Editor’s note: On behalf of the Coalition for Advancing Transit (CAT), Tom Rave, executive director of the Airport Gateway Business Association, recently provided the following statement to the Wisconsin Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee.
I’m Tom Rave, executive director of the Airport Gateway Business Association. Our mission is to take a leadership role in planning, promoting and developing the vitality of The Gateway To Milwaukee, which is the brand name we use for the area all around General Mitchell International Airport.
One of our efforts is to help lead a task force that is focused on economic development around the airport. In comparison to peer metropolitan areas, we have noted the role of mass transit as part of the transportation networks around airport areas. Our region is sorely lacking in mass transit capabilities and we believe that it is hurting us economically.
Recognition of this importance of mass transit led me to become involved with the Coalition for Advancing Transit, and I am now the chairperson of the coalition’s steering committee. This non-partisan coalition is made up of over 90 individuals and organizations from the business and civic sectors of southeastern Wisconsin.
It was formed to foster regional cooperation of political and community support for the preservation, improvement and expansion of public transit to serve residents, businesses and visitors throughout southeastern Wisconsin.
Changing the downhill trend of mass transit in southeastern Wisconsin is urgent, and a regional approach is necessary. A piecemeal or local approach would be inefficient. Our coalition strongly supports establishment of a permanent regional transit authority to create and operate an integrated, multimodal mass transit system for southeastern Wisconsin, one that would eventually tie to Madison and the Fox River Valley.
An RTA can raise dedicated regional funds to qualify for federal investments to successfully create and operate such a system. It is worth noting that on page 14 of its draft executive summary of Connections 2030, our state’s Department of Transportation "supports the creation of new regional transit authorities, which are governing bodies that can efficiently operate and address regional mobility needs, and raise revenue to administer and fund transit systems."
We support regional funding through a sales tax of up to 0.5 percent. Simultaneously, there should be the elimination of property taxes that currently support local bus systems. Please keep in mind that about 30 percent of such sales taxes would be paid by people who live outside our region – just as we pay when we travel elsewhere. We believe that this can be done; that this needs to be done.
Gov. Jim Doyle has included regional transit authorities with dedicated funding sources in the 2009-2011 state budget. The governor’s action promotes local leaders working together and thinking regionally for the best interests of the broader communities. The Coalition for Advancing Transit commends the governor for his action, supports his recommendations about RTAs and asks that you support them too.
We cannot wait another two years or we will fall further behind in the competitive race of economic development. Let’s get moving!
Thank you.
