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Murphy’s Law: How to Destroy a Transit System
Murphy’s Law

How to Destroy a Transit System

County board's free bus ride program triggers huge deficits that could overwhelm system.

Eyes on Milwaukee: Herb Kohl’s Arena Commitment, The Second Downtown Strip Club, Northwestern Mutual’s New Downtown Building, and More
Eyes on Milwaukee

Herb Kohl’s Arena Commitment, The Second Downtown Strip Club, Northwestern Mutual’s New Downtown Building, and More

This week's Eyes on Milwaukee column explores Herb Kohl's commitment to a new arena, the idea of another downtown strip club, Northwestern Mutual's potential new downtown building, and a whole lot more.

Eyes on Milwaukee: Regional Bus Service Cuts, Transit Center Redevelopment, Museum Mile, and More
Eyes on Milwaukee

Regional Bus Service Cuts, Transit Center Redevelopment, Museum Mile, and More

The 11th installment of Eyes on Milwaukee focuses on transit, development, and new restaurants. The Downtown Transit Center's redevelopment is inching closer to reality. The Milwaukee Museum Mile is a new marketing effort for some overlooked museums. Service reductions are coming to the Milwaukee-Racine-Kenosha commuter bus service, and the Milwaukee City Clerk is still tweeting, thankfully.

County Board Votes for Task Force Recommendations

County Board Votes for Task Force Recommendations

The proposed Regional Transit Authority recommendations were on the agenda after being delayed at a previous meeting of the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors.  At the previous meeting a task force was created and charged with putting together a positive message from the county supporting regional transportation. Supervisor Pat Jursik explained that despite the task force’s work and positive output the Transportation, Public Works and Transit Committee unfortunately rejected the findings.  She expressed her displeasure with the committee’s actions saying “I’ve been very depressed the last few days”.  She then made a strong plea to deny the committee’s rejection so they could then move to take positive action on the task force’s recommendations.  She also referred to a public meeting held on January 13th saying “I was really quite surprised by the consensus of the speakers in terms of regional transit”. The concerns over governance and control popped up again when Supervisor Elizabeth Coggs stated “my concern is the governance issue wasn’t brought up” and that “I think it needs to be strongly said that we do need representation”.  Supervisor Chris Larson attempted to quell these concerns saying that “we’re trying to issue our opinions on this” and added that “there’s a coalition building and I think Milwaukee County should be part of it”.  He felt Milwaukee County needed to step up as even “the business community is willing to step up”.  He was part of the task force that put forward the recommended response.  Supervisor Johnny Thomas added his support to the task force recommendations saying “if we don’t get outside of this room we’ll be talking about this for at least another 30 years”. The board took an extended lunch to work out an amendment to the task force recommendations to gain majority support from the board.  This amendment added specific governance recommendations, including additional appointees for Milwaukee County and diversity requirements, to the RTA’s configuration.  In the end the board rejected the committee’s action and voted positively in support of the task force’s recommendation with the additional amendment in place.

Walker Administration Defends Vote Against RTA

Walker Administration Defends Vote Against RTA

The Milwaukee County Board Task Force on the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Transit Authority Recommendations, chaired by Supervisor Patricia Jursik, met for the first time on Monday December 29th, 2008. Other members of the task force present at the meeting included Supervisor Chris Larson, Supervisor John Thomas (who arrived late), Thomas Kujawa (formerly of MCTS), and Lloyd Grant (attending on behalf of Ms. Anita Gulotta-Connelly). The goal of the task force is to present recommendations to the Transportation Committee, which will then be presented to the full Milwaukee County Board on February 5th, 2009.

Milwaukee County Committee Fails to Reconsider RTA Vote

Milwaukee County Committee Fails to Reconsider RTA Vote

The Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors held a special meeting of the Committee on Transportation, Public Works and Transit to further discuss the proposed RTA. Supervisors Larson and Jursik hoped to put forward a positive response to the proposed RTA in place of the committee's overtly negative response that came out of the last committee meeting.

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Related Press Releases

Proposal to Lift Taxicab Permit Caps Approved by Committee

Proposal to Lift Taxicab Permit Caps Approved by Committee

Free Market Competition in Taxi Industry On Its Way to GMIA

Supervisor Weishan Says Lifting Taxicab Cap is Good For Free Market

Supervisor Weishan Says Lifting Taxicab Cap is Good For Free Market

Says Lifting Current Cap on Licenses to Airport Good for Competition, Free Enterprise

Taxicab Permit Lottery Ordinance Will Hurt Small Businesses

Taxicab Permit Lottery Ordinance Will Hurt Small Businesses

"This is like Russian Roulette," said a taxicab driver.

Supervisor Weishan Says Transit Committee Took Correct Action on Taxis

Supervisor Weishan Says Transit Committee Took Correct Action on Taxis

Says Approval of 10 New Airport Taxi Permits Benefits Riders, Free Market

Supervisor John Weishan, Jr. Applauds Committee Consideration of Taxicab Service Changes at Gen. Mitchell International

Supervisor John Weishan, Jr. Applauds Committee Consideration of Taxicab Service Changes at Gen. Mitchell International

Resolution Calls for Recommendations from Airport Director on Taxicab, Uber and Lyft Services

Supervisor Michael Mayo, Sr. Questions Sale Price on O’Donnell Park Parking Structure

Supervisor Michael Mayo, Sr. Questions Sale Price on O’Donnell Park Parking Structure

He Says Proposal May Have to "Go Back to the Drawing Board"

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