[milwaukee-electric] Re: "Scott Walker's secret mission."

[jdl896 at yahoo.com]

I believe that NOTHING gets past Scott  Walker and also believe that this little project' of Mayor Barrett might be one of his 'talking points' when the man runs for Governor. I can umagine speeches like:
'Though I tried to keep the city of Milwauke free from tax increases, I wait defeated by a mayor who wanted to to turn Milwaukee into another Portland, and that is why I am running for the gubernatorial sea. Then you can watch me try me try not to raises taxes for an entire state!

--- On Thu, 4/2/09, Y Marti <yance at oldmilwaukee.net> wrote:

> From: Y Marti <yance at oldmilwaukee.net>
> Subject: [milwaukee-electric] Re: "Scott Walker's secret mission."
> To: milwaukee-electric at lists.dementia.org
> Date: Thursday, April 2, 2009, 11:58 AM
> That's all there is to it for transit riders? The
> ability to buy a  
> car? I have two and a motorcycle but I would rather spend
> the parking  
> money and gas money on something more interesting. I guess
> I am a bad  
> American....
> 
> Quoting mrcooby <x779 at webtv.net>:
> 
> > Walker's secret mission is to abolish mass transit
> >
> > By Robert Bauman
> >
> >
> <http://www.biztimes.com/blogs/milwaukee-biz-blog/authors/robert-bauman>
> >
> > In a Feb. 20 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel editorial,
> Milwaukee County
> > Executive Scott Walker let it slip: his goal is to
> abolish public  
> > transit in Milwaukee County by, as he put it, growing
> the economy so  
> > that poor people who depend on transit can afford to
> buy cars.
> >
> > By implication, if everyone has a car, no one will use
> or need a public
> > transit system.
> >
> > In this context, the reason for Scott Walker's
> obsessive opposition to
> > any form of rail transit becomes clear: he is afraid
> it will succeed!
> >
> > It turns out that Scott has been paying more attention
> to the success of
> > new rail transit systems across the country than
> anyone thought. He has
> > no doubt observed that these lines attract new riders
> - often  
> > individuals with higher incomes who own automobiles
> and homes and  
> > vote-potent political constituency.
> >
> > To his chagrin, he has noted that some of these new
> riders actually live
> > in suburbs and support Republicans. If middle-class
> Republicans will use
> > and support rail transit, then he has a real problem
> achieving his  
> > goal of abolishing the transit system.
> >
> > He has no doubt observed that overall transit usage in
> cities with  
> > new rail lines has often increased thereby broadening
> the base of  
> > political support for transit in general. He may have
> even observed  
> > that new rail transit lines are popular with the
> business community  
> > in general and the real estate development community
> in particular -  
> > groups that could stand in the way of his plan to
> abolish all transit.
> >
> > We now know why Scott cannot allow rail transit to be
> introduced in
> > Milwaukee, no matter how modest the plan: he has
> learned from the
> > experience of other cities that new rail transit lines
> are popular and
> > have even generated popular support for increased
> taxes to further
> > expand and improve transit systems.
> >
> > Clearly, any investment in a rail transit line that
> has the potential of
> > reversing the death spiral of MCTS (Milwaukee County
> Transit System) and
> > broadening the appeal of transit in general must be
> opposed at all  
> > cost because Scott knows that you cannot abolish a
> public service  
> > that is
> > well-funded, used by a broad cross section of the
> community and has
> > widespread popular support.
> > Who would have guessed that the biggest problem with
> investing in a rail
> > transit line in Milwaukee is that it might be
> successful?
> >
> >
> > Robert Bauman is a Milwaukee alderman.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >