Marie Antoinette never said “let them eat cake” (or brioche, as the case may be) when told the people had no bread. But whoever put the words in her mouth found a great way to show the gap in understanding between the have-a-lots and the have-a-lot-less.
Proposed
cuts in transit and hikes in fees in the 2008 Milwaukee County budget sound a lot like telling those who can’t afford or can’t drive cars to ride limos.
A few people in Wauwatosa might be in for an unpleasant surprise. If you live on about 122nd and Cherry, and you ride Transit Plus because you can’t get on a bus without help, you won’t have to worry about the stiff fare increase.
That’s because you’ll no longer be in the service area.
The reduced service area looks like a wildly undifferentiated amoeba with scalloped edges and odd pockets of no coverage. Come to think of it, so does the entire Milwaukee County Transit System map from which the Transit Plus service area is derived.
I’m not sure why Milwaukee County doesn’t “get” the importance of public transportation. Vital communities do, and that’s one reason they are vital. Managers, workers, shoppers, students can get where they need to go to do what they need to do to drive the economy (not to mention their personal lives) without the enormous costs and, yes, hassles of personal vehicles.
If you ask me, parking lots aren’t the most attractive ways to develop a community, and they don’t create a lot of jobs and revenue.
The proposed Milwaukee County budget for 2008 is full of cuts that hurt the poor and the vulnerable. Lack of money isn’t the only problem, although it’s a big one. Political posturing between the county executive and the supervisors is another. Given Scott Walker’s
probable support for some kind of regional transit system—the only kind that makes sense--who knows what the transportation budget drama really means?
One thing seems sure, though: worsening transportation isn’t likely to produce cheerful campaign marchers with slogans like “We’re all walkers for Walker,” especially among those who
use walkers.
