Over the next few months, the Milwaukee talk radio boys will be singing like a choir about what a terrible waste of money it is to connect Milwaukee to Madison by high-speed rail.
They may be right.
What will be missing, however, is the counterargument – a voice for the other side of the issue.
By my count, there is no organized advocate voice of support in the community for the benefits of high-speed rail.
High-speed rail in Wisconsin may be an $823 million priority for the Obama administration, but from a public relations standpoint, it is an abandoned orphan.
By contrast, the Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee (KRM) commuter rail project has an advocacy group called Transit Now, which has collected support from key business and civic leaders in the region. Even the effort to form a local authority with the ability to collect a dedicated sales tax inspired the creation of the Southeastern Regional Transit Authority (SERTA).
At best, most business advocacy groups in Wisconsin are keeping the high-speed rail project at arm’s length. In most cases, that’s because their members are as divided about the issue as the public seems to be.
The Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce (MMAC) has not taken an official stance on the high-speed rail project. Tim Sheehy, president of the MMAC, said, “Short answer – we are supportive, but the decision to go after the funds was made and executed – so we should go after the jobs. Lots of questions remain over state costs, route and ridership and use.”
The Greater Milwaukee Committee also is hands-off to high-speed rail. GMC president Julia Taylor said, “We have an official stance on transit and KRM, but not on high-speed rail.”
Likewise, the Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce (WMC) is non-committal. "For WMC, we have members who think this is a good idea and members who are opposed. As such, we are not promoting it,” said R.J. Pirlot, director of legislative relations for the WMC.
The Wisconsin Business Council (WBC) also hasn’t weighed in. “The Wisconsin Business Council has not yet taken a position on the high-speed rail proposal,” said Phil Prange, president of the WBC, which will conduct a member forum on infrastructure issues on March 24 in Milwaukee.
Even the Coalition for Advancing Transit (CAT) is taking a pass, according to Bill Johnson, executive director of Urban Economic Development Corp. (UEDA). “No. 1, it (high-speed rail) was very controversial. No. 2, it was a fait accompli that it was going to get done,” Johnson said.
Johnson may be right about that. High-speed rail may be a done deal in Wisconsin, for better or worse. The state already completed its Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), and state and federal officials are moving quickly to secure the bonding and begin construction for the project. Once the bonds are done, it will be very difficult for the next governor to overturn or halt the project, even though Republican candidates Scott Walker and Mark Neumann are scoring primary points by saying they would like to do so.
In the meantime, however, there will be a one-sided conversation of people ranting and raving that high-speed rail is an $823 million boondoggle in Wisconsin. The only person of consequence making the counterpoint has been Milwaukee Mayor and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tom Barrett. (Not counting, of course, lame duck outgoing Gov. Jim Doyle.) So far, Barrett has no backup choir.
Until the Talgo Inc. railcar assembly jobs arrive in Milwaukee and other tangible benefits for the high-speed project start sprouting up, Barrett may be singing solo.
Steve Jagler is executive editor of BizTimes Milwaukee.
