Complete the parking survey

And be sure to mention the disparity between spending on providing parking and spending on providing public transportation.

Please Complete City Parking Survey
 

A parking study is being conducted for the City of La Crosse.  To provide information for this study, La Crosse neighborhood residents are invited to complete the following online surveys:
 

Downtown Business Owners:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/DTBusOwn

Downtown Employees:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/DTEmp

Downtown Customers/Visitors:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/DTCust

All Area Residents:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/AllResidents

Rail Passengers meeting in March

Registration for the WisARP Spring Meeting in La Crosse on March 28th is now open. You can register online at

https://reg.planetreg.com/E251038172849

If you live in the La Crosse area and you can't make it for the whole meeting, just come when you can at no charge. Just let me know that you will be coming. We are making the push to get the second Chicago-Twin Cities train.

Mark Weitenbeck
weitenbeck@sbcglobal.net 

Parking Study Open House - Jan. 29

The city is doing another parking study focussing on certain areas that have lots of cars parked on streets by Mayo, Gundersen, UWL, etc. There will be an open house on Wednesday, January 29 in the 3rd floor conference room of City Hall to hear from citizens about parking issues. One session is 9 to 10:30 a'm. and one is 4 to 6 p.m. 

Those of us who ride buses, whether it's our primary mode of transportation or whether we are 'choice' riders who also drive cars, should be in on this discussion. The cost of city parking infrastructure, maintenance, and enforcement is shared by all city residents whether or not they have or drive cars. The money that supports this parking system is money that might be better and more fairly spent improving our public transportation that is available and useable by all. The fines that are being used to control who parks where should be used, if there are to be fines, in improving the public transportation in these areas so fewer people will feel or have the need to drive and park there.

Many cities are reducing parking requirements and prohibiting parking in city centers. For a wonderful example of a brilliant many-dimensional solution to a many-dimensional situation, including parking, see https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2018/05/01/a-new-parking-garage-in-s-hertogenbosch/. At the meeting point of increasing car traffic, increasing carbon emissions, increased dangerous air quality, and increased traffic deaths, comes the realization that the cost of continuing to worship cars is becoming too expensive. Our city recently committed to reducing carbon emissions in our community. Will a new parking plan take that important goal into account?

Attend the open house and give your opinion please!

We have not met in forever! I hope this year we can have at least three big meetings per year and a monthly meeting of a steering committee. We are working to schedule a big meeting in February which will include a time to talk with MTU head, Adam Lorentz, and a real membership drive. As an institutional member of the Wisconsin Transit Riders' Alliance, LATA owes dues every year. This year, we will hope members can share in paying those dues and our meeting expenses.

Watch this space for our meeting date and email me if you would like to be part of a regular steering committee (subject to board approval).

Transportation Week of Action

Cross-posted from Coulee Region Sierra Club

Use the graphic above for online. Print and post .pdf flyer at this link.

Transportation call in Thursday

Why must we beg for basic transportation funding? This is from CMRT (Coalition for More Responsible Transportation in Wisconsin)

A reminder that tomorrow is the day: We're holding a coalition call-in day to key members of the legislature as they hammer out the transportation budget. The vote is scheduled for next week, so this is a critical time to make your voice heard.

We're asking for funding for local priorities -- transit and paratransit, walking and biking, and local road repairs -- not new highway expansions. 

If you haven't already, please RSVP here. We'll send you all the information you need, including a script and numbers to call. Also, you can join and share the coalition's Facebook event.

Budget call in TODAY!

From the Coalition for More Responsible Transportation:

After years of billion dollar investment poured into highway expansion projects, Wisconsin's transportation system is not meeting our needs.

Join a state-wide campaign to ask the Joint Finance Committee to prioritize public transportation, specialized transportation, and our local roads: not to enumerate any new highway expansion projects!

When: 
Tuesday, June 4, 2019

Targets:
Joint Finance Committee Co-Chairs:
~ Representative Nygren, 608 266 2343
~ Senator Darling, 608-266-5830

Up for another call? Call your legislators too! Find them here:https://legis.wisconsin.gov/ 

Sample Script:
Hello, my name is ____________, I’m from ____ , and I am calling about transportation in the state budget. 

I care about this because ______. 

Please fund local priorities: a $40 million increase to local roads, a $36 million increase to public transit, and a $6 million increase to specialized transportation that benefits seniors and people with disabilities. 

Please do not enumerate any new highway expansion projects: they are costly to taxpayers and bring more cars to the road, but do not  improve traffic flow. 

From crumbling local roads to dangerous bridges to public transit routes being closed, our local modes of transportation have suffered because of misplaced priorities. Additionally, people with disabilities, those who are outliving their ability to drive and those who cannot afford cars are being left out of important opportunities because transportation options are limited. 

Please build a transportation system that gets Wisconsinites where we need to go. Thank you.