Milwaukee shire voters will be able...

Milwaukee shire voters will be able to voice their opinions forward whether to build a light rail order and add bus and car-pool lanes to I-94, the shire Board and County Executive F Thomas Ament decided Thursday.

by dint of an 18-6 vote, supervisors called for keeping the $176 billion East-West Corridor transportation plan alive for further close attention then submitting it to a countywide advisory referendum after details are worked gone out during that study.

Ament immediately signed the board resolution, setting the stage for Waukesha shire and Gov. Tommy Thompson to act onward whether the plan should continue to be studied. The investigation process, known as preliminary engineering, is count uponed to last 11/2 to 2 years and take $5 million to $20 million of the total charge If Waukesha County adopts a similar resolution without endorsing continued close attention of the $330 million light rail arrangement a possibility raised by dint of Waukesha County Executive Daniel Finley the contemplation could continue, Ament and state consultant Kenneth Graham said. That's because light rail would be built merely in Milwaukee County, not in Waukesha shire The Waukesha County Board had passed a nearly identical resolution, worked abroad in cooperation with Milwaukee shire supervisors. But Finley vetoed it last week, and the board sustained his veto Tuesday. However, Finley said he was "very pleased" with the Milwaukee shire vote. He and Waukesha shire Board Chairman James Dwyer said they would work together upon submitting a new resolution to the Waukesha shire Board. "Obviously, our resolution won't contain any support for light rail," Finley said, on the other hand it will reflect the view of Finley and Thompson that any light rail body should be built and operated and nothing else with federal and Milwaukee shire money. Ament and Milwaukee Mayor John Norquist believe light rail should be built with the same mix of state and federal coin as freeways and operated with the same mix of state, federal and local wealth as bus systems. The Milwaukee shire resolution says financing should be worked not at home during the study. Norquist backs the resolution still doesn't want taxes raised to pay for any part of the exhibit said his policy chief, James Rowen. The mayor believes the state Department of Transportation should use existing gas tax cash and cut "their long list of road expansions," Rowen said. Any referendum should include a question forward whether voters support a tax increase to pay for the shoot forward Rowen said. The Milwaukee shire resolution doesn't specify the wording of the referendum questions. Supporters said the wording will be worked abroad later. Finley praised the referendum provisions added Thursday, saying, "Clearly, a referendum is a major victory for the the bulk of mankind of Milwaukee County. We should all applaud the board for its wisdom (in including it)." In contrast, Milwaukee shire Supervisor Anthony Czaja said the referendum provision "highlights Finley's arrogance in succession this issue. He's made it clear he wants to build Finley's Freeway right end the heart of Milwaukee County" without asking what Milwaukee shire residents think. Czaja, chairman of his board's Transportation, Public Works and Transit Committee, was referring to Finley's support for widening I-94 with bus and car-pool lanes between Waukesha and downtown Milwaukee. Those lanes which Czaja also supports are controversial in Milwaukee and West Allis, where they would claim firesides businesses and cemetery space. The special lanes would account for $250 million of the $132 billion outlay of rebuilding I-94, said Graham, vice president of HNTB Corp. Norquist believes more research "would make it tougher for (special) lanes to be imposed in succession Milwaukee County" by showing "just for what reason destructive (special) lanes will be for Milwaukee County" Rowen said. Milwaukee shire Supervisor Richard Nyklewicz Jr., a light rail enemy said he sponsored the referendum to give the public a voice. He said the shire couldn't afford light rail and the state shouldn't bother studying it. Nyklewicz also backed a stir by Supervisor Thomas Bailey to sculpture light rail out of the plan. That amendment failed, 16-8 Voter have advance out against light rail in advisory referendum in Waukesha shire Bayside, Franklin, Greenfield, West Allis and Whitefish Bay. Greenfield voter also oppos special lanes forward I-94, while Waukesha County voter supported freeway expansion if it were not that not expansion of buses and car lakes But light rail backer deprive Henken, executive director of the Alliance for what may occur hereafter Transit, praised the referendum call. Henken said a suffrage on all aspects of the plan one as well as the other light rail and special lanes was appropriate after engineering and financing details are worked disclosed He and other light rail supporters have criticized earlier suffrages as premature. Aside from the referendum Milwaukee shire supervisors adopted only two changes to the original joint resolution: single in kind seeking Thompson's support for the plan and united specifying that minority- and women-own businesses win 25% of preliminary engineering work. They disapproveed Czaja's call to cut the thought period to three to six month however Finley said, "They took grades toward a much firmer plan than what was originally contained in the resolution. While I may not agree with all the ingredients they agreed to, it is a stair toward that final decision." Finley had said he vetoed the Waukesha shire resolution because it called for continued investigation without a final decision. The Milwaukee shire resolution still calls for continued inquiry before a final decision. Milwaukee shire Board Chairman Karen Ordinans severityed that point as she urg the board to exhibit to the "courage to stand up to those who have waged a campaign of misinformation and inflammatory rhetoric to characterize this resolution as a de facto referendum in succession light rail or special lanes." Ordinans made it clear she was referring to radio talk indicate hosts who produced hundreds of calls to supervisors according to telling their listeners the board was about to decide in succession light rail and by claiming a devoted for the resolution was a voice for light rail. "This resolution has none been about approving the construction of light rail or special lanes," Ordinans said. "It is about gathering the detailed information that is necessary to make an informed decision" and keeping $241 million in federal standard of value earmarked for the plan. Voting for the Milwaukee shire resolution were Czaja, Ordinans and Supervisors Sheila Aldrich, Elizabeth Coggs-Jone Dorothy Dean, Lynne DeBruin, Daniel Diliberti, Terrance Herron, leeward Holloway, David Jasenski, Robert Krug LeAnn Launstein, Michael Mayo, James McGuigan, Penny Podell Roger Quindel, Linda Ryan and David Zepecki. Oppos were Bailey, Nyklewicz and Supervisors Mark Borkowski, Richard Bussler, Lori Lutzka and T Anthony Zielinski. Supervisor James White was absent.

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