Secrecy in Milwaukee over out-sourcing #publictransit

Your Views: "Importantly, we need more dollars for public transit in Milwaukee County to meet the needs of central city residents, people with disabilities, students and our growing population of aging citizens. Everyone can agree about that.

MV Transportation is lobbying hard in the community for the contract. We are told to trust our county executive and a panel of unnamed experts to make the decision for us with no transparency whatsoever as to who, how and why they chose a for-profit, out-of-state company over our local Milwaukee Transport Services, nationally recognized as one of the best transit systems in the country in delivery of efficient service."

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Wisconsin DNR conducts armed raid of animal shelter. Why?

Justice for Giggles - the baby deer.: "KENOSHA, WI – When Wisconsiners sent in their hard earned tax money this year to the Government, they never knew their money would be spent on a highly organized Department of Natural Resources (DNR) raid sent in to eliminate a fawn.
Nine DNR agents and 4 Deputy Officers, all heavily armed, raided the shelter with the mission of detaining the shelter workers, and then targeting and destroying a two-week-old fawn named Giggles. The mission that was set in place by Chief Conservation Warden Randy Stark included a pre-raid aerial surveillance of the shelter and photos of the barn that housed Giggles."

Why not just send one or two unarmed agents and ask for the deer? Why aerial surveillance and a swat-team-like raid? People are shocked by the storm-trooper tactics of government over the last few years. But the 1% knows something they are not telling the public. Cheap oil has peaked. There will be no more growth. They are preparing for uprising and practicing their totalitarian response.

People speak up for #publictransit in Wausau

Ken Miller, of Wausau, waits for the disability ramp being load from Metro Ride bus Wednesday afternoon, March 7, 2012, near Riverview Towers in Wausau. / Daily Herald Media file photo

wausaudailyherald.com: "I am all for the sales tax proposal, and I doubt a penny on the dollar will dissuade any shoppers from visiting the area to shop, in fact it would enable more people to shop in Rothschild and Rib Mountain. I will contact my state senator and Rep. Mandy Wright with my support."

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Mixed messages from Milwaukee County transit in bidding process

Public Investigator : ""In my experience, I've never seen a public agency bid in which they wanted you to spend so much," a person representing one of the bidders on the contract told the Journal Sentinel.

"Price counts for 20% (of the evaluation score), but you say you want to spend $164 million. They didn't make it explicit they were looking for savings to be plowed back into service.

"The taxpayers of Milwaukee County could easily wind up losing if they keep the same set of services and don't have savings that could be used to enhance services.""

Governor implements oil industry agenda, with negative economic consequences

Timeline Photos: "This speaks for itself. 'Share' if you agree."

NAOMI: "[public transit] is not an extra frill"

A bus headed to Shopko in Rothschild on Monday drives through the intersection of Scott and Third streets in downtown Wausau. / Dan Young/Daily Herald Media

City leaders seek mass transit tax | Wausau Daily Herald | wausaudailyherald.com: "The local NAOMI bus task force, which has worked to expand mass transit in the metro area, supports the proposal.

“Transit isn’t a luxury, and it is not an extra frill; it’s a needed part of the community that impacts a tremendous amount of people,” said Jean Abreau, NAOMI chairwoman."

Urban Sprawl counties' growth leads to more traffic - and more crashes

Shaina loves Milwaukee: "The sprawl-building consortium have been lobbying for more expressways, more off-ramps, and wider roads for over 70 years now and the taxpayers have been blindly subsidizing their profits through their taxes. Don't like taxes? Look to your built environment and tell me if the big box retail, ruined city centers, and empty storefronts of "main street USA" make sprawl it all worthwile."

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How Weston, Wisconsin saved its buses

Truthdig: "Hanley pointed proudly to the union’s outreach to community and church groups to save bus service last year in Weston, Wis., a town of 15,000. Weston’s Village Council, as part of austerity cuts, had voted to eliminate local bus service. A broad coalition of groups organized to get an advisory vote put on the ballot to block the council’s decision. It was the same ballot on which Gov. Scott Walker, a foe of organized labor and a proponent of the austerity cuts, faced recall. Walker won his fight in the state and in Weston to stay in office. But about 65 percent of those who went to the polls in Weston, many of whom voted not to recall Walker, voted to protect their bus service."

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Koch-puppet wants to cut #publictransit. No surprise there.

The Badger Herald · Metro faces cuts in Walker’s new budget: "Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed two-year budget will cut the funding of public transit systems around the state, including Madison Metro Transit, if it is passed unchanged.

General Manager of Madison Metro, Chuck Kamp, said the proposed budget will restrict Madison Metro’s ability to keep up with the demand of the public transport service’s riders."

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If #freetransit is so expensive, why can beer companies afford it?

Free Milwaukee County bus rides on St. Patrick's Day: "A 20-year St. Patrick's Day tradition returns this year when Miller Lite Free Rides again partners with the Milwaukee County Transit System to provide free bus rides to the public on March 17

The free service will be on all MCTS routes beginning at 6 p.m. and continuing until the end of that day's service."

Wisconsin Koch-puppet uses #publictransit funding as bait for big sellout

Scott Walker's transportation budget might rely on sale of state power plants:

Walker's plan would increase transportation funding over two years by about $500 million, Webster said. In addition to borrowing money, he would boost transportation spending by using money from the state account used to pay for schools, health care for the poor and other programs.

Walker wants to fund mass transit with money from the state's main account instead of its separate transportation fund, as has happened for years. Walker tried that in 2011, but failed to get the proposal passed. Transit advocates say keeping their funding in the transportation account provides them more protection in the long term.K

Oshkosh, free buses for UWO staff and students triples ridership

Public transportation use by UWO staff, students reaches all-time high | The Oshkosh Northwestern | thenorthwestern.com: "UWO began offering free bus rides to its students and staff in 2000. Since then, ridership has more than tripled."

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Europe and China moving to free transit while Wisconsin just cuts

Wisconsinites fight for mass transit! | Fight Back!: "Madison, WI - Unions and community groups, including the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 998 (ATU), Disability Rights Wisconsin and Community Action Now (CAN) gathered inside the Capitol Building here, Jan. 23, for a press conference demanding a reversal of a 10% funding cut, increased funding for transit and the creation of a Regional Transit Authority with elected members. A Regional Transit Authority would allow for better localized coordination and organization of mass transit."

GOP is party of sprawl

Republican Road Rage:
As statistics in the accompanying graph by researcher Ruy Teixeira show, Romney won 68 percent of the vote in areas with just 10 people per square mile, about 57 percent of areas with 170 people per square mile and 51 percent of areas with 600 people per square mile. But he lost any districts with more than 800 people per square mile, with his percentage dropping to as low as 20 or even 15 percent in areas with 36,000 people per square mile.

Milwaukee does not need subways

Transportation planner realizes that subways are not necessary. And without realizing it, shows that commuter trains create hollow out cities by bringing people in to the city [for the day only].  

urbanismnews.com Forrest looked at transit systems in other cities – Chicago and Washington, D.C., for example – to create the Milwaukee system. “A lot of the train system funneled to the Downtown area,” he says. Bringing people into the central business district of a city can spur growth, he says, “especially if they have a viable transit option.” Although Forrest says the map isn’t 100 percent realistic, rapid transit bus and light rail could provide transit “very similar to this without the same capital investment.”

Cars are choking our cities. Subways are a way of mitigating this congestion and prolonging the life of autosprawl. We can make public transit fare-free and eliminate cars from the city. There will then be plenty of room for buses, streetcars, and light rail.

Cars just keep on killing - do we care?

Wisconsin ends 2012 with 601 traffic deaths, 6% more than 2011:
MADISON — Wisconsin ended 2012 with 601 traffic deaths, which was 36 more, or about 6%, than 2011 and two more than the previous five-year average, according to preliminary statistics from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.