June 26, 2012 – 5:00pm-7:30pm
Tommy Thompson Youth Center, State Fair Park [Entrance G5]
(map of State Fair Park) (Bus Route: 67 HOWARD via S. 84th ONLY)
Every major metro area in the nation has a Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) that conducts planning regarding transit, highways, land use. These MPOs issue plans that are key to bus riders. They cover where bus service should go, how much bus service there should be in a given area and what kind of bus service is needed (local/regular or express, etc.). Basically, they decide where we as bus riders can go and how easy or hard it is for us to get there.
Unfortunately for us, the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission (SEWRPC), the Milwaukee area’s MPO, pays a lot more attention to highway expansion than it does to transit. Located in a remote office park on the edge of Pewaukee far from Milwaukee bus riders, SEWRPC is not accessible and accountable to people it is obligated to represent. In fact, if a bus rider wanted to visit the offices of SEWRPC to get information or sign up for mailings he/she would be unable to do so. The nearest bus stop is over a mile away. A long, unsafe and impractical journey lies between the bus stop and SEWRPC’s office – one along a 4 to 5-lane highway with no sidewalk through intersections with no pedestrian or bicycle safety provisions, including a large freeway interchange.
SEWRPC’s disregard for Milwaukee bus riders is not limited to it’s inaccessibility to us, the commission has an established track record of favoring expressway expansion over transit and environmental justice, even ignoring the recommendations of it’s own Environmental Justice Task Force.
SEWRPC has a fundamental structural problem: disproportionate representation.
| County | Population (2010 Census) |
Seats on SEWRPC |
| Milwaukee | 947,735 | 3 |
| Waukesha | 389,891 | 3 |
| Ozaukee | 86,395 | 3 |
| Washington | 131,887 | 3 |
| Racine | 195,408 | 3 |
| Kenosha | 166,426 | 3 |
| Walworth | 102,228 | 3 |
Despite the fact that other counties in the area have much smaller populations, they have the same number of representatives on SEWRPC. For instance, Waukesha County has less than half of the population of Milwaukee County but has the same number of representatives on SEWRPC. In fact, Milwaukee County representatives only make up 14% of the commission; no wonder transit ranks as such a low priority with SEWRPC.
We have a chance to hold SEWRPC accountable. On Tuesday June 26 the Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Administration will be holding a hearing to determine SEWRPC’s status as our certified local MPO.
Let’s make our voices heard. Tell the Feds that we need more transit, and access to jobs. We need SEWRPC to do a better job.
June 26, 2012 – 5:00pm-7:30pm
Tommy Thompson Youth Center, State Fair Park [Entrance G5]
(map of State Fair Park) (Bus Route: 67 HOWARD via S. 84th ONLY)