Press Release
City Unveils New Plan to Build on $2.6 Billion in Downtown Investment by Moving the Streetcar Project Forward, Adding Lakefront Line
Plan Covers Lakefront Line, Utility Costs Without Property Tax Dollars; Operations Slated to Begin by 2018
Plan Covers Lakefront Line, Utility Costs Without Property Tax Dollars; Operations Slated to Begin by 2018 Back to the full release.
Photos - Page 2
NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.
Recent Press Releases by Mayor Tom Barrett
Maybe you should concentrate on more waste water treatment plants. MMSD needs to stop dumping excessive over flow into the lake.
@Bob MMSD Has massively reduced overflows. And there are continuous projects to further reduce run off, and in turn over flows.
How will this affect bus routes? I imagine we’ll reallocate busses to the west and south to improve transportation needs there. Or will you sell those resources in an effort to cut down on public fuel spending?
“…the new plan adds a lakefront line…” Any details on where this new portion would be?
Dan, I think it’s going to be where the Couture development is plannned.
First, I think the streetcar could work and I’m happy to see it built. However, adding this additional line to the plan now is a terrible idea from a transportation standpoint as nobody lives there and few people will theoretically live there when and if this building is built. Have transporation studies been done on this new line to see if it’s worth the additional cost? I think it points to too friendly of a relationship between Tom Barrett and Rick Barrett and is bad for the City.
Bryan, the County runs MCTS. The County has repeatedly passed on running the streetcar, which is the City’s baby. If the City starts running the streetcar (poaching some of the best ridership areas in the City), MCTS can choose to alter their bus routes, but it won’t be a well-thought-out agreement between the two entities. Also, because of the way that the State and Federal government allocate federal transit operating funding, it will mean that both the City and the County will now be competing for the same slice of the pie, so they’ll both get a lower percentage of their operating costs covered.
Read Jarret Walker for more in-depth thinking about streetcars and transit: http://www.humantransit.org/2009/07/streetcars-an-inconvenient-truth.html
It’s totally stupid for the City to have pushed forward with this in my opinion. But that’s Milwaukee for you: backward-thinking, even when it’s trying to be forward-thinking.
The only problem I see with the streetcar plan is that I will turn 80 (I hope) the year it is finished. I just hope I will still be around to Ride the Streetcar.
Not only is this useless, it’s ugly. I’m so sick of ugly modern architecture decimating our city. It’s plain, utilitarian, and when it’s dirty and a decade old, it will just be another eyesore. Why don’t we focus on designing things that compliment our once beautiful city? …and I don’t mean faux-old, either, like the Wells-Fargo building or the Midwest Express Center, or whatever it’s called now, or that ugly red trolly we’ve had driving around ‘East-Towne’ (equally lame name).
Don’t we have any great architects like Koch anymore? …or can’t anyone at least copy their ideas?
…and, like others are saying, what are we going to use it for?
Those pictures aren’t realistic at all. I mean, where are all the potholes? No picture of a Milwaukee street is complete without a street finished several weeks earlier with ridges and holes covering the entire thing. It’s charming, I assure you. For a fresh sample, check out the area where Prospect Ave turns into Wisconsin Ave.
JUST SAY NO!!! I don’t believe for one second residents have demanded this. Anyone in their right mind would NOT agree to this. Our schools, buses, and streets need fixing first. And we need more POLICE officers.