A rendering of the streetcar at the intersection of Van Buren and Wells in downtown Milwaukee.

George H. Bush was President, Robin Yount was roaming centerfield, and Milwaukee was being allocated funds that were to be dedicated for the development of a new mass transit mode. The funds, $289 million worth, represented a substantial amount of purchasing power in 1991. But the transit improvements never came. Some of the funds ultimately went to tear down the Park East, some for of the funds were used by the freeway system, and some were sent to Milwaukee County to implement a bus rapid transit system that has yet materialize. Today the city’s share is only $54.9 million. Over the years there was talk of the Canal Street Connector and a guided bus system, but with yesterday’s action by the Steering & Rules Committee it looks like the Milwaukee Streetcar is moving Milwaukee forward.

At yesterday’s Steering & Rules Committee Meeting, the Committee on a vote of 5-2, with Alderman Davis, Hamilton, Bauman, Witkowiak, and Hines in support, voted to approve the Milwaukee Streetcar legislation. Aldermen Bohl and Murphy voted in opposition, and both raised legitimate issues, though not insurmountable ones. The plan includes $9.7 million in TIF dollars that will be used to help fund the construction of the project.  Despite the project touching the TID and the funds being used for public infrastructure, two key requirements of TIF funding, Alderman Bohl questioned whether or not TIF funds could be used for the project. Both members in opposition were concerned with the potential cost to move utilities, and if that would be the City of Milwaukee’s responsibility or the utility companies. We Energies and AT&T recently (AT&T oddly – or possibly strategically – waited until the day before the meeting to unveil their concerns) put out estimates suggesting the cost to move their utilities could be as high as $50 million.  Department of Public Works Commissioner Ghassan Korban explained that it is common when utilities in the public rights-of-way are needed to be moved the cost generally falls on the utility (the Marquette Interchange project required $32 million in adjustments, an amount far below initial estimates). He went on to explain that after the approval of this legislation the engineering will move beyond the 30% phase, and that the department will be working closely with the utilities to bring these costs down and find workable solutions.  It was apparent that the City of Milwaukee will make adjustment to the alignment or location in the street of the system to dramatically reduce these cost if the estimates are close to being accurate.

The next step is for the file to go before the full Common Council on July 26th, 2011. If approved it would be expected that Mayor Barrett would sign it shortly thereafter and the City of Milwaukee would truly be on the way to building a modern mass transit system helping to move Milwaukee forward.

And we’d like to give a quick thanks to the UrbanMilwaukee.com readers, as you helped move Milwaukee Forward!

In response to a series of questions and comments regarding transit options, Ms. Brown, from the Wisconsin DOT, responded that “transit is not considered as part of the construction of the interchange”.  Alderman Murphy expressed the committee’s belief that the Wisconsin DOT has ignored multi-modal options at the expense of the City of Milwaukee saying that “the way they (Wisconsin DOT) set up this planning they specifically excluded it”.  Wisconsin DOT staff repeatedly pointed to SEWRPC’s planning as their guiding direction and Ms. Brown reiterated “that (rail) is not an option given the schedule and time frame”.  Near the end of the meeting Alderman Bauman summed up the committee’s message to the Wisconsin DOT saying “carry back the message you don’t have any happy campers”.

SEWRPC Executive Director Phil Evenson responded to Alderman Bauman’s comments by explaining the legal hurdles that would be involved in Milwaukee County withdrawing from SEWRPC and defended the organization’s actions. He point out that last Thursday they created a committee to handle the housing study that has been on hold since the 1970′s. Ken Yunker, who will take over for Phil Evenson after the new year, added that the housing study had been delayed because of a loss of federal funding dating back to the early 1980′s. This discussion seemed to remind the committee of one of their long standing issue with SEWRPC, in that SEWRPC has at least appeared to be non-responsive to Milwaukee’s interests.

Common Council President Hines addressed concerns that this resolution would appear to hurt regional cooperation, stating that “while we all embrace regional cooperation it can’t be a one way street, it has to be something that goes both ways.” Alderman Murphy expressed his frustration stating that “the current governing structure is inherently biased against urban areas,” but made it clear that he doesn’t want to withdraw from SEWRPC. Specifically, he made it clear that his intention is to call for a change in the structure of their governing body to better represent the population each county. At this point Alderman Donovan, Bohl, and Kovac each chimed in to make their intentions clear, that they agreed with Murphy’s comments.

While this resolution on the surface may seem as if Milwaukee is turning its back on regionalism, the committee made it clear that the real issue is making sure that SEWRPC’s governance appropriately reflects the population make up of the region it represents. This resolution was passed with Alderman Bauman’s amendment that included requesting the federal government not to re-certify SEWRPC in its current configuration, and will now go before the full Common Council.