More updates on both the Milwaukee County budget, Inter-City Rail and the City of Waukesha transit issues.
This morning County Executive Scott Walker announced $7.4million in vetoes to the budget adopted by the County Board: http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/107492918.html
These vetoes will then be considered by the County Board on November 17th. The key transit provisions that were in the County Board’s budget remained: http://ridemcts.com/About-MCTS/News/Update-on-2011-Milwaukee-County-Budget—11/9/10/ .
You can also visit our page on the County Budget, which has been updated for more information: http://bit.ly/bM1GR1
Also, we’ve received word that the City of Waukesha Common Council will be meeting next week to discuss the Budget Recommendations made by Mayor Scrima: http://www.jsonline.com/news/waukesha/107318088.html
One of the key discussion points will be cuts to their transit system, on which many Waukesha residents rely (see LaunchMilwaukee’s recent blog post on what this means: http://launchmilwaukee.wordpress.com/2010/11/12/882/).
They are hoping to get transit advocates there to turn out – join them Tuesday, November 16 at 7:00PM at City Hall in the Council Chambers, 201 Delafield Street, Waukesha, WI 53188.
Listed below are more articles and links to information on the Inter-City/High Speed Rail project. There are many ways for people to get involved, including a rally in Milwaukee at the Talgo plant THIS Monday and a Statewide day of Action on Saturday, November 20th so be sure to scroll down!
Moving Forward Together
Coalition for Advancing Transit
Articles & Information:
- Information by WI DOT on the project: http://dot.wisconsin.gov/projects/rail.htm
- U.S. Public Interest Research Group Report “A Track Record of Success”
- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 11/12/10: “Train on hold until Walker Inauguration” and “Walker in no hurry to push for redirection of high-speed rail money”
- The Milwaukee Common Council sent a letter of support for the project to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood
- BizBlog on 11/12 addressing “Myths About High Speed Rail”
- BizBlog by Steve Glynn on 11/11/10 “Rejecting High Speed Rail Will Isolate Wisconsin”
- Editorial in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on 11/11/10 by William Lind “Conservatives Should Like Rail”
- Tomah Journal Editorial 11/11/10 “Wisconsin open for business…except for mass transit”
- LaCrosse Tribune 11/10/10 “Our View – Walker Must Trust Rail”
- From the Huffington Post: “In the Public Interest: Fast Trains Don’t Belong To Either Party”
Events and Opportunities to Get Involved:
Rally to Save Talgo Jobs – Monday November 15th at Noon at 30th and Townsend Street at the sight of Talgo rail car manufacturer. Citizen Action of Wisconsin’s Good Jobs and Livable Neighborhoods Coalition, the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO, and Voces de la Frontera will hold a press conference with community leaders urging Scott Walker to change his plan to kill high speed rail costing Wisconsin up to 15,000 family supporting jobs and up to $100 million in desperately needed state revenue. For more information: https://www.box.net/shared/2fax4h3i8j or http://citizenactionwi.org/
Petitions to Support the Rail Project: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/continue-wi-high-speed-rail-plan/
The Sierra Club is sponsoring a State-wide day of action on Saturday, November 20th, from 9am-12pm. If you wish to host an event, contact Elizabeth Ward at Elizabeth.Ward@sierraclub.org or call (608)256-0565. http://wisconsin.sierraclub.org/index.asp
Pro-Rail Guide to Action: http://www.docdroid.net/3zf/savethetraincontactsv3.pdf.html
1,000 Friends of Wisconsin: http://www.1kfriends.org/news/
Write a Letter to the Editor and other Media opportunities – this project needs a strong show of support now more than ever! Visit the CAT Google Group page on Media Outreach for assistance on how to submit a Letter to the Editor and get engaged online: http://bit.ly/aQWl1p
Facebook Group: “Keep High Speed Rail In Wisconsin” http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/home.php?sk=group_105273722874751
Please note, it’s a very active group and members are posting articles and updates regularly. Once you join, go to the Group page and click on “Edit Settings” in the top right corner to adjust anything you’d like. Also, in the window that opens for Edit Settings, you can click on “change notification settings”
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