If Talgo leaves, Milwaukee mayor Tom Barrett and his chief of staff Pat Curley have said, the city could consider legal action against the State to recover the millions of dollars it invested in renovating the Tower Automotive plant for the company.I don't know how far they'd get with that. It was reported months ago that Talgo's commitment to the Milwaukee location extended only through 2012, when it was projected manufacturing would be complete on the Amtrak Hiawatha and Oregon DOT train sets.
I suppose the wisdom of the expense of helping Talgo set up operations in Milwaukee depends on your (political) perspective, but I'd question whether the State would be on the hook for those costs just because Talgo didn't secure more orders from the State.
The high speed line between Milwaukee and Madison was a nice plum dangled in front of Talgo but it was more of a hope than an intent.
Meanwhile the Journal-Sentinel's resident Walker-fluffer Patrick McIlheran argues that constructing a train between Milwaukee and Madison will eradicate the existing bus service, a prophecy substantially disconnected from the fact there are eight daily trains and more than 30 daily buses between Milwaukee and Chicago.
Also, gay Nazis.
So the McIllDink yells that it won't work 'cause it ain't commuter rail, and the ShepherdSnark snides that it won't work because it's commuter rail.
ReplyDeleteI think I've finally got this politics thing figured out. It works exactly like a hip-hop beef. It ain't what you say; it's how you say it. So what the hell. Barrett may as well freestyle.
And the third member of the local conservative intellectual triumvirate complains the train isn't as fast as the ones in France or China.
ReplyDeleteWhich Constitutional amendment prohibits government support for any form of travel that isn't the fastest?
ReplyDelete