Following years of debate and thousands of dollars spent, plans for a potential Madison streetcar system have come to a close, as Mayor Dave Cieslewicz announced the end of a $300,000 feasibility study late this summer.
In an Aug. 13 statement, the mayor said the decision to terminate discussion was a result of weak community support.
"There's an old saying in politics: When you’ve dug yourself into a hole, the first thing you do is drop the shovel," Cieslewicz said in the statement. "So I have decided that I will not continue to pursue the issue of streetcars in Madison."
George Twigg, Cieslewicz's communications director, said the mayor felt there were widespread misconceptions within the community that he was spending more time on the potential streetcar system than on other more important issues.
"First, the mayor felt it was a distraction from what the city was doing on the issue of public safety,” Twigg said. “And second, he thought it was threatening the [Regional Transportation Authority] proposal."
Ald. Robbie Webber, District 5, said the timing of the decision to disband the Streetcar Study Committee was strategic, as she hopes the state Legislature will vote for the RTA in Wisconsin.
The RTA — which is endorsed by Cieslewicz — would allow a region of the state to form a taxing entity to fund Transport 20/20, which includes commuter rail and not streetcars. There are currently three separate regions within Wisconsin requesting this ability.
"Every state in the Upper Midwest — except Wisconsin — has the ability for a region to form a taxing entity that funds transit," Webber said.
Ald. Tim Gruber, District 11, said the mayor's decision to drop the issue of streetcars was wise, but unfortunate.
"It was a smart political move on his part, but whether it's a smart move for the city in the future, I think only history will tell," Gruber said. "I think we need to look at all our information for transportation, but I think it may be a few years before we're ready to look at [streetcars] again."
Webber said she agrees with Cieslewicz that the streetcar debate might have been clouding other, more pressing issues.
"It was making it impossible to talk about the issues we really needed to talk about, which I think is unfortunate," Webber said. "The media was focusing too much on streetcars, which made it hard to focus on other issues, such as safety on the west side."
Although Webber said she understands why the issue needed to be dropped, she was disappointed that the possibility of streetcars would no longer be considered.
"I'm in favor of looking at all of our transportation options, and I think that we need to start planning for the future and looking at options that don't involve driving," Webber said. "I think it was a political move, but that's not necessarily negative."
According to Twigg, streetcars in Madison have been a serious topic of discussion since the mayor created the Streetcar Study Committee at the end of 2004. The committee will meet one last time this fall to finalize its report, in hopes that it can leave a product that might be useful in the future.
