I’m giving up on the Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee commuter rail line. It’s dead, certainly for the next four years.
Of course, my heart still harbors a modicum of hope that political leaders will come to their senses and see that southeastern Wisconsin deserves a transportation system competitive with other major urban areas, one that includes a real commitment to rail and other forms of mass transit as a complement to the almighty car.
I still want to believe that political leaders will see this as an economic development issue, that they’ll realize what Bucyrus CEO Tim Sullivan and numerous other business leaders have said consistently: that the KRM is first and foremost about jobs, about keeping and attracting employers who need to get people to and from work.
I still want to believe that people will see that the KRM is not the Milwaukee-to-Madison high-speed rail line … despite election-year attempts by politicians and right-wing talkers to unfairly vilify and denigrate all rail and all rail supporters, even though not all rail projects are the same, nor of the same value and need.
I still want to believe that people will see just what kind of impact the commuter rail line can have on downtowns like South Milwaukee, which would stand to reap significant development benefits from a KRM station.
I still want to believe that the 20 years of detailed discussion and study of the KRM line — almost all pointing to the viability of the commuter line over the long term — means something and wasn’t wasted.
I still want to believe, against my better judgment, that politicians will realize that we need a viable and permanent regional transit authority to make this all happen, taking buses and other transit options off the property tax rolls and delivering the proper funding source for transit systems that nearly all major population centers across the country already employ.
I still want to believe all of this. But I really don’t. Not anymore.
Not with a Republican governor and Republican legislature bent on spending every last transportation dollar on roads. Not when even Democratic politicians like U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore speak out against the KRM. Not with little other vocal local support for commuter rail.
No, I’m a realist, and KRM is dead. Rest in peace. I hope those who killed it are proud.
South Milwaukee Blog 