Great to see so see all the job-producing development ticketed for downtown Milwaukee - - nearly two dozen projects, I understand - - and like the new Bucks arena, and The Couture complex - this proposed multi-purpose convention center adjunct is tied to the streetcar system which is under construction.
That city rail program survived opposition by Scott Walker, rightwing talk radio, and anti-Milwaukee politicking by Republicans across the board - - from ex-legislator-turned-lobbyist Scott Jensen to former Waukesha County Executive Dan Finley to ex-Gov. Tommy Thompson who flushed away a big part of his moderate legacy by turning his back first on Milwaukee urban rail and, later, on a fully-paid federal Amtrak extension to Madison from Milwaukee so he could line up a lackluster and losing US Senate campaign in 2012 with Walker's hostility to rail
Fair to say that these Republicans, having killed light rail for purely ideological and electioneering reasons, and who also played the same 'stick-it-to-Milwaukee' game by delaying the streetcar for years cost Milwaukee and Wisconsin thousands of jobs and countess millions of dollars in rail-related development.
None the less, the streetcar launch is not that far away and city residents, merchants, tourists and developers will be winners.
That city rail program survived opposition by Scott Walker, rightwing talk radio, and anti-Milwaukee politicking by Republicans across the board - - from ex-legislator-turned-lobbyist Scott Jensen to former Waukesha County Executive Dan Finley to ex-Gov. Tommy Thompson who flushed away a big part of his moderate legacy by turning his back first on Milwaukee urban rail and, later, on a fully-paid federal Amtrak extension to Madison from Milwaukee so he could line up a lackluster and losing US Senate campaign in 2012 with Walker's hostility to rail
Fair to say that these Republicans, having killed light rail for purely ideological and electioneering reasons, and who also played the same 'stick-it-to-Milwaukee' game by delaying the streetcar for years cost Milwaukee and Wisconsin thousands of jobs and countess millions of dollars in rail-related development.
None the less, the streetcar launch is not that far away and city residents, merchants, tourists and developers will be winners.
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| Twin Cities street car, above. Milwaukee's will use next generation, sleeker equipment. |