By Robert Taylor
Ben Pierson/The Daily Cardinal
WISPIRG members show their support for the proposed creation of a
regional transit authority. The Dane County Board approved the creation
of the RTA at Thursday night’s meeting.
The Dane County Board voted 20 to 16 to establish a regional transit
authority Thursday that would oversee mass transportation planning
within the county.
The vote falls in line with the 22-13 vote the board sent as a signal
of support to the state government for the creation of an RTA in 2007.
The resolution would give the new RTA the powers of taxation and
eminent domain. It would bring Madison one step closer to building
commuter rail through the isthmus and out into its surrounding
communities.
Members of the public on both sides of the debate were invited to voice
their opinions and weigh in before the vote, and the audience was
standing-room only.
UW-Madison student members of Wisconsin Students Public Interest
Research Group stood outside with posters reading “RTA is the WAY” and
urged attendees to support the creation of the new transit authority.
Adam Johnson, Associated Students of Madison Legislative Affairs
Committee chair, said he and the rest of ASM support the creation of
the RTA.
“We have a vested interest in this community while we are here as
students,” he said. “We want to make Madison a great place to stay and
work and live.”
UW-Madison as an institution has great demand for transportation within
the region. In any given year, UW-Madison accounts for 60,000
students, faculty and staff, as well as nearly 1.4 million visitors.
UW-Madison Transportation Services Director Patrick Klass also endorsed
the creation of the RTA for this reason. He said UW-Madison has capped
its number of parking spots on campus and that UW-Madison students,
faculty and staff will rely on the creation of a multimodal system to
meet their ongoing transportation needs.
Still, many members of the audience took issue with the RTA’s new
powers of taxation and argued for a public referendum before moving
forward.
Speakers in opposition to the formation of the RTA rallied around the
slogan that the creation of the RTA represented “taxation without
representation.”
The creation of the regional transit authority clears the way for a
referendum specific to RTA communities to be placed on the November
2010 ballot.
