Issue of the Week:Saving Mass Transit
Plus Hero and Jerk of the Week
Event of the Week
Repairers of the Breach Fund-Raiser
Help the homeless by having a great time at the April 12 fund-raiser for Repairers of the Breach, an exceptionally well-run nonprofit that is one of the city’s best support systems for this vulnerable population. The event will be held at the Harley-Davidson Museum’s second-floor Rumble Room, where from 6 to 8 p.m. there will be free food, two complimentary glasses of wine or beer, music, videos and a free ticket to the museum. Tickets cost $125. For more information and tickets, call 291-6161.
Hero of the Week
Christian Kerhin
When Christian Kerhin, an I.T. professional at Stamm Business Technologies, saw the desperate need for a computer systems upgrade at Gilda’s Club of Southeastern Wisconsin, he took direct action to make it happen.
Gilda’s Club (4050 N. Oakland Ave.) offers a free environment where people with cancer and their families and friends can gather for social and emotional support. A longtime friend of Gilda’s Club, Kerhin took it upon himself to organize an independent fund-raising event at the Lakefront Brewery Palm Garden on March 25.
Thanks to his efforts, this crucial community resource for individuals and families coping with cancer diagnoses will be better equipped to serve those in need of support.
Readers who wish to volunteer their time at Gilda’s Club are urged to visit www.gildasclubsewi.org for more information.
Jerk of the Week
State Sen. Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin)
Seems that conservative Republicans love the Constitution so much they can’t stop changing it. Not content with the recent homophobic amendment to the state Constitution, now Republican state Sen. Mary Lazich wants to add paranoia to it. Lazich is calling on legislative leaders to hold a hearing on her proposed amendment, which would prohibit the health insurance mandate in the recent federal reform package from taking effect in the state. Lazich is just playing on paranoid fantasies with this stunt. First, the health insurance mandate is a Republican idea, one that even had the support of Wisconsin’s own Tommy Thompson. Second, the “mandate” is so weak it’s laughable, despite what right-wing entertainers will have you believe about IRS storm troopers. Lazich should cater to the extremists in her party on her own time—not the Legislature’s.
The importance of legislation creating the Southeastern Regional Transit Authority cannot be overstated.
As you correctly point out, “thanks to County Executive Scott Walker’s anti-public-investment ‘starve the beast’ philosophy,” the Milwaukee County Transit System is facing a permanent one-third reduction in transit service unless additional funding is secured through state enactment of a local dedicated funding source.
The situation facing the transit system requires immediate action. The legislature must pass legislation creating a local dedicated funding stream for transit before it is too late. Milwaukee County residents who depend on the bus to get to work need leadership from our legislators, not election year posturing.
Milwaukee County voters already have endorsed a dedicated sales tax for transit as a means of delivering property tax relief to residents. Business and labor are on board with implementing a regional transit solution.
However, those who know how the legislative process works also know that this legislation will not pass, in an election year, without bipartisan support. If business leaders who support this bill do not convince legislators from both parties to support it, the legislation will fail.
This legislation is an opportunity to stabilize urban transit systems in the region, reduce property taxes, create jobs, and ease traffic congestion. It deserves a vote in the Senate and Assembly. And it deserves bipartisan support.
Joe Czarnezki
Milwaukee County Clerk
Mr. Czarnezki- anyone with at least one eye can see that many, many buses are chugging along nearly empty for most of every day. Walker has repeatedly proposed options for upgrading the county bus system. It is Barrett that has proposed and supported such foolishness as the trolley that serves a tiny loop downtown, and a train to the Madison airport. And really, a sales tax? The most regressive tax there is? So the poor can take the bus to work, then spend the money they earn on the extra sales tax on the goods and services they purchase? By the way Joe, do you or the Shepherd have any concrete information on exactly how Walker is proposing to destroy the bus system? Or do you just have a cute slogan?
I see more people feeling the need to ride the MCTS to work, shopping, and etc. I think that something is being done on the state level and that hopefully will change things.
I have to agree with David - how much good are we doing having these smoke belching behemouths clogging up our streets with 1 or two passengers on them?
Let's take a look at the most used routes and put our money there. Instead of just shoveling money at an issue, as we have done in the past, let's take a close look at utilization and return on the money we are spending.
I think that the RTA is a great thing and would benefit the MCTS greatly on a local level. Hopefully, this will help MCTS and other mass transit systems all over Wisconsin.