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Mayor Dave Cieslewicz stopped by the office last week to give us some background on his plans to move the city forward during the coming year. Most of the discussion was on the city's safety -- there have, after all, been two unsolved murders downtown in recent months, plus there's still deep concern about crime on the southwest side -- and the need to maintain and improve basic services, fixing the winter-ravaged streets being but one example. There are his environmental initiatives, including working with the state and Dane County on cleaning up our lakes, plus several economic pushes like helping the Urban League of Greater Madison get its new job center built on South Park Street. Teaching people the skills they need to land productive jobs can be a key, after all, to solving many of the problems that perplex us, including crime. Plus, I was glad to learn that while there are many pressing concerns the city needs to tackle in the months and years ahead, the mayor still believes that we need to improve and expand public transportation. But he wants Madison and the rest of Dane County to step back from the debate over buses versus trains. That shouldn't be the issue right now. Forming a regional transit authority is the pressing issue, he rightfully believes, and we should put it in place before we start prioritizing the transportation options. Frankly -- and Cieslewicz agrees with me -- we'll need an improved bus system that can serve commuters beyond the borders of Madison and some form of commuter rail to quickly move people through the congested streets and traffic corridors. How we do that and how we pay for it is a decision that can involve all of Dane County through a regional transit authority. To first argue whether we need to plow more into a bus system or develop rail transit throughout the county is putting the cart before the horse. Additionally, an RTA could make decisions on which roads ought to be improved or whether new ones need to be built so that all of the transportation options tie together efficiently and practically. I recently returned from my annual trek to Phoenix (still working on straightening out the Cubs) and once again experienced the gridlock and utter traffic chaos that exists there and gets worse every year. Until this year, Phoenix didn't have commuter rail, and its bus system left a lot to be desired. Cars ruled everything, and politicians refused to spend a dime on anything but more and wider freeways, all of which are completely plugged with traffic from the early morning hours to late in the afternoon. Come December, a rail line will open at last, going from Sky Harbor Airport through Tempe and the Arizona State University campus and ending in Mesa, about a dozen miles to the east. Whether after all these years commuters can be trained to use mass transit will soon be answered. The pity is that Phoenix could have done something years ago, and probably could have saved several millions on those freeways-turned-parking-lots that crisscross Maricopa County. Madison and Dane County shouldn't make the same mistake.
Dave Zweifel is editor emeritus of The Capital Times. http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/spectrum/index.php?ntid=206724&ntpid=1 (at bottom) |