BusStop. Report from Michael Cudahy upon meeting with Barrett and Walker.

At the October 14 meeting of the UEDA Coalition for Advancing Transit Meeting, Michael Cudahy, philanthropist and lover of Milwaukee, presented his Streetcar Backbone proposal to rejuvenate Milwaukee public transportation. He described the meeting he had with the two leaders of Milwaukee: Mayor Tom Barrett and County Executive Scott Walker. Mr. Cudahy summarized this meeting in a memo, which BusStop proudly reprints.  It was Mr. Cudahy's explicit wish that we feel free to circulate this wherever we wished.

To: Scott Walker, Tom Barrett,
Copies to: Tim Sheehy, Julia Taylor, Mark Kaminski
From: Michael J. Cudahy
Subject: Public Transportation
Date; August 8th, 2008

Recently, I asked Mayor Tom Barrett and County Executive Scott Walker to meet with me and see if I could "broker a deal" relative to the long standing dispute they've had about public transportation in this community.Yesterday, on August 7th, 2008, these gentlemen and I meet privately and, perhaps, made some progress in this regard.

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 - 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.