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  2. There is no provision for absolute control from Madison. Let locals control something? That's not the Vos way.
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    • Actually, the State Constitution *allows* Madison to 'control' what they wish so long as it is done in a uniform, state-wide manner... That's why the residency-reform law covers the whole state, not just the one municipality that had a residency law...

      There is no way the state will get it's tax problem under control, if big-spending munis are allowed to run amok....
    • dave:

      The combination of Act 10 and cuts to local government and school aids have really put the squeeze on local government. The party of "local control" has turned into Big Brother out here in the hinterlands. That continued squeeze between state/federal mandated services and limited ways to generate revenue will change life as we know it. You want your snow plowed? Call Vos.
    • DaveA2: While there is a state provision for uniformity, that is something Republicans have become adept at gaming. So, for instance, if they wish to mess with the City of Milwaukee and take away local control, they might try enacting a "statewide" law that is written to apply only to Class One cities -- which limits the measure, and the damage, to Milwaukee. And certainly legislation from Madison hasn't treated all public school districts equally. Milwaukee Public Schools are forced to surrender a huge amount of locally collected taxes to fund competing private schools yet get no extra help from the state in meeting this mandate. Result: Wisconsin state taxpayers and property taxpayers outside of the city have gained, while property taxpayers in Milwaukee have seen their bills go up. Some "uniformity"!

      I'm still shaking my head over GOP moves to require the city to pick up utility relocation costs that accrue because the city is planning to build a streetcar. If politically red Green Bay were doing a similar project, you surely wouldn't find the GOP insisting that utilities should control the spending decisions of the city government that granted them easements to public rights of way in the first place. Public resources are not a convenience to be milked by private businesses at will, and mass transit is not some kind of one-size-fits-all system that ought to be wholly controlled and funded by state legislative whim.
    • @Man MKE:

      If anyone tries to build government-run passenger rail (and generally, there will never be any other type - it can't compete with cars or air travel), we'll oppose it, period... Red, Blue, or whatever...

      The fact is, no politically-red WI jurisdiction would consider it... So we don't have to deal with that....
    • Dave, glad you're coming out in favor of legalizing and taxing marijuana. Keep up the fine work.
    • @John Casper:

      Actually, right now I'm out in one of the states that actually enacted that idiocy...

      Still waiting to see what the WA-LCB does when their 'legal, taxed' weed is so much more expensive than the traditional illegal stuff, that they don't get the expected revenue...

      I predict a massive increase in pot-busts and people in prison for 'marijuana only' offenses over the times when it was illegal...

      Because when it was illegal accross the board, it was 'just weed'... Now it's 'Weed... AND...' Tax Evasion.. They now have a financial incentive to jail their (cheaper, illegal) competition...
  3. Vos is asking the wrong questions to sort out the priorities to achieve tax savings, create jobs and turn Wisconsin into the success she once was.

    The question Vos avoids is what did we change to yield a negative result?

    We focus on losses of manufacturing jobs without realizing Wisconsin lost a much higher number of customer service jobs that served as springboards to train workers to have the stellar communication skills this state once had.

    Transit is about communication skills. The ability to understand, translate and work with a very diverse dynamic of needs of employers and workers to develop solutions. This translates into developing a skilled leadership and worker base.

    Vos is missing the connection. In the day when factories loaded goods on trains those train schedules coordinated with crossings and traffic patterns. Trains did not go through major throughway intersections during peak drive time. Bus schedules flowed with work shifts. Fewer trucks were on the road during peak drive times.

    How we move people, goods and supplies is how we create jobs.

    We see the same void of understanding on the role transportation plays in our economic success in the educational reforms. Helping neighborhoods develop better schools will reduce school bus transit needs opening more slots to move people and supplies to work centers.

    The legacy cities like Milwaukee face a transit crisis with more young people not desiring to own cars.

    What is the ratio of adults with drivers licenses in the state that own cars? Like many rust belt states Wisconsin is seeing a dip in that ratio as more rely on public transit.

    The question should be what did we do in the past to cause the failure today. We didn't listen to better plan for transit needs after the oil embargo.
  4. "What does Robin Vos have against democracy in action (and RTAs)?"

    Instead of just whining about it, why don't you ask him?
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  5. RTAs are not "democracy in action". They are the complete opposite.

    RTAs, at least in their past form were partisan appointments. These boards allowed politicians to avoid responsibility for tax increases and point their fingers at the RTA when taxes for transportation were increased.

    In other words, there was no redress at the polls available. That's what was used to keep the KRM alive for so long even though it was strongly opposed by taxpayers.

    While this proposal seems to alleviate that problem, RTAs are still not a good idea when we end up taxing Racine or other county residents for transportation issues that they will never use or derive any benefit from.
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  6. This isn't ideological - it's political. Robin Vos knows that urban areas benefit from transit and that urban areas tend to be more democratic than republican. Adding to this is the fact that the lead assembly sponsor is Penny Bernard Schaber - a democrat running for the state senate. Vos isn't about to let her claim any kind of victory. Vos cares far more about partisan politics than the good of the state. If he cared about the latter, he would have done something to help transit and help people taht happen to be democrats get to their jobs.

    Unfortunately, this is the kind of politics you get when politicians choose their constituents through gerrymandering and create districts that are so safe that they don't have to answer to anyone.

    Too bad for Wisconsin.
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  7. Robbin Vos wants his pockets greased first.
  8. Fairness and governing for the good of all is not a value in Vos's play book. Corruption, lies, and shilling for the filthy rich are Scumbag Robin's only ideals.
  9. Voss never road a bus in his life.
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  10. Ask the people in the collar counties surrounding Chicago what they thought about the old RTA down there.

    Simple, they HATED IT.

    RTA = If it benefits the city, it's all good regardless of how it might negatively effect the "region"....


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