Gateway to Milwaukee's executive director, Tom Rave, three labor representatives, and Disability Rights attorney Monica Murphy, will join Milwaukee County Supervisor Chris Larson as speakers at the rally for local and regional transit funding Saturday December 5, 2009, at Veterans Memorial Park in West Allis. The park is at the corner of National Avenue and 70th Street. The rally kicks off at 1:00 pm.
What is at stake should be a no-brainer. Without a new funding source to take buses and other public transportation off the property tax levy, there will be major fare increases and route reductions in Milwaukee County. Without stable funding for existing bus service, federal funding will not be available for the Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee interurban rail line. Still, some key legislators are sitting on the fence, and organizers hope a good turnout will help the legislature understand that mass transit is important to Milwaukee commuters.
A South East Regional Transit Authority (SERTA) was created in June 2009 to fund and operate the KRM rail line. So far, SERTA depends for funding on an unpopular car rental tax, which is expected to be especially hard on people who need a car for a day or two from low-budget companies. More important, federal funding for the rail line is being held up. Federal law requires that rail service expands on existing bus service, so the bus service has to be maintained. After all, most people won't live in walking distance from the rail line, so a good bus system is needed to get to the trains.
This would all be a done deal, if the legislature had approved what Milwaukee County voters supported in a referendum last November. County parks and recreation, the bus system, and emergency medical services, would have been funded by a one percent sales tax, taking all three off the property tax permanently. Instead, the legislature came up with a half-cent sales tax to fund the bus system, and county costs for police and fire. Then Governor Doyle vetoed that, saying he wanted a regional transit plan before he signed off on any plan at all. Oddly, his veto may have endangered any transit funding at all, including the KRM rail line.
Bringing a majority of legislators around one more time, to pass a regional transit bill, is the point of the rally, organized by Southeastern Wisconsin Coalition for Transit Now, and Urban Economic Development Association. Labor representatives speaking at the rally include Lyle Balestreri, president of the Milwaukee Area Labor Council, Kurt Zunker, president of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 882, and Jeff Van Koningsveld, president of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 430 in Racine. There is a very small window for action: either quick action in December, or at the latest, in the legislature's January session.
Advocates point to the benefits of mixed-use development along transit corridors, creating jobs and new business. Salt Lake City has realized $10 billion in new development from investment in its transit system ten years ago. Tim Sheehy, president of the Metro Milwaukee Chamber of Commerce, has observed that when seeking businesses and investors, “We can’t even get to the table because of our lack of modern regional transit system.” The commuter rail system could create 71,000 new jobs. Letting the current bus system fall apart could isolate thousands of people from existing jobs. It may all depend on turning out December 5 to show solid support for the transit bill.
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