Auto-dependence forces financial and personal sacrifices

Interesting article today on CNNMoney.com. It's all about the financial costs of high gas prices, which may also force personal sacrifices as well.

Tell the Joint Finance Committee you don't want the RTA legislation repealed!

I stole the message at the end of this post from an anti-RTA email that arrived in my mailbox. Sorry about the poor formatting, but I don't have time to clean it up. All the phone numbers and names are there, but the links don't work.
For email, the format for assembly addresses is: Rep.[last name]@legis.wisconsin.gov
Senators are: Sen[last name]@legis.wisconsin.gov

Example: Sen.Darling@legis.wisconsin.gov or Rep.Voss@legis.wisconsin.gov

Although the die is cast - the Republicans have the votes to repeal the RTA-enabling legislation - we don't want to make it easy for them! Speak up now, and then write a letter to the editor to support transit and RTAs.

Please call or email members of the Joint Finance Committee to tell them transit is important to you and to Wisconsin.

Here are just some reasons why we need transit, and local communities need the flexibility to form RTAs:

Wisconsinites don’t want to pay anything for transportation, neither rail nor roads

While an article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel indicates that Wisconsinites oppose rail, I think the results merit a little further reflection.

RTA vs. MATC "unelected" officials - be consistent in criticism

One of the criticisms of the RTA seems to be that there is an unelected board with the power to set taxes. Yet people fail to complain about the MATC Board, which is also unelected, and also can levy taxes.

Heads up, transportation geeks! Tues, May 25 is busy.

For those that care about getting around without a car, or cheaply, or in an environmentally sustainable way, or those that just want to have a choice of transportation modes, the evening of Tuesday, May 25 is going to be a busy night.

The Pedestrian/Bicycle/Motor Vehicle Commission (PBMVC) will hold their annual public hearing on needed capital projects to improve the ped-bike network. The public hearing starts at 6:00 PM in Room 260 of the Madison Municipl Bldg. Also at that meeting will be an update on progress on the Platinum City Report, or "How are we doing and what's next?"

Also on Tuesday, at 6:30 PM at Olbrich Gardens, is a neighborhood meeting arranged my Alder Marsha Rummel about the high speed rail corridor through the East Isthmus. Now that we know that the Madison station will be at/near Monona Terrace, everyone has lots of questions about how this is going to work. Although Marsha would like to keep this focused on the neighborhood, and how the corridor will be managed, this is also the first time the Wisconsin DOT will be available to answer questions on this project.

Last night at the Long Range Transportation Plan Commission, we were supposed to talk about how/where/when the city would/could build a multi-modal station - that is one that would handle intercity buses, local buses, and was friendly to walking, biking, taxis, etc. Of course, the discussion mostly focused on the rail station location, problems, and possibilities. Unfortunately, the answer to many of our questions about the station, train operations, intersections upgrades, multi-modal access, etc. was, "We don't know yet." WisDOT is in charge here, and we don't even know how much say the city will have on many of the decisions.

Wisconsin DOT is not known for having the best public participation process. I have been to many "public hearings," and they often consist of WisDOT staff and consultants standing around boards and posters depicting options for a project and answering questions one-on-one. Then the public is encouraged to write down their comments or submit them on-line. There is rarely a Q&A where everyone in the room can hear the questions that people ask, the answers from WisDOT/consultants, and the comments that others have. This public Q&A is important because many people aren't even sure what questions to ask, and hearing the questions, answers, and comments of others helps them sort through often complex issues.

Finally, for those who live, work, or study in the area of UW Hospital, the west campus, Shorewood Hills, or the west end of the Regent Neighborhood, you may want to know about a meeting on the proposed plans for the intersection of University Ave, University Bay Drive, Campus Drive, and Farley St. The meeting will be held at the Shorewood Hills Village Hall from 5:30 - 7:00 PM. This is a very large, and very multi-modal intersection, with lots of people walking and biking through it, as well as about 50,000 cars per day, many of whom are making turns at the intersection. There is also a very busy bus stop, with over a dozen bus lines stopping there. All these bus rides need to cross the intersection, either in the morning or the evening. All these bus riders are also pedestrians when they cross. The Campus Dr Path also ends here, with many bicyclists trying to connect with routes through Shorewood Hills, or crossing to the south side of University to access the Kendall/Bluff bike route. No matter how you travel, if you need to use this intersection on a regular basis, you should think about submitting comments.

Sorry, no link for this meeting, as it doesn't appear to be on the City of Madison web site or the Village or Shorewood Hills. Also, no link to the plans developed by Strand & Assoc (I think), which, last tome I saw them, were less-than-ideal for non-motorized transportation.

Transportation issues on Brenda's WYOU program

A few weeks back, I taped a segment for Brenda Konkel's program on WYOU. If you want to watch it, you can view it here.

As you can guess, the topic was transportation. This was taped before the decision was made on the location of the high speed rail stop, so portion of the program talked about the pros and cons of the options, how the decision was being made, etc.

But we also talked about a wide range of other issues and topics, including:

• Why transportation can make or break affordable housing.
• What is a multi-modal station, and why should be build one in Madison?
• What happened with the "find the Greyhound stop" game?
• What is a bike station, and where would they work in Madison?
• What's up with the RTA? Why it's not just about trains. 
• What is bus rapid transit?
• How does the city decide what roads are going to be built? What's the TIP?

And many more topics.

I noticed a few slips on my part, like when I talked about the high speed rail line, and mentioned that many people travel between Milwaukee and "Chicago"  several times per week, when I meant to say Milwaukee and Madison. Oh, well, in general I think it went pretty well. Brenda asks really good questions, and lets her guests get into the meat of the issues. That's rare for an interview.

Two articles on SE Wisconsin rail. Same paper, different angles.

Does anyone else find this juxtaposition strange? Today's Daily Reporter, a pro-labor union paper carried two stories about SE Wisconsin, both mentioning development and the KRM train, the proposed Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee train line that would be an extension of the popular Metra line that runs through Chicago's northern suburbs.

That line currently stops in Kenosha, and there is no train service from Racine or Kenosha to Milwaukee. The closest train is in Sturtevant, WI, west of Mt. Pleasant. That is the Hiawatha line that runs six times per day between Chicago and Milwaukee. (And makes money, by the way.)

To relieve congestion on I-94, the KRM was proposed as an alternative, but its future is in doubt, since the Wisconsin Legislature finished it's session without passing taxing authority for the SE Wisconsin RTA.

So today, one article, "Waiting for Change," talks about the transition, actual or possible, or SE Wisconsin to less a manufacturing base and more a series of bedroom communities for Chicago and Milwaukee, especially Chicago.  It prominently mentions the KRM as both a transportation option and a development tool.

And then another article today, "Fighting Over the Railroad," talks about both legislative efforts to pass the RTA legislation and local resistance to kicking in funds.

It also talks about the development that could come with the KRM line, however one commentator misses the point.

“Kenosha has had commuter rail to Chicago for 20-plus years,” Kisley said. “There’s no development there.”

Kisley said his group, along with other taxpayer groups such as the Racine Taxed Enough Already Party, will continue to oppose the project and pressure legislators.

What he fails to see is that the KRM would allow people to travel into Milwaukee, a much shorter trip than Chicago. Sure, as the first article points out, many people are willing to travel all the way from Kenosha to Chicago to get cheaper housing, lower taxes, and lake access. But think what an extension of that same lien would do for Racine and Kenosha if people could quickly and conveniently get to Milwaukee as well.

However, that isn't going to happen for awhile now.

As a former developer, Racine Mayor John Dickert said he experienced an immediate effect when the state Assembly effectively killed the KRM project in 2008. He said he had been working on $40 million worth of developments, only to have the deals fall through because the KRM did not move forward.

Oh, well, I guess Racine and Kenosha just aren't ready to grab the opportunities in front of them.

Which capital projects would you vote for/against?

Toady's Cap Times had a letter suggesting that Madison voters be allowed to vote for/against any capital project in excess or $3-4 million. That would be an interesting idea. I wonder which roads people would want to fund?

Well Said: Our friend in Oregon tells off his state rep

 Hans Noeldner is fighting the good fight down south in Oregon (WI, for my friends in other parts of the US.)

Today he had an excellent letter to the Cap Times taking Rep Brett Davis to task for standing in the way of progress and a better, greener future.

Start with fresh ambitions for the lieutenant governor’s office. Shovel in supersized helpings of campaign funding from road builders, Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, and petroleum interests. Whip to a froth with party ideologues desperate to thwart any progress for which Democrats could take some credit -- and the public interest be damned.

What do you get? Brett Davis trotted out in front of the cameras to torch clean energy jobs legislation. Davis spearheading efforts to derail 21st century train service in the highly congested Madison-Milwaukee corridor. Davis conniving to cripple fledgling steps toward regional transit authorities -- i.e., more local and regional control over local and regional issues. [more]

Read more from Hans at his blog, Entropic Journal.

Dane RTA - where to get more information

For those interested in finding out more information about the Dane County RTA, I would recommend three current pages to start off. They have links to other sources of information, and each has a slightly different audience and slant, but they are each accurate, in my opinion.

Phoenix makes the case for Dane County rail

Last night I sat through the entire Dane County Board meeting, which lasted until 1:30 AM, and heard many concerns about the RTA being formed. I'm not going to go on a rant yet, as I don't want my first newsy blog post to be that tone, but more will come later.

However, one of the common complaints was that Dane County/Madison wasn't dense enough or big enough to support rail. (We still don't know whether rail will come about - the RTA could end up being bus only - but everyone seems to focus on the rail component.) Several people have told me about an interesting article in the NY Times about the new light rail system in Phoenix.