In Streetcars We Trust

Milwaukee leaders are still yapping about streetcars and the $91.5 million in federal transit aid that's burning a hole in their pockets.

Ald. Mike D'Amato has an idea.

Milwaukee Ald. Mike D'Amato is calling for money from downtown development districts to be used to pay the local share of costs for Mayor Tom Barrett's proposed streetcar loop.

D'Amato, the chairman of the Common Council's Zoning, Neighborhoods and Development Committee, will seek to change four existing districts' funding plans to shift money into public transit. He said he also will insist that transit funding be included in any future development districts downtown.

Earlier this year, Barrett unveiled a plan to use $91.5 million in long-idle federal transit aid to run modern streetcars on a 3-mile downtown loop and create two express bus routes. That $107.6 million plan is under review by the Milwaukee Connector study committee, which is studying ways to link downtown attractions to neighborhoods with public transit.

Barrett has ruled out direct property taxes to cover the remaining $16.1 million of the price tag. He has suggested the required local match could come from the city's investment in renovating the Amtrak station into a combined bus-train depot; a station-related tax incremental financing district; money set aside for a downtown shuttle to serve riders using the planned KRM Commuter Link trains; plus cash from parking garages and hotels in exchange for streetcar passes for their customers.

In a tax incremental financing district, the property tax revenue from new development is typically used to repay the city's investment in the streets, sewers and other infrastructure that supports the development. But in recent years, some districts also have generated money for job training, which D'Amato said could be the model for transit funding as well. He said streetcars would be a key to downtown development.

"The lack of an attractive, in-line transit option that runs on clean fuel and connects attractions and neighborhoods is the most limiting factor to the future growth of our city," D'Amato said.

Excuse me.

What was that?

D'Amato believes, "The lack of an attractive, in-line transit option that runs on clean fuel and connects attractions and neighborhoods is the most limiting factor to the future growth of our city."

He's got to be kidding.

The lack of streetcars is the MOST limiting factor to the future growth of Milwaukee? Really?

Gee, do you think maybe Milwaukee being a tax hell might limit growth?

How about increases in violent crime rates that dwarf the national average?

Has there been a business that decided not to locate in Milwaukee because there wasn't an "attractive, in-line transit option"?

Get real.
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Read more about the hope and the broken promises of streetcars here.