief referendum last November. The Quality of Life Alliance is a registered political action committee based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

It’s important the members of the Joint Finance Committee understand the importance of this dedicated funding source to the regions well being for decades to come. All we’re asking is to let the voices of the people of Milwaukee County be heard on this issue.

If you know any of the members of the JFC from the Milwaukee area like Rep. Tamara Grigsby, Rep. Pedro Colon, Sen. Lena Taylor or Sen. Alberta Darling, please contact them to voice your support.

Crossposted at Cog Dis, folkbums, and Uppity Wisconsin.

Paddy Is Anti-Business

Preview Paddy writes one of his long, drawn out, verbose essays trying to rationalize why we would need to expand I-94, even though all of the experts agree that there is no reason for it.

But his own paper, just a few days before, reported on the fact that it is already affecting businesses:

A mom and pop cheese castle is moving, and a neighboring cheese shop is closing, at Wisconsin's most visible cheese interchange to make room for a $1.9 billion freeway-widening project.

The Merkt family, of cheese spread fame, on Friday will close its Tim & Tom's Cheese Shop at the state Highway 142 exit of I-94 in Kenosha County.

They will liquidate more than 1,000 pounds of Wisconsin cheese and sausage - selling everything at half price - on the same day throngs of Chicago Cubs fans whiz past for the Brewers baseball home opener at Miller Park.

Why does Preview Paddy hate capitalism so much that he would rather see business go through the expense of an unnecessary move, if not out right be forced out of business?

In a related matter, go see Jay's post in which he risks his own sanity by trying to channel his inner McIlerhan, showing how weird Paddy's arguments can be:

It's interesting how it sounds so natural for him to defend an expansion of a highway that the DOT's own studies suggest will have no impact on congestion (but great impact on neighbors and the environment), but it sounds so weird for him to support the actual men and women doing the hard work of educating Wisconsin's neediest children.

PaddyMac Wants To Raise Your Taxes

For a long, long time, PaddyMac has kept up the pretense of hating taxes, even though he doesn't mind spending money like a drunken sailor if it means building more highways around the state, whether we need them or not.

Now, he has put up not just one, but two, posts ridiculing people for pointing out the efficiencies and pleasantries of rail systems. His argument is apparently he might have to walk a few blocks (although he thinks the elderly and disabled should do that with Transit Plus - go figure).

I have a question for Paddy.

In the past week, there have been seven or eight deaths around the state, related to weather induced traffic accidents, including a young mother and her seven month old son. Patrick, how many people around the state have died from weather-related train accidents?

For a bonus question: How many trains got stranded on a track due to the recent snow storms, and how does that compare to the hundreds of cars in Milwaukee alone that were stranded in the streets?

Who Are You Going To Believe?

On November 4th, one of the many important issues that voters will be deciding on will be an advisory referendum regarding an increase in the sales tax in Milwaukee County. The sales tax, if it would succeed, would still need to be passed by the County Board and the State Legislature and Governor Doyle.

However, having people speak out and say, "Why, yes, we want to save our transit system, our parks, our economic viability and our quality of life!" would be a major blow to Walker's single plank platform in his perpetual run for governor. He is desperately trying to prevent it at all costs, even using County resources to do his politicking.

As you can imagine, the local right wing squawkers, who sole job is to promote Republicans and Republican objectives are on the attack, spreading their lies, their smears and their smokescreens in hopes to distract, misinform and scare off any potential resort. It is not unlike the way they are trying to belittle Senator Barack Obama anyway they can, in order to gain some, any momentum for McCain's disastrous plans for this country.

Walker and his squawking allies, namely Charlie Sykes and Jay Weber would tell you all sorts of garbage, including that there will be no tax relief because the last time this happened, taxes went up ten years later. They will tell you that Milwaukee County will become a tax island, even though Milwaukee's taxes are already higher than that of surrounding counties, and businesses are doing just fine in Milwaukee.

They are full of so much rot.

Their arguments hold no water, and are just playing to people's fears. I've been saying this for over a year now.

But if you don't want to believe me, that's cool. I would offer up a study that was just reported in yesterday's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The report is from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's Center for Economic Development and reads in part:

Transit access to jobs could become much worse in 2010, the report says. The Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission and the Public Policy Forum have warned that, without new state or local funding, the Milwaukee County bus system could be forced to cut service by 35%, wiping out all Freeway Flyer routes and most night, weekend and suburban service.

If that happens, only 45% of the region's employers would be within a quarter-mile of a bus stop, leaving at least 101,066 jobs that couldn't be easily reached by public transit, the report says."Such an outcome would be disastrous for the regional economy," the report says. Even if the people most directly affected are those who depend on buses, "studies show that regions as a whole may suffer when their central cities fall into decline."

Rast agrees with other studies that called for taking public transit off the property tax levy and out of competition with other levy-funded services. Of 17 comparable metro areas, 12 fund their transit systems at least partly with local sales taxes and Milwaukee is the only one that uses property taxes, he wrote.

In recommending a sales tax, Rast said property taxes should be cut by the amount now used for transit. MMAC agrees, Beitzel said.

And if the gentle reader scoffs at this report, saying that the source is just "liberal elite academia types", that's OK. I would then present a study from the non-partisan Milwaukee Public Policy Forum, headed by former top Walker aid, Rob Henken. MPPF issued their own recommendations almost six months ago:

But the vehicle fee, also known as a "wheel tax," would be only a short-term measure to hold the bus system together until state and local officials can agree on a longer-term solution, such as a local sales tax, local gas tax or major increase in state funding, the nonpartisan research organization says.

And if county officials don't pursue any of those options and keep patching transit budget holes one year at a time, they soon will be forced to eliminate all Freeway Flyer routes and nearly all night, weekend and suburban service, the report warns. That would leave "a transit system that is a shell of its former self," the report says.

Such service cuts could slice into the regional economy because 75% of bus riders have few if any other transportation options, 52% don't even have driver's licenses and 43% ride buses to work, the report adds.

And if that still was not enough, there is always the findings of Thomas Rubin, a conservative mass transit expert:

Cutting fares and restoring slashed service could be key strategies for rescuing the financially troubled Milwaukee County Transit System, a nationally known transit consultant told the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Transit Authority on Monday.

And in a turnabout from his usual positions, California-based consultant Thomas Rubin recommended serious study of a transit sales tax and of a Milwaukee-to-Kenosha commuter rail line, although he stopped short of endorsing either option.

Rubin is an unlikely figure in the regional transit debate — a prominent rail transit critic backed by two conservative think tanks, hired by pro-transit business leaders to help break a longstanding stalemate on transit funding.

Although Rubin is the former chief financial officer of the Southern California Rapid Transit District, he is best known for studies that oppose light rail and commuter trains and promote public buses in Los Angeles and elsewhere. His Milwaukee-area study is being coordinated through the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute and the Reason Foundation, a Libertarian-leaning organization based in California.

[...]

Rubin agreed with reports from the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission and the Public Policy Forum that praised the Milwaukee County bus system’s cost-effective management, but that found major ridership losses resulted from fare increases and service cuts since 2000. He also agreed with those reports’ warnings of a 35% service cut by 2010 without new state or local funding — a cut that would wipe out all Freeway Flyers and most night, weekend and suburban service.

But Rubin said ridership could double in five years if county officials restore the service that has been cut and lower the fares. Phasing in that approach, with service restorations first and fare cuts later, would cater to “a huge unmet demand” for transit service that is growing as gas prices rise, he said.

So my friends, the question is who are you going to believe? A college drop out whose sole motivation factor is getting to the governor's office, and his radio squawker buddies, whose sole purpose in life is to promote people like Walker? Or educated professional that have given time and effort in making a thorough study, with their only interest in promoting Milwaukee County and making it the best place it can be?

My money goes with the experts. For further factual information that Walker and the squawkers don't want you to know, please check out the Quality of Life Alliance's website.