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.

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)

How does Milwaukee currently fund it’s transit system?

If you are a member of the Milwaukee Transit Riders Union or are otherwise familiar with the transit system and it’s myriad issues, you know that it’s a complicated issue. The transit system is reliant on a mix of funding sources, including the Milwaukee County property tax.

The property tax is widely acknowledged to be an outdated funding mechanism for the transit system; one that has brought on grave financial problems for the bus system. Every year transit has to compete with the County Sheriff’s Department, the parks and courts over a revenue source that only grows very slowly. Milwaukee must get transit off of the property tax or face the potential demise of the transit system.

Last year, due to cuts in state aid deep cuts were slated for MCTS. The County applied for a grant to replace some existing routes with the new MetroEXpress service in order to free up money to preserve other service. While this move was hardly ideal, it still had a lesser impact than the original cuts would have.

That said, the grant is a temporary (two-year) reprieve. The time for us to begin action on a permanent solution is now and that engaging and energizing transit-dependant people and community-based organizations is the way to get the ball rolling. We have organized this strategy session in order to decide what our next steps will be. We have the following tentative discussion points:

• What kind of dedicated funding mechanisms are available as realistic options right now?
• What steps would we need to take to make dedicated funding for transit a reality?
• How to engage bus riders in the process?
• Coalition-building and community involvement

This strategy session will take place on June 20, 2012 at 5:00pm at the ATU Local 998 hall, 734 N. 26th St. This event is open to everyone who rides public transit, works with transit-dependant people, organizes around transit issues, or who is pro-transit and has some ideas they want to add to the debate.

Bus directions
The hall is accessible via MCTS Routes 10, 27 and 30. Get off of either of these routes, and follow the walking directions below. To find out complete directions, including what route you may need to take in order to connect with Routes 10, 27 or 30, use the Google Transit trip planner on the front page of www.RideMCTS.com.

View Walking directions from 27th/Wisconsin to ATU 998 Hall in a larger map