Talking points - voting "yes" to establish a regional transit authority. Al Matano Dane County Board, District 11 Chair, Madison Area Transportation Planning Board, an MPO [email protected] 238-3045
∙ A vision for our county as a community. This will be a huge step forward for Dane County. We may be fairly low density now, but is this the plan? Will we have this population/land use pattern forever? It comes down to our community/growth management goals ... the east-west corridor has constrained highway capacity (no freeway), geographic constraints (lakes), good density for a City our size, limited/expensive parking and bus ridership that rivals cities like Indianapolis ... and, importantly, we plan to grow in this corridor. If the community chooses to not grow in this corridor, and sprawl out to Jefferson County with large surface parking lots for everyone, then our leaders can choose to do that (and then transit would seem to be a misplaced investment). There are lots of examples of this pattern of growth around the U.S. We need look no further than just to our east in Waukesha County. Instead, we choose a vision where downtowns are dense, walkable and interesting. Sun Prairie has embraced this vision with its Cannery Square development. Fitchburg has embraced this vision with its efforts to create a downtown where there was not one previously. Middleton has put great efforts into redeveloping its downtown to provide housing, shopping, and other amenities for its residents. ∙ Extensive analysis went into reaching this decision point. The Transport 2020 commission was established in (first met in) September 1999 and has conducted alternatives analyses of possible transit improvements. - Transport 2020 considered and rejected electric, street-running rail, also known as light rail. The cost was considered to be too prohibitive. A rail line from East Towne Mall to West Towne Mall was costed out at some $600 million, double the cost of commuter rail on existing tracks. - During this time period, some $57 million of dollars were spent reconstructing East Washington Avenue, the major east-west thoroughfare east of the Capitol. - The Department of Transportation's proposals for a 2-mile segment of Verona Road, including its interchange with the Beltline, will cost in excess of $100 million. This is the "interim" solution. The more extensive solution considered, a freeway built below ground level (in a trench) with parallel service roads, was costed out at closer to $200 million. - The Transport 2020 proposal includes regional bus service to serve commuters from outlying communities - DeForest, Waunakee, Stoughton, Oregon, etc. - to downtown Madison. ∙ Economic boost for the region. The fact that establishing an RTA will be an economic booster includes sound economic analysis. This is borne out by the support of the Chamber of Commerce, Downtown Madison, and Thrive. The current economic downturn is expected to ease some time in the next year or so. By conducting the referendum in November 2010, we will delay implementation of the sales tax. By that time the economy should be on the rebound. ∙ Referendum. A referendum will be held in November 2010 to seek authority for the funding mechanism for the RTA, a sales tax of 0.5%. November is a more appropriate date for the referendum than April for the following reasons. - November will be a high turnout election, rather than a low turnout election, as April will be. Therefore, more people will have a say in the decision. - There will be nothing to vote on in April. By waiting until November, the RTA will have the opportunity to develop a proposal for the voters to consider. - An April referendum would be conducted county-wide, if the Bruskewitz resolution were adopted. This would result in representation without taxation, as the Wisconsin Legislature authorized the creation of an RTA within the metropolitan planning organization boundaries, which are less extensive than the entire County. > So, what do the people who are behind the opposition to the RTA suggest > as the more reasonable alternative? > > * Ripping the bike lanes off of East Washington. > > * Pushing government jobs out into the suburbs. > > * Accelerating the construction of a North Mendota Parkway, Verona road > interchange, etc, etc. etc. > > * And Much more, because the most important priority is to provide the > Madison area MPO a world-class driving experience. > > Read the dirty truth here: > > http://tinyurl.com/yleccdb > > Then head downtown tonight! > > > November 5 > 7:00 PM in Room 201 of the City-County Building. > Full County Board will be voting on whether to form an RTA. > > If you cannot make it down to the City-County Building, please email or > call you County Board Supervisor today, especially if you live outside > the Isthmus, and doubly important is you live outside the city of > Madison. > > > Further information, talking points, and FAQ about the RTA can be found > here: > http://www.rationaltransportation.org/dane-rta-now/ > > _______________________________________________ > Bikies mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.danenet.org/listinfo.cgi/bikies-danenet.org > > _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://lists.danenet.org/listinfo.cgi/bikies-danenet.org
