Regional Transit Authority

The City of Monona is a member of the Dane County Cities & Villages Association. The DCCVA is holding a joint meeting with the Towns Association to hear pro and con presentations on the proposed RTA. I have copied the meeting announcement below.

This meeting will provide a good chance to get more details and answers to the many questions about this proposal (unless you are the Sun Prairie city council or Cross Plains village board, which have already voted against the idea!). The concept of an RTA strikes me as a positive development that would provide a regional mechanism for evaluating and implementing transportation alternatives with a broader perspective than 'every muny for itself'.

On the other hand, Falk and Cieslewicz and County Board Chair McDonnell blew the handling of this issue. They should have been prepared to roll out public meetings with local officials from other communities immediately after they announced their agreement - and they should have been talking privately before they went public. They did neither and now they are in damage-control mode.

The unseemly rush to push the proposal through the County Board and Madison city council is puzzling (OK, it's idiotic). This haste makes everybody else - including a lot of people inclined to support the idea - suspicious and protective of turf.

DCCVA MEMBERSHIP MEETING NOTICE:

A Joint meeting of the Dane County Cities & Villages (DCCVA) and the Dane County Towns Association (DCTA) will be held to hear presenters and to discuss the the proposed Regional Transit Authority for Madison and Dane County.

Date: Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Time: 7:30 PM
Location: City of Fitchburg
City Council Chambers
5520 Lacy Road
Fitchburg, WI 53711

AGENDA
7:30 P.M. Call to Order
7:35 P.M. Introduction of Guests/ Pledge of Allegiance
7:40 P.M. Introduction of Presenters and the Questions To Be Addressed
7:45 P.M. Overview of the Transit Proposal
David Trowbridge, staff to the Transport 2020 Study Process
8:05 P.M. Presentation In Favor Of the RTA Proposal -- County Executive Kathleen Falk and Madison Mayor David Cieslewicz
8:35 P.M. Questions To The Proponents
8:50 P.M. Presentation Opposed To the RTA Proposal
9:20 P.M. Questions To The Opponents
9:35 P.M. Open Discussion
Adjourn

QUESTIONS ALL PRESENTERS ARE ASKED TO ADDRESS:


What are the costs of various alternative transit proposals?


What revenue sources are possible for funding the RTA?


What are the costs and benefits of rail versus expanded bus transit? Why was rail chosen as the locally preferred alternative?


How will the proposed transportation aids included in the Falk/Cieslewicz Agreement be distributed?


What assurances do communities have that proposed road aids will not be diverted to pay for rail if cost projections prove inaccurate?


Could the proposed referendum also include a question asking the voters to choose between bus and rail alternatives?


How confident are planners of the cost projections and why will Dane County's rail system costs be accurate when others have not? How will cost overruns be handled?


What provisions are made in the plan for maintenance, repair and equipment replacement costs?