KenoshaStreetcars reports the following rise in street car users.

Kenosha Transit boarded 8,000 weekday riders average, an increase of 25.59% on the quarter and 11.15% on the Year To Date.

The streetcars were up 26.86% on the quarter and 16.13% on the Year To Date.

 http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/KenoshaStreetcars/

submitted by Bill Sell

Governor James Doyle to announce the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Natural Resources agreement to clean the Kinnickinnic River. Today. 2000 S. 4th St, Milwaukee.

I need to grouse this morning. I have a complaint about the Democratic party (surprise, everyone). They do not like politics as usual.

If the purpose of today's event (August 20, 2008) were to get people, voters, environmental friends to the event, they could have done the usual and boring thing: invite them.

Getting It

Now, I'm not saying I'm a heavy contributor to river politics, but I've put my personhood into some public forums recently, and I am on a committee in Bay View that has the word "Environmental" [and Transportation] in it. I am easier to find than a bus. And I am beside the point. Just whom did the Party think would show up for this event? Press and political consultants? Why not voters?

This week I turn my blog over to a visitor.  There are a couple of conservatives who know how to conserve. Paul gets it right here.

Free Congress Foundation Commentary

Political Cards, Joker and Otherwise

By Paul M. Weyrich

August 7, 2008

This past week we have heard non-stop about the race card. This is one of the most long-running uses of it in the political process. I first heard the term used when President Lyndon B. Johnson tried to force a reluctant Congress to pass a Great Society-type program in 1964 by invoking the memory of his predecessor, President John F. Kennedy. "He is using the JFK card," we were told. Then there was President Richard M. Nixon's China card. And when President Ronald W. Reagan walked away from an arms deal with Mikhail Gorbachev, pundits said Reagan was playing the Star Wars card. And so on.

I began to think of what card I could play if I were running for or had been elected President. I am not into cards myself so this is a difficult assignment. If I were running against Congress I would invoke the joker card.

Walker Seeking Funds for Rapid Bus Lines

This report <http://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/stories/2008/07/28/story1.html?page=1> is a major victory for transit in Milwaukee County.

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Green light on transit? Walker to seek funds for rapid bus lines 

The Business Journal of Milwaukee - by David Doege

"Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker plans to seek $50 million in federal funds for two bus rapid transit lines that could help break the long-running stalemate over upgrades to the Milwaukee area's transit system....

"The funds would be in addition to the $91.5 million in federal funds allocated to the Milwaukee area in the early 1990s that has gone unspent....

"A bus rapid transit line would use new buses that would operate in a dedicated lane at higher speeds with fewer stops than traditional urban bus systems...."

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BusStop. Bay View Neighborhood Association Loves Our Bus

Four Mondays in August Bay View neighbors will do the unthinkable. They will gather for coffee and caffeinate their minds with the intention of riding the bus downtown. Surely there are rules against this: Car owners boarding buses? Leaving the car at home? "Un-American" is what jock radio will say about Bay View.

Last August when Bay View riders rode -  four Mondays at 7 a.m. - it stirred the County Board into an hour of consternation.

Now, the County Sheriff has been alerted for rowdy commuters; Milwaukee police squads will cruise bus stops for signs of unruly passengers, wearing - you know - that gangland side-ways baseball cap.

Bay View nervously awaits these Mondays mornings and the rowdy street parties. Revelers are said to be ready to welcome the coming of Route 15 from the Deep South Suburbs.

BusStop - No You Can't

As promised, Scott Walker has vetoed a Milwaukee County Board referendum. The referendum's goal is worthy: property tax relief from parks and transit expenses. Visitors share the costs with a modest sales tax increase. The natives pocket the difference.

To explain why citizens are forbidden a vote in Milwaukee County on their property taxes -- one of the most annoying and unfair taxes ever invented to siphon our wallets -- he ought to step to a microphone and address the citizens with three simple honest words:

"No You Can't."

Laughter would be healthy. History -- which is now moving in the Yes direction - makes this man funny.

There is a way to make a city work for everyone. Walker's politics of "no" are moving against history. Look at him.

Proof of his History Deprived Mind? Well, his veto claim that "There already was a referendum on this issue...."  Lena Taylor actually refused to support a new sales tax.

BusStop. Watch Your Language

The good news is that the Milwaukee County Board might be able to override Scott Walker's veto. At stake is a referendum to take parks, emergency services and transit off of the property tax. The bad news is that we may be talking ourselves into a defeat at the polls.

I plead with all bus and park loving citizens: Stop and think what you are saying. Watch your language.

• We know that reducing Property Tax is a winner.
• We know that talking Sales Tax is unpopular.
• So, why don't we talk about Property Tax Relief?
• Talk about how this referendum will deliver Relief.
• That visitors to Milwaukee County will now help us fund our buses and parks.
• That the County will reduce your property tax while funding parks, emergency services and transit.
• That our bus system will have a chance to pull out of its death spiral.

This referendum will inspire oceans of vigorous conversation throughout the County. It is not merely a sales tax hike; it is more. It is a chance for County residents to grab a some relief in one smart vote.

BusStop. Bike Ride with County Supervisor Pat Jursik

Saturday, June 28. Today I turned my attention from our bus to our bicycles. Milwaukee County Supervisor Pat Jursik led a south side ride from Sheridan to Will-O-Way park along the Lake Michigan bluffs.

Bicycles and buses are two peas in the pod of alternatives to the automobile.

• Both save fossil fuel and help reduce gasoline prices.
• Bicycles are independent – so American!
• Buses are inter-dependent (we all need them).
• Bicycles and buses, both, reduce congestion for all drivers.

TheLaunchMoment

Sheridan Park. The team gathers with Supervisor Jursik before the ride.
Shea

From the UEDA Summit

At the Urban Economic Development Association's 7th Annual Community Development Summit, a citizen asked: Should we consider changes in SEWRPC and RTA governance?

A panelist, sounding a bit like talk radio hosts lecturing that politically incorrect caller they so love to skewer, used the moment to respond to a question no one asked.

The other panel members sat in stoned (stunned?) silence after the Panelist's unfortunate personal attack on the citizen.

What a sight.

Well and good that "Cooperation" was the word of the day.

And Cooperation should at least mean taking a question at face value, or taking a clumsy citizen question (like they do on Wisconsin Public Radio) and making it a question that any panel member can understand. That is grace; that is cooperation.

So, what did this benighted citizen ask of the esteemed panel?

Mr. Citizen asked about governance – pointing out how our two transit-planning bodies do not have elected representation, he asked if they might.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, June 8, 2008

Civic, business leaders disagree over proposed restaurant for Amtrak station

Installing a restaurant at Milwaukee's new Intermodal Station does not need an argument about donuts. It needs people. The solution to this small town brouhaha is waiting for a question a bus rider would ask.

The question is: Why does only one minor bus route (#57) stop in front of Milwaukee's major transportation terminal?

About 10 nearby County bus routes bypass the new Milwaukee Intermodal Station. Only one of those routes stops in front.

Slight deviations in some of the other 9 routes will make Intermodal Station a practical destination, supporting dense development in the immediate area, and making arrival in Milwaukee by train a pleasure.

Where there are people there is a restaurant market.