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Milwaukee aldermen overwhelmingly rejected a resolution Wednesday to oppose renovating Amtrak’s downtown train shed.
The state Department of Transportation is about to start a $16 million to $18 million upgrade of the building where passengers get on and off trains, adjacent to the Amtrak-Greyhound station. Transportation officials say the overhaul is needed to meet standards for accessibility to the disabled, fire safety and homeland security, and isn’t related to a planned $810 million high-speed rail line between Milwaukee and Madison.
But Ald. Joe Dudzik introduced a measure calling on the state to delay action until a new governor takes office. Dudzik said the money would be better spent on repairing Milwaukee streets and sewers that he called “long overdue” for improvement.
That argument bears similarities to the campaign statements of Republican gubernatorial candidates Scott Walker and Mark Neumann about the stimulus money earmarked for high-speed rail. Walker, the Milwaukee County executive, wants the money shifted to roads, while Neumann wants it used for state tax cuts.
But Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, the leading Democratic candidate, and state officials say it’s not legal to spend the rail money on anything but the train line. Aldermen Bob Bauman and Terry Witkowski said the state and federal money budgeted for the train shed wouldn’t be spent on anything else, either.
Bauman said the resolution amounted to opposing compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act “to stoke the fires of partisan debate over public transportation.” Dudzik, who has a disabled child, retorted that it was “asinine and beyond belief” to suggest he opposed accessibility for the disabled, and he denied a partisan motive.
The resolution failed, 13-1, with only Dudzik voting in favor.
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