Let Wisconsin voters decide if we want a light rail choo-choo!

Looks like Obama & Co. have promised Wisconsin $823 million taxpayer dollars via the Stimulus Bill to start up a light rail project between Milwaukee, Madison and Chicago, with a train station to be built in Watertown.  Whoopee!

All the newspapers and media have been reporting this story with the slant that everyone is happy - everyone wants this.  Very little mention is given to the opposition.  The media just assumes that we taxpayers are all delighted!    

What I'd like to know is why the taxpayers of Wisconsin aren't being given the opportunity to even vote on whether or not we WANT such an expensive project in our state?  It has been proven over and over - in states with cities much larger  - that light rail has been a total disaster.  Light rail in Seattle, for example, isn't a roaring success.  Seattle is experiencing low ridership, to the tune of costing $179 million dollars per mile when calculating number of passengers vs. cost!   And Seattle is a much bigger city than Milwaukee, with a population actually capable of supporting  light rail!    Even in Denver, where people voted for light rail in 2004, the city is now running out of money for the project.  Recently, Denver voters were presented with a proposed sale tax increase in order to continue to fund the stalled light rail project.   Guess people don't want to ride the trains in large numbers like many assume they will.  And once the trains are up and running, they start losing even more money.    Yet, Seattle and Denver are much larger cities then Madison or Milwaukee.  And even they are finding out light rail is more expensive than expected.  More costly to taxpayers as time goes by.  After the novelty has worn off, so do the ridership levels.   Milwaukee and Madison have even smaller populations than Denver or Seattle. Those two cities, as well as others throughout the country,  are already experiencing  few riders, high costs, and taxpayers just keep on payin' and payin' and payin'...... Is that what we can expect?  Yes.

So, what are we missing here?  Do we need to be whacked over the head with a hammer to realize that light rail will be an economic disaster for our state?  A guaranteed money-loser?  Face it -hardly anyone will ride the darn thing!  Currently it takes about 45 minutes to get from Milwaukee to Madison in a car.  Light rail won't cut down on travel time.  The fastest speed supposedly will be 110 miles per hour (wonder why this project is even being called "high speed" light rail?).   There will be stops along the way, adding to travel time,  between Milwaukee and Madison.   Given that people will first need to get to the train (by car, perhaps?), then once upon arrival  have to find transportation to get to their final destination (by taxi or bus, perhaps?)- how much time and cost is saved?   The honest answer has to be - NONE?!?

What we have here is a government - and state -  intent on throwing away money - the taxpayers money.  We taxpayers are being forced to pay for something that most of us do not want!  Recent studies suggest that we taxpayers may end up paying passenger costs around  $43 each way for this boondoggle!  Imagine if this project wasn't going to be subsidized by taxpayers - how much an individual ticket would cost?  Maybe then all the pro-light railers would have second thoughts - having to pay for their light rail experience all on their own.  Just so they can sit and read a book rather than drive somewhere....    And haven't we said "no" to this before???   

Even some in the People's Republic of Madison have chimed in that the prospect of building a light rail system is ridiculous.  No one will use it.  Busses in Madison aren't even being used now. Madison Metro is in the red year after year, just like the bus system in Milwaukee.  Ridership in Milwaukee is so low that fares recently had to be raised - still not enough to even cover the expense of the bus system itself!  And look at that glowing example of Amtrak - a train system entirely propped up year after year by the government to the tune of billions of taxpayer dollars, since it is such a money-loser.

So, with unemployment at a record high, job losses in the millions during 2009, and no end in sight, our government bestows upon us $823 million dollars for:   A CHOO-CHOO? Why not give the funds to BadgerCare?   or even better - don't spend the money!  The Stimulus dollars don't even really exist anyhow - the money hasn't  been printed yet!  Our children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren haven't started paying for the Stimulus Bill!    Let's REALLY start saving and REALLY cut that deficit!  Hasn't President Obama said that cutting the deficit and spending should be top priorities?  Remember about the "no earmarks" promise?  Well, a light rail train IS an earmark.  It is not a necessity, but rather a "want" of certain individuals.  During these poor economic times, can we really afford the luxury of "wants?"

Let's put this to a vote in November.  Contact your state and local representatives to express your wishes.  Put an end to the damage that Governor Doyle and his liberal cohorts continue to try to reek upon this state.   We can stop this train wreck before it leaves the station. 

We "derailed" Obama's plans for socialized medicine  - we can do the same with his plans for socialized transportation!