{"id":3448,"date":"2006-11-25T17:21:00","date_gmt":"2006-11-25T17:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/brianjnoggle.com\/blog\/?p=3448"},"modified":"2017-12-12T15:49:10","modified_gmt":"2017-12-12T21:49:10","slug":"backers-and-leaders-want-gravy-train","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brianjnoggle.com\/blog\/2006\/11\/25\/backers-and-leaders-want-gravy-train\/","title":{"rendered":"Backers and Leaders Want Gravy Train"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Milwaukee, another unelected authority has revived another way to spend the public’s money: commuter rail<\/a>:<\/p>\n

As soon as next month, regional leaders could start discussing whether to get aboard a $237 million plan to link Milwaukee, Racine, Kenosha and the southern suburbs with commuter trains.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is no doubt in addition to the light rail initiatives. Normally, this would be a problem with a plan, but since it’s a government authority, it’s no reason to pause:<\/p>\n

Rail backers are touting the plan’s expected economic benefits, while the new Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Transit Authority is wrestling with how to pay for the service.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If people wanted it, there would be a market for it, and perhaps a free market enterprise of some sort could provide it. But, nah, it’s all about featherbedding authority positions and salaries for the participants.<\/p>\n

Kudos, though, to the plan’s originators. With full knowledge that there’s no funding in place, they’ve come up with a plan that’s even more expensive than the last one:<\/p>\n

In its latest form, the Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee commuter rail line, or KRM Commuter Link, would offer more frequent service and more stops – but at a higher cost – than the version that emerged from a previous study in 2003.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Man, I wish I were a quasi-government functionary, shuffling papers and preparing plan documents for an exhorbitant salary. Unfortunately, I am cursed with self-respect.<\/p>\n

UPDATE:<\/font><\/b> Owen of Boots and Sabers, more proximate to the impending fiscal train wreck than I am, weighs in<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Milwaukee, another unelected authority has revived another way to spend the public’s money: commuter rail: As soon as next month, regional leaders could start discussing whether to get aboard a $237 million plan to link Milwaukee, Racine, Kenosha and the southern suburbs with commuter trains. This is no doubt in addition to the light […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3334,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-milwaukee","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brianjnoggle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brianjnoggle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brianjnoggle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brianjnoggle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3334"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brianjnoggle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3448"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/brianjnoggle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3448\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18424,"href":"https:\/\/brianjnoggle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3448\/revisions\/18424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brianjnoggle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brianjnoggle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brianjnoggle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}