{"id":6532,"date":"2023-10-19T18:05:11","date_gmt":"2023-10-19T18:05:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=6532"},"modified":"2023-10-19T19:11:49","modified_gmt":"2023-10-19T19:11:49","slug":"federal-strings-determined-the-timing-of-hops-unfinished-l-line","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=6532","title":{"rendered":"Federal strings\u00a0determined the\u00a0timing of Hop\u2019s unfinished L-Line"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared at https:\/\/www.badgerinstitute.org\/federal-strings-determined-the-timing-of-hops-unfinished-l-line\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Grant conditions were satisfied by streetcar\u2019s Sunday-only route through construction site<\/strong><\/em><\/h4>\n
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\"Map<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Milwaukee city officials are going to run their streetcars, part of the $128 million Hop, through a closed construction site<\/a> on Sundays, and Sundays only, throughout the winter in order to satisfy the requirements of a federal grant.<\/p>\n

If ridership on the new one-day-a-week \u201cL-Line\u201d are similar to Sunday numbers on the Hop\u2019s single existing line, there will be few riders most of the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cA requirement of the grant is to begin service by 10\/31\/2023 on the L-Line,\u201d wrote Tiffany Shepherd, a marketing and communications officer for the Department of Public Works in an email to the Badger Institute. \u201cWe could have requested an extension, but choose to use this an opportunity to provide access as soon as possible, even though it\u2019s only one day a week. By operating on Sundays, we are providing the opportunity for the operations staff to become more acquainted with the new L-Line and how it interacts with the M-Line and become ready for the busy summer of 2024.\u202fThis will also allow the public to become familiar with the L-Line, as this will be the first time they will be seeing and interacting with the streetcar on Michigan St. and Clybourn St.\u201d<\/p>\n

Daily service, they have said, is scheduled to begin on the \u201cL-Line\u201d next spring.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

A different spokesperson, Brian Rothgery, had previously told the Badger Institute in August that he doubted that the opening of the long-planned extension might somehow be tied to federal grant requirements but did not know for sure. He also later ignored questions from the Badger Institute about the issue \u2014 though an internal email indicates he did at least think about answering.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs far as a response, I\u2019m sure we can provide a well-founded reason for easing into full-time operations,\u201d wrote Rothgery in an Aug. 23 email to another staffer that the Badger Institute obtained through an open records request. \u201cI would also provide a recent Urban Milwaukee that shows stead (sic) growth in ridership.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those numbers \u2014 which generally show growth over the last few years but ridership levels that are still lower than they were before the pandemic \u2014 are here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cOr,\u201d wrote Rothgery to his colleagues, \u201cwe could not respond at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

They did not back then respond at all.<\/p>\n

In the internal email copied to a number of Department of Public Works employees, including Commissioner Jerrel Kruschke, Rothgery wrote that the Badger Institute has \u201can ongoing \u2018boondoggle\u2019 narrative that they are trying to maintain.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s only partially true.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve actually called it \u201ca slow-motion boondoggle,\u201d a \u201cclassic boondoggle,\u201d a \u201cflop\u201d and a \u201cfinancial anvil\u201d \u2014 though we borrowed those last words from an alderman concerned about the need for local money to supplement the federal grants. Oh, we also quoted Milwaukeeans who called it \u201cthe biggest waste of tax dollars I\u2019ve ever seen,\u201d \u201ca tiny project with astronomical cost,\u201d and \u201ca nuisance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rothgery shared some of our stories with his colleagues:\u00a0<\/p>\n