[milwaukee-electric] Re: Milwaukee will again be a Streetcar City.

[William Sell]

And many citizens wrote letters of support for the project, Lou
Bill




AAt 09:11 AM 7/27/2011, you wrote:
>Milwaukee streetcars will roll again for the first time since March of 1958.
>The Milwaukee Common Council Tuesday morning 
>approved its long-discussed two-mile downtown 
>Milwaukee streetcar project. Mayor Tom Barrett 
>said in praising the majority vote “It’s a 
>step forward for economic development. It’s 
>going to improve mass transit and put people 
>work. Now is the time to push our sleeves and 
>get to work on it,” Barrett said, adding a 
>prediction that residents outside downtown "will 
>want to extend to extend it to their neighborhood.”
>
>Aldermen voted 10-5 to build the line, after a 
>twenty-year hiatus where the streetcar project 
>was discussed ad infinitum. Downtown Alderman 
>Robert Bauman and east side Aldermen Nik Kovac 
>said the streetcar project will create 
>construction jobs, stimulate economic 
>development along the streetcar route and 
>improve mobility in the downtown area, Bauman 
>saying "This will be a catalyst for real estate 
>development. That’s been the experience of 
>every other city that’s done this.”
>
>Kenosha's two-mile system was the nation's first 
>21st-Century streetcar project, and Milwaukee 
>officials were often seen downtown photographing 
>the system and touring the shop facilities. 
>Streetcars attract more riders than buses 
>because passengers prefer to ride rails that point out the route, Bauman said.
>
>$54.9 million in federal funds were allocated to 
>Milwaukee in 1991 for mass transit but were 
>never spent because local officials could never 
>agree on what the money would be used for. 
>Finally, Congress allocated those funds to be 
>spent only for the downtown streetcar project. 
>Milwaukee will provide $9.7 million, to come 
>from the Cathedral Place tax incremental financing (TIF) district.
>
>Bauman and Kovac argued that the federal funds 
>could only be used for the streetcar project and 
>would be sent to another city if the project was rejected by the council.
>
>Five aldermen - Jim Bohl, Joe Davis, Robert 
>Donovan, Michael Murphy and Joe Dudzik - voted 
>in opposition to the streetcar project, saying 
>they didn't understand future operating and 
>maintenance costs. At one point Donovan proposed 
>an amendment to have the project decided by a 
>referendum, but that was shot down by a 12-3 
>vote. Kovac attacked Donovan's motionm saying 
>that aldermen should vote on the project just 
>the same as they vote for any public works project.
>
>“Do people expect us to come to them (in a 
>referendum) every time we spend millions of 
>dollars on a public works project?” Kovac said.
>
>The streetcar route will run from the Amtrak 
>Intermodal Station east on St. Paul Avenue, 
>north on Broadway, east on Wells Street north on 
>Van Buren Street (heading south it will use 
>Jackson Street) and then east on Ogden Avenue to 
>the Farwell Avenue intersection.
>Several business and civic officials wrote 
>letters of support for the streetcar project.
>
>For more information: www.milwaukeestreetcar.com
>
>=Lou=
>
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>
>The opposite of bravery is not cowardice, but conformity.      Robert Anthony

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every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and 
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hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have 
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