Important: Public hearings on the high-speed rail plans

[dragonlady]

From One Wisconsin Now:


The Wisconsin Department of Transportation is holding a series of public hearings around the state in the next week, and these hearings could make or break the future of high speed rail in Wisconsin.

This is our chance to stand together and send a message loud and clear to our public leaders that Wisconsin supports high speed rail.

The meetings will run from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. and will take place in the following cities over the next week:

Tuesday, Nov. 30 in La Crosse at the Best Western Riverfront Hotel, 1835 Rose St.

Wednesday, Dec. 1 in Eau Claire at the Best Western Trail Lodge Hotel, 3340 Mondovi Road

Thursday, Dec. 2 in Fond du Lac at UW-Fond du Lac

Tuesday, Dec. 7 in Madison at the WisDOT Southwest Region Office, 2101 Wright Street

We want the 13,000 jobs and the billions in economic development this project will create to stay in Wisconsin, and state officials have said these hearings are going to have a big impact in deciding the future of the project.

I hope you can make it to one of the hearings, and bring a friend with you! The more supporters of high speed rail we can turn out, the harder it will be to ignore our voices.

If you can't attend one of the hearings, you can still make your voice heard by signing our 'Save the Train' letter to Governor-elect Scott Walker at
https://secure3.convio.net/pn/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=576.

[EC]

1. Kick

I'm not close enough to any of the meets so will give you a kick, to keep this exposed to anyone that can make the meeting...:kick:

[postulater]

2. Your link took me to Technical Difficulties.

[postulater]

3. I haven't been following the debate.

Can you point me to additional information that documents the benefits of the proposed system for the average Wisconsin person who works within twenty minutes of their work or who works at home?

[warpigs]

4. Benefits

This lists some. It obviously won't be used by people for commuting on a day-to-day basis within 20 miles. I ride the Milwaukee-Chicago train occasionally (for work and pleasure) and it is always crowded and very pleasant. I can work, read or sleep on the train - can't do that on I-94.


http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/projects/d1/hsrail/need.htm

[midnight]

5. Good point....

[midnight]

6. Any updates about the meetings that have already taken place?

[undeterred]

7. 650 people attend session on rail line between Milwaukee, Twin Cities

December 8, 2010 7:50 am

A boisterous crowd of more than 650 couldn't get all the answers it wanted Tuesday night about the impending collision between boosters of a Milwaukee-to-Madison rail line and an incoming governor who plans to stop it. But that didn't keep people from peppering planners of a Milwaukee-to-Minneapolis passenger rail service with questions for about 90 minutes during a Wisconsin Department of Transportation information meeting at the Crowne Plaza Hotel on East Washington Avenue in Madison.

Many of the queries were loaded, lobbed by critics of Gov.-elect Scott Walker's vow to block a passenger train line through the capital. "I cannot speak for the governor-elect," Wisconsin passenger rail planning manager Donna Brown replied at one point. "If we have to put (plans) on the shelf, that's something we can do, but then the plan is there if it's needed later."

A Madison route is one of 25 being evaluated based on cost, ridership and dozens of other factors. A Federal Railroad Administration time line calls for narrowing the options to a single proposal sometime in 2012, said Charlie Quandel, a consultant hired by the Minnesota transportation department. Some routes would take the high-speed line along the existing Amtrak route north of Madison, or along the state's east side, or through Iowa, Quandel said. Planning is part of a nine-state initiative that started in the mid-1990s and that involves routes across the Midwest. Applause, cheering and handmade signs indicated that most of the audience came out to fight for a Madison link, but several opponents spoke up as well, sometimes sparking angry exchanges.

Madison tea party activist Kirsten Lombard asked who would pay for passenger trains service and whether the cost would be added to the bill for road construction and repair. When Brown said train planning money didn't come from highway funds, Lombard shot back that it all comes from taxpayers. As she strode from the microphone back to her seat, someone in the audience yelled "I'd rather pay for the train than the road!" Meredith Oehlkers of Monona, who said she regularly visits family and friends in the Twin Cities and Chicago, drew laughter and applause when she raised the issue of highway safety as the population grows older: "My question to this audience is: I'm 72 years old — how much longer do you want me on the road?"

Walker's spokesman Cullen Werwie said in an e-mail response to questions from the State Journal on Tuesday that Walker would be open to spending the $810 million allocated for the Milwaukee-to-Madison route to upgrade current passenger routes that bypass the capital, but that would require federal approval. Werwie declined to elaborate.

http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_349ae2de-0281-11e0-9b68-001cc4c03286.html

[undeterred]

8. A Statement from my State Senator, Mark Miller

Sen. Miller: Statement on high speed rail
12/9/2010

Contact: Mark Miller 608-266-9170

Walker Plan Creating Jobs … In Illinois, New York and California

Statement of Senator Mark Miller on Over $800 Million in Federal Transportation Aid for Wisconsin Being Redistributed to Illinois, New York and California:

“Today is a sad day in Wisconsin, especially for the thousands of workers that were counting on the well-paid jobs associated with the construction of the high-speed rail.

“I am terribly disappointed that the results of Governor-elect Walker’s policies are transportation infrastructures of other states being improved and thousands of jobs being created in other states like Illinois, New York and California.”

http://www.wispolitics.com/index.iml?Article=220284

[undeterred]

9. Gov. Doyle: Statement on high speed rail

Gov. Doyle: Statement on high speed rail
12/9/2010

Contact: Laura Smith, Office of the Governor, 608-261-2162

MADISON – Governor Jim Doyle today issued the following statement:

“Secretary LaHood today advised me that because of Governor-elect Walker’s adamant opposition to the rail project, the $810 million awarded to Wisconsin will now be allocated to other states.

“This is a tragic moment for the State of Wisconsin. Our team worked hard to win a national competition to make us a leader in high speed passenger rail. We were positioned to be not only a center of the line, but to be a manufacturing center as well. Now we are moving from being the leader, to the back of the line.

“Eight hundred and ten million dollars that would have gone to create thousands of jobs in Wisconsin will now create jobs in other states. Bogus arguments that this money can be used for roads have been proven false. As Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota continue to work on the Midwest Regional Rail Initiative, the connection of Chicago to Minneapolis will avoid Wisconsin. Milwaukee, Madison, La Crosse, Eau Claire and other Wisconsin communities will lose the benefit of those connections. Together with many others I have worked hard to move Wisconsin into the future. I obviously am deeply saddened to see us take a major step backward.”

http://www.wispolitics.com/index.iml?Article=220243

I am sorry too.