County Board Knew About the Looming Transit Shortfall
In fact, the entire County Board knew about the reports.
MILWAUKEE— County Supervisor Deanna Alexander read reports months ago detailing the potential financial shortfall the Milwaukee County Transit System would face if the GO Pass free bus fare program was implemented.
In fact, the entire County Board knew about the reports.
GO Pass architect and then-Chairwoman Marina Dimitrijevic promoted the program as a win for everyone by claiming costs would only amount to $160,000, despite receiving a departmental report prepared by financial experts showing that costs could be more than 1,000% higher.
Supervisor Alexander first blew the whistle, alerting the public that the alarming report was deleted from the legislative system and largely ignored by decision makers.
Testimonies, letters, and commentary from senior groups and others that would be eligible for the free bus passes showed that they were far more interested in safer, upgraded service than simply free service—and these concerns also went largely ignored.
Nearly half of the County Board (Dimitrijevic, Broderick, Haas, Johnson, Jursik, Rainey, Romo West, Weishan) also blocked the County Comptroller’s follow-up report warning of the financial discrepancies from becoming part of official legislative records.
“I take into account all information provided to me to make good decisions. It’s a real shame that here, we have policymakers who didn’t miss the information, or simply disagree with it, but rather went out of their way to hide it,” said Supervisor Alexander.
“Now as our transit system should moving toward better stability going into the 2016 budget, we instead have to deal with a mess that was the very creation of willfully ignorant and fiscally complacent policymakers.
“When people ask for better service, you don’t slash the price and hold a fire sale. There are better ways to serve the public than just speedily giving everything away for free.”
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.
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Deanna is a kook, but this proves again that Marina needs to get heaved out of office in favor of a real progressive.
The entire board needs to be heaved out of office and forced to give up their benefits and barred from public office in the county of Milwaukee ever again.