By Matthew Defour
Wisconsin State Journal
Amtrack Station by Fred Bartol
WATERTOWN – Responding to critics of a passenger rail line between Madison and Milwaukee – including the leading Republican candidates for governor who are vowing to stop the project – U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Thursday the plan is going forward.
“High-speed rail is happening and it’s here to stay,” LaHood said here in announcing the second installment of an $810 million federal grant for the project.
Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker and former U.S. Rep. Mark Neumann, who are seeking the GOP nomination for governor, have called the project a boondoggle and waste of taxpayer money.
Both have said they would halt the project if elected, despite the fact that by the time the new governor takes office, the state will have already spent between $60 million to $100 million on contracts, designs, locomotives and rail cars. That does not include money spent by the four cities along the route on train stations.
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By Joe Yovino
The Daily Reporter
Wisconsin could spend almost $100 million on a high-speed rail line between Milwaukee and Madison by early 2011. And that’s in addition to the more than $40 million on pre-build engineering work during the past five years.
In all, Wisconsin will receive $810 million in stimulus money to build up high-speed rail around the state. That seems like a lot of your cash going toward a project, and it got me thinking about how it compares to the most expensive construction undertakings of all time. After seeing this list from Construction Management School, $810 million seems pretty insignificant.
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A true friend of Wisconsin’s farm community and Wisconsin’s environment, Secretary of the Depart of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, Rod Nilsestuen, drowned while swimming in Lake Superior on Wednesday, July 21. 1000 Friends of Wisconsin offers condolences to his family and friends.
Rod was on vacation, working for Habitat for Humanity in northern Michigan as he does every summer.
Gov. Jim Doyle called Nilsestuen “a warm, humorous and wonderful husband, father and friend. Under his incredible leadership Wisconsin has seen the greatest and most beneficial transformation of agriculture in generations.”
1000 Friends worked closely with Secretary Nilsestuen in the Working Lands Initiative. Rod was awarded a “Ten of the Best” award in 2007 for his for extraordinary effort to establish effective policies to promote agriculture in Wisconsin. Rod was also named “Policy Maker of the Year” award 2007 for land conservation leadership by Gathering Waters Conservancy.
The Association of Equipment Manufacturers released details Monday of a non-partisan nationwide poll about voter attitudes on the economy, manufacturing and transportation infrastructure.
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By Tony Anderson
Special to The Daily Reporter
Construction costs increase and development money slips away every day a St. Croix River bridge replacement is delayed, according to a Wisconsin legislator who wants to see project plans.
“This is a very important project for both Minnesota and Wisconsin,” said state Rep. Ann Hraychuck, D-Balsam Lake, “and it’s an absolute shame that this project has not moved forward.”
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By Scott Carlson
Special to The Daily Reporter
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification is rising in popularity for Wisconsin buildings, despite the costs associated with the recognition and the continued struggles of the construction market.
Through the first five months of 2010, 27 projects in Wisconsin earned LEED certification, according to data from the U.S. Green Building Council. At that rate, Wisconsin is likely to surpass the 38 LEED certifications it earned in 2009, said Marie Coleman, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Green Building Council.
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By Mike Johnson of the Journal Sentinel
Village of Pewaukee - Efforts to get a referendum before voters on merging the two Pewaukees could be doomed.
The Village Board declined Tuesday night to approve a controversial street utility district, a key precondition to a merger between the Village and City of Pewaukee.
But it did approve a consolidation ordinance – stripped of the street utility district wording – and forwarded it to the city Common Council for consideration.
If the council approves the revised ordinance – which establishes the procedures to accomplish consolidation – a merger referendum could occur in November.
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By Samantha Marcus | smarcus@lacrossetribune.com
La Crosse County may be the first in Wisconsin to decline putting an advisory referendum on the fall ballot that urges the state quit playing shell games with segregated transportation funds.
“That’s the first I’m aware of that has voted against it,” said Dan Fedderly, executive director of the Wisconsin County Highway Association, one-third of a coalition backing a constitutional amendment outlawing any raids on the fund.
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By Mary Newsom
For Release Sunday, July 11, 2010
Citiwire.net
As local politicians across the country get scorched by voter anger over recession-induced budget cuts — laying off teachers, closing schools and libraries and slashing services — perhaps they’ll be more receptive than usual to some powerful and surprising tax revenue numbers.
So what follows is about fiscal prudence as much as it is about smart city planning.
Conventional wisdom, of course, says that to prop up the property tax base, a high-end shopping mall is just the ticket. But when Sarasota County, Fla., looked at where the county government gets the biggest bang for its property tax buck, it found some numbers that may surprise a lot of people.
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Some Dane County Board members are pushing to hold a countywide referendum this November asking voters to approve a half-cent sales tax to pay for commuter rail.
The proposal, which board Chairman Scott McDonell said will not be able to get enough support to move forward, comes after County Clerk Bob Ohlsen said his office won’t be ready to hold a Regional Transit Authority referendum this fall.
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