Recently, there was an article published in The Badger Herald (“Amtrak proposal unrealistic,” March 2, 2009) that suggested using money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (or as it’s more commonly known the stimulus package) on public transit would be bad for the state. The author of the article suggested that it would be a travesty to plan to spend government funds that do not benefit every citizen in
Public transit — or more specifically, the establishment of a high-speed rail throughout the state of
Another major focus in the shift to public transit is the environment. As much as it may seem like old news, climate change is an important issue on local and state levels as well as on a national level. Switching toward public transit would reduce our dependence on fossil fuels (especially foreign oil), reduce our carbon footprint and reduce our utter helplessness in the face of sporadic changes in gas prices.
Varied public projects on a local level may sound like an intelligible idea, but these projects would not do nearly as much for our future as the establishment of local and statewide high-speed rail system. I am encouraging people to support a viable, technologically sound alternative to the same old ideas and urging Wisconsinites to support 21st-century public transit in any way they can.
Jonah Bromwich
Sophomore, political science
WISPIRG Public Transit Campaign