I’m very excited to announce a group dedicated to improving Milwaukee County that I’ve been spending a lot of time and energy working with over the past month.

The Quality of Life Alliance is a grassroots organization made up of elected officials, labor leaders, transit advocates, parks supporters, business men and women, and every day citizens who are deeply concerned about the future of Milwaukee County and all of Southeastern Wisconsin.

We’re going to be very clear and vocal in our efforts to refute the misinformation that County Exec. Scott Walker, his supporters on the County Board of Supervisors, and right wing radio hosts throughout Milwaukee have been spreading about the November 4th referendum for the last several months.

That said, here are some facts about the November 4th sales tax referendum:

• This is very real property tax relief. For every $150,000 of assessed home value, your property tax bill will go down by $170
• The $2.00 fare for a one way trip on a Milwaukee County bus is one of the highest in the nation. County Executive Scott Walker is now proposing to raise the fare for a one way bus ticket to $2.25 - a 12% increase!
• Milwaukee will not become a tax island. If this argument from opponents of the referendum were true, then why are cities like Chicago, Minneapolis, Seattle, Las Vegas and Phoenix all seeing massive growth? The “tax island” argument is nothing more than a scare tactic that has zero basis in economic reality.
• Milwaukee County is the only major metro are left in the Country that still relies on a property tax to fund it’s transit services.

Those are just a few of the facts that we’re going to be spending the next four weeks informing people about. You can find out more information and lend your support at the Quality of Life Alliance website.

Oddly enough, the #1 question I get about the Presidential campaign is where to get an Obama/Biden yard sign.

The national campaign apparently can’t keep up with demand and shipping dates are around four weeks.
If you’re interested in picking up an Obama/Biden yard sign, contact the local Democratic Party of Milwaukee County office below.

We just got a big shipment in but they’re running out fast.

You can pick them up at the DPMC office at 170 S. 2nd Street or call 414-223-3050 to reserve one.

When Milwaukee County raises it’s fares and cuts bus routes, it’s no surprise that despite the high price of gasoline and increasing ridership across the Country, Milwaukee County transit continues to lag behind the rest of the Country in terms of ridership.

Rochester New York is actually going the opposite route of Milwaukee: They’re cutting fares on buses which in turn is increasing ridership.

At a time when public transportation systems around the country are struggling with soaring fuel costs and pinched budgets, the bus system in Rochester has done something that few others would contemplate: This month, it lowered its single-ride fare.

The Rochester system, which expects to run a surplus for the third year in a row, has been able to reduce its one-ride fare in part by eliminating some low-trafficked routes, avoiding debt and aggressively raising revenues from other sources. The fare fell to $1 from $1.25 on Sept. 1. NY Times

I’ve been saying for years that the goal of County Executive Scott Walker and his buddies on right-wing talk radio is to kill off the Milwaukee County Transit System and mass transit in general in Southeastern Wisconsin. That’s why despite national trends bus fares were raised and routes were cut.

I have mixed feelings about what’s happening in place like Rochester. On one hand, it’s encouraging that a small city like Rochester is having success by providing good service at low rates to it’s riders. On the other, it’s disappointing my city continues to fall behind the rest of the Country due to a deliberate plan by some of our elected officials to destroy mass transit, and reluctance on the part of others to do anything to stop that plan.

Mass transit ridership across the Country saw a 5% increase in the second quarter of this year alone:

The nation’s public transportation systems logged a 5.2 percent jump in ridership in the second quarter, according to industry figures to be released Tuesday, as record-high gas prices pushed people to take millions more trips on buses and rail systems.

Riders made a total of 2.8 billion trips on the nation’s subways, buses, commuter railroads and light-rail systems from April to June, according to the Washington-based American Public Transportation Association. That’s up from 2.7 billion in the same period last year. - AP

Rob Henken makes a good observation that if and when federal funds for mass transit increase in the years to come, those regions with the best plans on how to use any additional federal dollars will likely be the ones who benefit.

That’s bad news for Southeastern Wisconsin since we haven’t even been able to put nearly $92 million in federal mass transit funds to use due to purely ideological stonewalling from the anti-transit conservatives in Wisconsin. It’ll be hard to justify any addition monies from the federal government if we can’t even figure out how to put to good use the $92 million we’ve already been allotted.

That means Milwaukee and all of Southeastern Wisconsin will only fall further behind the curve in years to come and why it’s critical that the stalemate is broken over how to use that money.

Imagine living in a place that realizes the benefits that mass transit provides to it’s community.

Instead of constant cuts in service and delaying new fleet purchases so your politicians can claim to “HOLD THE LINE!”, the number of routes were increased, service was improved and the transit fleet was upgraded.

Philadelphia is doing just that.

More frequent buses. Late-night trains. Better weekend service.

After decades of cuts, SEPTA will announce today a $10 million project aimed at easing overcrowding and improving daily service. The first of the 65 upgrades will begin Aug. 25, and all of the changes are to be made by Nov. 3.

With commuters reacting to higher gasoline prices and switching from cars to public transit, SEPTA’s ridership has increased by about 6 percent, or 38,000 trips a day, from a year ago. Rail ridership is up 12 percent, to its highest point in 25 years, and many rush-hour trains are packed with standing passengers.

- Philly.com

I’ve long been of the opinion that smart transit policy is a key part of a comprehensive urban policy, something the Washington Post takes note of in yesterday’s paper.

Cheap oil, which helped push the American Dream away from the city center, isn’t so cheap anymore. As more and more families reconsider their dreams, land-use experts are beginning to ask whether $4-a-gallon gas is enough to change the way Americans have thought for half a century about where they live. - Washington Post

Gas prices were simply a catalyst to further propel a renewed desire for urban living throughout America. Part of the push back into the near suburbs and urban centers has to do with the availability of good transit. Cities like Washington, St. Louis, Seattle, Cleveland, Minneapolis, etc.. all have that.

It’s a key component that’s missing from Milwaukee’s urban renewal plan however.

People are starting to think twice about the prospect of buying homes in places like Oconomowoc due to the high price of driving to and from work every day. Milwaukee would be able to close the deal with many more of them if we had the ability to offer the missing transit component in addition to all the other things that make Milwaukee and it’s near suburbs like Shorewood, Wauwatosa, and Bay View great places to live and raise families.

More news on the ever-increasing use of mass transit across the Country:

U.S. cities are racing to cope with ever-increasing demand on public transportation as gas prices remain at record levels. High gas prices in recent months have had a considerable impact on commuters using public transportation, statistics show.

Even regions that have traditionally resisted giving up cars and have limited access to mass transit are reporting a surge in public transportation use.

From trains and trolleys to subways and buses, the growth encompasses all modes of travel, according to the American Public Transportation Association, a Washington D.C.-based industry group. - CNN

While the nation’s top cities move forward on transit and respond to the needs of their citizens, here in Milwaukee County, the amount of work some of our political leaders are willing to commit to mass transit is limited to sending email letters to right wing radio talk show hosts.

It’s well past time for Milwaukee to move forward on this critical issue.

The Chicago Tribune had an interesting piece I missed last week about how the pressure for extending a commuter rail line from Kenosha to Milwaukee is building from employees and employers alike.

Time for Chicago-Milwaukee commuter line has come, employees, companies say

Chip Brewer, director of worldwide government relations for S.C. Johnson, has said the company cannot always draw top job candidates because Racine is not connected to Chicago or Milwaukee the way communities are in New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco or Boston. He said younger employees want mobility.

“When we recruit people, we would love them to want to live and work and raise families in Racine. And many employees and executives do that,” Brewer said. “Many times you have two wage earners, and for family reasons, or employment reasons, they choose to live elsewhere.” - Chicago Tribune

An excellent example of something I’ve been saying for years now: Younger educated professionals, like myself and my wife, take mass transit into account when considering where to move and raise their families.

In order to draw those people to Milwaukee and Southeastern Wisconsin, we need to be able to compete with cities like St. Louis, Seattle, Denver, and everywhere out East that are light years of ahead of us in terms of mass transit options.

Completing the Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee commuter rail line would be a step in the right direction, and not just from the perspective of those in Milwaukee.

I had the opportunity to visit St. Louis this past weekend for my brothers wedding reception, and just like in recent trips to cities across the Country like Seattle and San Diego, I was impressed with the level of mass transit options the region offered.

St. Louis’s Metrolink is another great example of a mass transit system that is seeing a huge increase in it’s ridership numbers. It’s ridership numbers from April (the most recent month for which there is data) are the highest in recent history.

It’s bus ridership in April was up 12% and it’s commuter rail line ridership was up 13% in April. Over 2.3 million boardings took place on the commuter rail system in April alone.

I think it’s a safe bet to assume that the increased ridership St. Louis saw on the Metrolink will only increase as gas prices continued to rise through May and June.

Amtrak usage between Milwaukee and Chicago is up over 24% over a year ago.

Amtrak says its passenger train service between Milwaukee and Chicago continues to set ridership records.

For the first five months of the year, the seven daily Hiawatha Service round trips carried more than 281,000 passengers. Amtrak says that’s a 24 percent increase over last year. Chicago Tribune

I can hear the counter argument already… “Maybe Milwaukee’s use of fixed rail is up, but Milwaukee’s situation is different than the one here in …. Milwaukee”.

Imagine if we had a commuter rail line between the two cities like the proposed KRM route between Milwaukee and Chicago?

Can anyone else see the problem in this story about the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Transit Authority choosing not to hire the same consultant I wrote about last week? The one who got paid $30,000 to make the common sense recommendation that increasing routes and lowering rates would actually help Milwaukee County transit?

Other transit authority members contended that Rubin’s status as a rail transit critic, backed by the Libertarian-oriented Reason Foundation and the conservative Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, would give the authority added credibility among Republicans in the Legislature.

Any idea why the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Transit Authority doesn’t hire a “LIBERAL” highway critic who has ties to progressive transit think tanks to provide recommendations for its highway policies?

The real question is why the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Transit Authority pandering to “conservatives” at all with regard to shaping their policy towards mass transit in Wisconsin? Transit policy in this part of the state has been mired in partisan politics for the better part of two decades now, the last thing we need is a continuation of that policy that has yielded exactly nothing for the residents of Southeastern Wisconsin.