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DeBruin
calls for full Zoo
Interchange environmental study.
WisDOT
puts roads
above all in budget request. |
State
refuses to release WisDOT budget records
DOA limits public access
Dec.
18, 2006 – The State Department of Administration
is refusing to release records related to the State Department
of Transportation's 2007-09 budget request.
The top lawyer
for the DOA said in a letter that the records are being
withheld because releasing them may “jeopardize
the candor and complete evaluation of the state’s
finances in the preparation of the budget for the governor.”
"We are
withholding budget documents and correspondence prepared
by the Department of Administration for the compiling
of the budget or which have been generated by the Department
of Administration or by the Governor's staff or cabinet
relating to the preparing of the biennial state budget,"
DOA Chief Legal Counsel John Rothschild wrote.
Citizens Allied
for Sane Highways had requested records related to WisDOT's
delay in filing a complete budget request.
“All
we wanted to know was why WisDOT waited until after Gov.
Doyle was re-elected to submit its budget request,”
CASH co-chair Gretchen Schuldt said*. “It is very
disturbing that state officials want to keep that secret.
They certainly shouldn’t be allowed to gut the Open
Records Law to do so.”
CASH is a coalition
formed to oppose freeway expansion in Milwaukee.
State budget
requests were supposed to be submitted to the Department
of Administration in September. WisDOT delayed submitting
its full request, which contained proposals for large
fee increases, until after the November election, leading
to widespread speculation that the timing was politically
motivated.
CASH filed
a formal request for records related to the delay and
DOA released copies of four brief e-mails and a letter
from WisDOT Secretary Frank Busalacchi that accompanied
the non-fiscal portion of the budget the department submitted
in September. That letter said the department couldn’t
submit a full request because Congress hadn’t finished
its work on the federal transportation budget.
“That
just raises more questions,” Schuldt said. “Why
couldn’t WisDOT submit a budget in September because
Congress hadn’t acted, but could in November, when
Congress still hadn’t acted?”
In refusing
to release additional records, the DOA's Rothschild said
that disclosing “budget draft and briefing documents
has the potential to jeopardize the candor and complete
evaluation in the state's finances in the preparation
of the budget for the governor. There is a strong public
interest in protecting the deliberative process associated
with the executive budget.”
Rothschild
said budget-related documents generated by the governor’s
staff or DOA would not be released.
Schuldt said
Rothschild’s position was “simply shocking.”
“We are
not seeking information about a pending budget issue,"
she said. "We are not seeking information about personnel
matters. The state's position is real blow to open government.
This interpretation of law sets a dangerous and damaging
precedent, one that can be misused to shield crimes and
cronyism from public disclosure.”
*Full
disclosure: Schuldt is editor of storyhill.net
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DeBruin
calls for full environmental study for Zoo Interchange
project
Dec.
4, 2006 -- The state should perform a full environmental
impact study for the Zoo Interchange reconstruction project,
County Supervisor Lynne DeBruin said.
“Absolutely,”
she said. "It's not doing your homework unless you
are doing the full EIS."
DeBruin
joins Mayor Tom Barrett and Ald. Michael Murphy in calling
for an in-depth study of the project's potential impacts.
Without
a careful study, DeBruin said, "“Two years
after you fixed the damned thing you could be redoing
it all.”
Gov.
Jim Doyle, bowing to Republican pressure during this year's
election campaign, has directed that Zoo Interchange reconstruction
be accelerated so the project can start in 2012, rather
than in 2016 as previously proposed.
The
project is being pushed forward even though the Department
of Transportation is delaying numerous projects in other
parts of the state due to funding constraints.
Transportation
Secretary Frank Busalacchi has requested $24 million in
2007-09 for studies related to the Zoo Interchange project.
Busalacchi and his department have made clear they do
not want to do a full environmental impact study for the
project, even though the project area includes schools
and parks.
DeBruin
While
conducting an environmental assessment would not preclude
a full environmental impact study later, Busalacchi has
said the state wants to save time and money on environmental
studies -- a clear indication that an in-depth look at
the environmental impacts of the project is not WisDOT's
desired outcome..
“The
whole philosophy of EIS studies is there is something
important to address here, and that is the long term environmental
impacts,” DeBruin said. The Department of Transportation
has not given a good reason for wanting to skip the full
study, she said.
The
argument that a lesser study is cheaper isn't persuasive,
she said. Instead, the department should adopt the attitude
of “ 'Better safe than sorry' rather than 'is this
going to slow the project,' ” she said.
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WisDOT
pushes freeways over elderly assistance, transit
Nov.
21, 2006 -- The Wisconsin Department of Transportation
would substantially increase highway funding while skimping
on aids for mass transit and support for elderly and disabled
transportation, according to the agency's budget request.
County
Supervisor Lynne DeBruin said the 1.5% increase in transit
aids sought by the WisDOT would mean further service cuts
by the Milwaukee County Transit Service.
The
WisDOT budget also would hit drivers with huge fee increases,
no matter how much or how little individual motorists
actually drove.
The
budget includes $206 million in new funding for Milwaukee
area freeway projects, but just a $601,000 two-year, statewide
increase in assistance for transportation programs for
the elderly and disabled.
The
request "puts the cost of driving further out of
the reach of poor people and again underfunds transit
so the disabled and elderly can’t go where they
need to go," said Robert Trimmier, co-chair of Citizens
Allied for Sane Highways. "It is an awful budget,
an embarrassment to (Gov. Jim) Doyle. We hope the governor
will fix it.”
CASH
is a coalition formed to oppose freeway expansion in Milwaukee.*
Ward
Lyles, transportation policy director for the land use
group 1000 Friends of Wisconsin, suggested that new ways
of thinking are needed WisDOT.
"The
last two summers have shown every family and business
the economic peril of our oil dependency," he said.
"Short term economic concerns, however, pale in comparison
to the need to address the fact that greenhouse gas emissions
from cars and trucks are a major driver of global climate
change, the profound social, economic and environmental
consequences of which we are understanding better every
day."
Business
as usual budgeting, Lyles said, "is not acceptable
for the short or long term. Wisconsin needs to curb excessive
spending on overbuilt highway projects and dramatically
increase its commitment to a wider array of transportation
choices, including transit, bicycle and pedestrian facilities
and rail."
The
budget request places heavy emphasis on road building
and asks for:
- $24 million
in new funding for studies related to reconstruction
of the Zoo Interchange. Gov. Doyle announced during
his re-election campaign that he wanted to accelerate
the project schedule, which led to funding being sought
earlier than it otherwise would have been. The department
also is seeking the creation of 25 full-time positions
to assist with the Interchange project. "The reallocation
of existing resources is not a viable alternative because
significant transportation improvements are needed throughout
the state," it said.
- $182 million
to continue work on the I-94 North-South project. There
is no overall funding plan for the effort to reconstruct
and potentially expand 34 miles of freeway from the
Illinois / Wisconsin state line to Holt Ave. in Milwaukee.
The entire project may well cost $2 billion.
- A $13.5
million funding increase for major highway projects
and authorization for $390 million in new bonding authority
for major projects and administrative facilities.
- A $66.3
million increase in state highway maintenance and operations
funding.
- A $601,000
statewide increase in funding for transit assistance
for the elderly and disabled.
- A $5.3 million
statewide increase in transit funding.
- A $1.5 million
increase in funding to maintain Amtrak service to Chicago
and add a an additional passenger car to each train.
- A $25 increase
in the annual cost of car registration. The increase
would be greater for larger vehicles.
*Full
disclosure: storyhill.net editor Gretchen Schuldt is CASH
co-chair.
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