(The Center Square) – Wisconsin Congressman Bryan Steil is not a fan of Milwaukee’s little-used streetcar, but he’s not committing to join the effort to kill it.
Seil didn’t say if he’ll ask former Wisconsin congressman, and current U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to allow Milwaukee to walk away from The Hop.
“This whole situation of The Hop, and the massive amount of spending that’s going on, and the recklessness of the spending in the city of Milwaukee is a huge challenge,” Steil said on News Talk 1130 WISN. “This is one of the conversations that we need to have broadly about how federal grants have been abused to create massive payments down the road.”
Milwaukee used a federal grant from 2015 to build the streetcar, but it also used some of the remaining money from a 1991 transit grant to get the system up and running. Milwaukee’s mayor says shutting down The Hop will mean Milwaukee has to pay-back $48 million of that 19991 grant. And he says Milwaukee doesn’t have that kind of money.
Milwaukee Alderman Scott Spiker last week asked Duffy to essentially cancel that payback requirement. Two Republican state lawmakers quickly joined him.
Steil didn’t go that far.
“That is a broader conversation,” Steil said. “How do we prevent good money from being spent, after bad money has previously been spent.”
Milwaukee is ready to spend more on its streetcar. The city last week posted a job opening for a marketing and communication officer. The city is offering between $90,000 and $105,000 a-year for someone to handle “strategic public engagement for the streetcar, securing and maintaining sponsorship, as well as advocating for it as a zero-carbon transit option.”
If that person lives within the city of Milwaukee, they could see a residency bonus of up to $3,100.
