Milwaukee Biz Blog

Some state legislators are already complaining about the strings that will come attached to the $810 million in federal stimulus money to connect Madison and Milwaukee by passenger rail.

The gripe for those like Sen. Alberta Darling (R-Menomonee Falls) is that Wisconsin cannot afford the ongoing operational subsidies that would be required for a new train line.

So could Wisconsin "Just Say No" to high-speed rail?

Yes, says Chris Klein of the state Department of Transportation.

"It will have to go through Joint Finance," the budget controlling committee of the Legislature, he notes.
And the Legislature could say, "We don't want no stinkin', half-empty, traffic clogging, whistle-blowing train just so Madison libs can feel good about themselves."

But rejecting the rail funds would mean the federal money is lost and could not be applied to other transportation uses.

"The money is a grant, like any other grant," says Klein. "It is for a specific purpose."

The question, of course, is how much would it cost the state each year to operate the Madison-Milwaukee train including repairs, maintenance and purchase of replacement equipment.

Klein says those figures have not been calculated and won't be known until further down the road.
But he notes that all modes of transportation in Wisconsin - buses, highways, bicycles, harbors, etc. - are subsidized through the state's $6.8 billion transportation fund.

And to put the cost of new highways in perspective, adding one lane to Interstate 94 between Milwaukee and the Illinois line is costing $1.9 billion - twice the cost of the rail line.

Still, given all the train skeptics out there, you wonder if somebody like Republican Scott Walker will try to make it an issue in the governor's race.

Mike Ivey is a columnist with The Cap Times in Madison (Blog used with permission.)

On behalf of the nearly 7,400 employees we represent, we wish to express the important role regional transportation plays in our economic future. We are committed to ensuring dedicated funding for a balanced regional transit system and encouraging our business colleagues to do the same.

We represent two of southeastern Wisconsin’s largest institutions and provide critical services to thousands of local residents on a daily basis. We understand that a fully-funded transit infrastructure impacts our clients, customers, business, and the economic climate in southeastern Wisconsin. We have hundreds of employees that use buses to get to work every day, however that number continues to decrease as the bus system disintegrates. Continued cuts to the system impair our employees’ ability to get to work and our clients’ and customers’ ability to get critical services and products.

We hope it is clear that we understand firsthand how transit affects our larger community as well as our specific organizations, and we are committed to working with the Legislature to see that a politically and economically sound funding source for transit is implemented in our region during this session.

We are issuing a call to action for our representatives in Madison. We need a truly regional, multi-county, multi-modal regional transit authority including Kenosha, Racine and Milwaukee Counties to be immediately focused on improving bus transit throughout the region and advancing the KRM commuter rail project. We must have a dedicated funding mechanism for transit, which must provide property tax relief, restore routes and rescind fare increases to allow for efficient and effective bus operations throughout the region to allow for economic development and regional growth.

We are willing to call, write or visit with our legislators to communicate the urgency of this issue to our region and our vision for regional transit, we urge residents of Kenosha to do the same.

In summary, our feeling regarding adequately funded regional transportation is simple- get it done. It is our goal, and we hope yours, to work actively to see that it does.

Robert Mariano is chairman and chief executive officer of Roundy’s Supermarkets Inc. in Milwaukee. This blog was co-written by Dick Hansen, president and CEO of Johnson Financial Group Inc., Racine.

Southeastern Wisconsin is in the midst of the greatest and most expensive upgrades to its transportation infrastructure since the Interstate Highway System was constructed by the Eisenhower administration in the 1950s.

Projects include:

• The $810 million completion of the Marquette Interchange reconstruction was recently completed.
• The current $1.9 billion construction of the I-94 expansion between Milwaukee and the Illinois state line is set to be completed in 2016.
• The temporary $15.3 million reconstruction of the Zoo Interchange has begun.
• The Obama administration recently announced $810 million in federal funding for high-speed rail to connect Milwaukee to Madison.

The burning question now is how will all of these projects be paid for at a time when local, state and federal governments are broke? The issue of funding dominated the discussion of a transit forum co-presented by WisPolitics and BizTimes Milwaukee on Thursday.

 

The Zoo Interchange, built in 1963, is the busiest interchange in Wisconsin, providing connections between I-94, I-894 and U.S. 45. The Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) is repairing three of the key bridges of the interchange.

“Milwaukee has an aging system. It did the job it intended to do from the start,” Tom Carlsen, former WisDOT Secretary, said at the forum. “This was done according to the age and the use of the structure of when it was designed.”

“It has been a perfect storm of design deficiencies in the last 50 to 60 years,” added Kenneth Yunker, executive director Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission, referring to the Zoo Interchange.

According to Ryan Luck, project construction chief for emergency bridge replacement for WisDOT, the temporary repair construction of the Zoo Interchange is contracted for $15.3 million. Construction has occurred primarily during the evening hours. However, ramps have been shut down on weekends.

According to Luck, there are two more closures projected for May and demolition on June 14.
WisDOT is evaluating a long-term solution for the Zoo Interchange. Some have speculated the long-term plan could cost $2.3 billion, which would make it the most expensive project in state history.

“The Zoo Interchange is a bottleneck, and that interchange is the heart of Milwaukee’s freeway system, and that heart beats for the Wisconsin economy and all commercial traffic comes together there with the traffic from Fox Valley and Appleton,” Carlsen said.

“The Medical College of Wisconsin’s No. 1 priority is transportation. We were disappointed with what happened with the budget last year. It is critical to get patients, faculty and students on our campus, especially when we serve over 1 million patients on our campus each year,” said Kathryn Kuhn, associate vice president of government affairs at the Medical College of Wisconsin. “We don’t want to wait until 2016, we need it now and need it done right.”

Funding for the Zoo Interchange reconstruction has fueled a heated debate with local business leaders and politicians who disagree on how to sustain transportation funding for the state of Wisconsin.
“The state of transportation in Wisconsin is in flux, it is in trouble, but is positioned for opportunity,” said Craig Thompson executive director of the Transportation Development Association of Wisconsin. “We need to diversify our funding for transportation.”

On Jan. 28, the Obama administration announced $822 million in federal stimulus funds for high-speed rail projects in Wisconsin, including $810 million for a highs-speed rail line to connect Milwaukee to Madison. The Milwaukee to Madison rail service is expected to be operational by 2013, according to the White House.

“All (projects) need to get done. We can’t just pick and choose and say transit is necessary but then pick and choose. We can’t set a priority. All needs to get done, and that’s the challenge ahead,” Yunker added.

One heavily debated alternative source of funding today was a gas sales tax increase.

“I’d like to get off the gas tax,” said Carlsen in his opening remarks.

Tollways also were discussed as an alternative to tax increases. According to Gretchen Schuldt co-chair of Citizens Allied for Sane Highways, “Tolls are inevitable.” 

“When the taxpayer invests money, they want it used wisely, and we need the confidence of the public to invest in this infrastructure,” Luck said.

“We need to find a smarter way for funding in both southeastern Wisconsin and across the state. We need more money and transportation is a return on investment for our economy,” Thompson said.

“Transportation funding is static. If we look at it as static, then we can’t afford to do one project over another.”

“We need to synchronize efforts and get all on the same page with cost factors to eliminate confusion,” said Dan Devine mayor of West Allis.

“To continue to have the CEOs of S.C. Johnson and Son Inc., Roundy’s Supermarkets Inc., and AT&T Wisconsin, some of our last major employers in the state of Wisconsin and economy-based industries behind rail says a lot,” Yunker said.

 

Liz Ramus is a reporter for BizTimes Milwaukee.

Now that it is a virtual certainty that intercity passenger train service will be returning to the Milwaukee-Madison corridor, thanks to the leadership of Gov. Jim Doyle and the Obama administration’s award of $823 million for construction of this line, it is time to address the proposed location of the Madison train terminal.

The current plan provides that the Madison terminal for this new service will be at the Dane County Regional Airport - miles from the Capitol and downtown Madison. The airport location is a mistake that must be corrected if the new service is going to succeed.

It is well established that one of the principal challenges of successful intercity rail passenger service is addressing the problem of the “last mile,” namely the ability of rail service to provide a connection between the train terminal and a traveler’s final destination.

Where the last mile can be covered by a short walk, short taxi ride or a short trip on local transit, rail service will be successful. The success of the existing Hiawatha service between Milwaukee and Chicago is a perfect example of this principle. The downtown location of Chicago’s Union Station makes Hiawatha service very attractive because a rail traveler can access all of downtown Chicago and surrounding neighborhoods, such as Michigan Avenue (“the Magnificent Mile”) and the Museum Campus (Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium & Soldier Field) by walking, a short taxi ride or a short transit trip. In fact, the entire Chicago metropolitan area is accessible from Union Station because Chicago’s commuter rail and rapid transit lines all converge in downtown.

It is this connectivity that has enabled Chicago to maintain the most robust intercity passenger rail service outside of the Northeast U.S. corridor and why Chicago will be the hub of the proposed Midwest Regional Rail System.

To a lesser extent, the same is true for Milwaukee’s Intermodal Station. Downtown Milwaukee is presently accessible by walking or by a short taxi ride. Milwaukee is currently planning a Downtown Streetcar Circulator which will greatly enhance the connections between the Intermodal Station and downtown Milwaukee and surrounding neighborhoods. Again, connectivity is the key to successful intercity rail passenger service.

The principle of connectivity is universally applied in Europe where every major city is served by a downtown rail passenger terminal that provides connections via foot, taxi and other transit service to multiple final destinations.

The official rationale for the Dane County Regional Airport location is that it will save travel time on the eventual high-speed passenger rail line to the Twin Cities. There are several problems with this rationale.
First, it assumes that high-speed passenger rail service will in fact be built between Madison and the Twin Cities. In the short run (the next 10 to 15 years), this assumption is questionable.
Years of planning will be required to accomplish this service extension. A route has not yet been selected and when it is, this service extension will require an investment several times larger than the $823 million allocated to the Milwaukee-Madison corridor.

Under a best case scenario (planning proceeds with no major technical or political delays and billions of federal funds are made available to finance the project despite the current political environment), I believe it will take a minimum of 10 years to implement such service.

A more likely scenario is that the current federal appropriation for high-speed rail represents an opportunity which Congress will not duplicate in the near future until at least some of the corridors funded by the $8 billion appropriation contained in the federal stimulus bill are up and running and the public can assess their costs and benefits. Under this scenario, high-speed rail to the Twin Cities is 15 to 20 years in the future, at best.

Therefore, it will be 10 to 20 years before high-speed rail service is extended beyond the Dane County Regional Airport. Given this reality, it makes more sense to build a downtown Madison station now, and when, and if, high-speed service is extended to the Twin Cities, Madison area station locations can be adjusted if that is deemed necessary at that time.

Second, even if high-speed rail service is extended to the Twin Cities, a downtown Madison terminal will not significantly diminish the quality of that service. The argument is that travel time to the Twin Cities will be lengthened because trains will have to go into downtown Madison, change ends (the train engineer would have to transfer from one end of the train to the other) and proceed back out toward the Twin Cities. This maneuver would involve some additional travel time for a Chicago-Twin Cities trip that would take somewhere between five and six hours overall. However, given the huge benefit of a downtown terminal location (the “last mile” issue), this additional travel time is well worth the trade-off.

On this point, we can again learn from our European friends. I recently returned from a trip to Italy where I rode the Italian high-speed trains between Rome and Florence. Rome and Florence are intermediate stops on the Naples-to-Milan high-speed line (186 mph service). At both Rome and Florence, the high-speed trains travel into the historic downtown stub end stations, the engineer changes ends, and the train proceeds to back out to rejoin the high speed right-of-way. In both cases, travel time is added to the overall Naples-to-Milan trip versus a station stop on the high-speed right-of-way on the outskirts of Rome and Florence.

The Italian rail planners realize that one of the principal benefits of this rail service is that it serves downtown Florence and Rome, and a stop on the outskirts of town would defeat the whole purpose of the high speed service - service to the city centers of the major Italian cities on the line.

In short, the Dane County Regional Airport plan is flawed. This station location will diminish ridership on the line and will jeopardize the success of the service. Travelers whose final destination is downtown Madison, surrounding neighborhoods or the University of Wisconsin will simply continue to drive or take existing inter-city buses because the “last mile” must be covered by a long taxi ride or a transfer to local transit.

For example, the fastest local transit connection between the State Capitol and the airport takes 30 minutes (not including wait time) and requires a transfer between bus routes. Even if Dane County builds some type of commuter rail/light rail service connecting downtown Madison and the airport, there will still be a transfer and a relatively long trip on this mode. As for walking, this option would be completely out of the question unless the traveler is actually going to the airport.

Advocates of transportation choice and sustainable transportation infrastructure have been waiting decades for a high-speed rail connection between Wisconsin’s two largest cities, and it is exciting that this connection will now be built.

However, the Dane County Regional Airport rail terminal will jeopardize the success of this connection and in so doing, diminish the chances for future extensions to the Twin Cities, the Fox River Valley and Green Bay.

We are at the dawn of a new era in intercity transportation in Wisconsin, but there are many skeptics who will exploit any evidence that this new service has failed to achieve its predicted ridership or produce the predicted public benefits. This has to be done right because the future of high-speed rail in Wisconsin will hinge on the performance of this new corridor.

 

Alderman Robert Bauman, a longtime transit proponent, represents Milwaukee's 4th Aldermanic District.

It will be interesting to watch how the debate over the expansion of southeastern Wisconsin’s mass transit system splits the region’s business community into two factions: those who want to invest public dollars to expand and improve the mass transit system, and those who do not.

The roster of the camp of supporters for improved and expanded mass transit reads like a who’s who of business in the region:

• “This is not a want, this is an absolute need for the community,” said Tim Sullivan, president and chief executive officer of South Milwaukee-based Bucyrus International Inc.
• “It’s critical that this legislation pass during the spring 2010 session,” said Robert Mariano, chairman and CEO of Milwaukee-based Roundy’s Supermarkets Inc. “It is foolish to ignore, this is an economic development issue. Transit builds the economy.”
• “For the vitality of southeastern Wisconsin, getting this bill through the legislature is critical,” said Scott VanderSanden, president of AT&T Wisconsin.
• “We believe regional transit and the KRM is an important investment in the future of our region,” said J. Fisk Johnson, chairman and CEO of Racine-based S.C. Johnson & Son Inc. “More efficient and more affordable public transit can help make a city an even more attractive place for business and can help the vibrancy of a community. The lack of accessibility to Milwaukee and Chicago is a big reason it is more challenging to attract key people to our company.”
• “It’s really frustrating to see the constant deterioration of public transit,” said Ed Zore, CEO of Milwaukee-based Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. “It’s really important for business to have a good public transit system.” Zore said about 700 of his company’s employees use public transit.

Add to this lineup the likes of Greater Milwaukee Committee president Julia Taylor and Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce (MMAC) vice president Pete Beitzel, and we’ve got a critical mass of business interests lining up in support of mass transit.

 

Beitzel says the debate reminds him of the conversation that took place when the Eisenhower administration embarked on the creation of America’s Interstate Highway system. Public dollars created a system that was not financially self-sustaining, but provided benefits for the common good - mainly interstate commerce and travel.

“This is the beginning of a sort of mini interstate of rail service, and Milwaukee is lucky because some forms of manufacturing and maintenance will be done here and that’s a major positive for job creation,” Beitzel said. “The work being done on the track before, during and after construction will create jobs here, it will reduce travel time, and the additional set of trains will allow us to eventually increase service frequency back and forth. People will say it’s a lot of money, but they said the same thing when we were establishing the interstate highway program. When initially establishing any infrastructure it’s not cheap, but for Milwaukee the facility is already here, we aren’t going to have to put a lot of extra money into the project.”

The new debate over mass transit escalated late last week, when BizTimes Milwaukee broke the exclusive story that the Obama administration intends to spend $810 million in federal bucks to build a high-speed railroad to connect Milwaukee to Madison.

Normally, the news that the federal government will spend more than $800 million in a state is warmly greeted by the local folks. However, look for the local impact of the federal gravy train to be a focus of debate in Wisconsin’s gubernatorial race.

Critics of the high-speed rail project say the state will be left holding the bag for high maintenance and operating costs. Those fears will no doubt be fanned by Milwaukee’s talk radio hosts, who have been screaming for years against any public investments in things that go “Choo! Choo!”

We’ll explore the arguments both for and against expanded mass transit in future editions of BizTimes Milwaukee. Stay tuned.

 

Steve Jagler is executive editor of BizTimes Milwaukee.

 

On behalf of the Greater Milwaukee Committee, I applaud Gov. Jim Doyle on several major transit announcements last week and his efforts to address southeastern Wisconsin’s transit shortcomings.

In his recent State of the State Address, Gov. Doyle demonstrated key leadership by continuing to work for transit legislation that would provide dedicated funding and property tax relief to save our local transit systems and bring about the KRM (Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee) commuter rail, efforts that my members overwhelmingly support.

I would also like to congratulate the governor for securing more than $800 million in federal dollars to build a high-speed rail line between Milwaukee and Madison.

This investment in transit further illustrates the need for a fully functional infrastructure, starting with an adequately funded bus system, to strengthen and revitalize our economy.

I am hopeful that Gov. Doyle’s leadership on this issue will be reflected by legislative action in the current session.

Transit legislation currently in the works in Madison reflects the collective appeal from the local business, labor and civic communities who understand that dedicated funding for transit is critical to the future of our region.

As echoed by my colleagues at a recent press conference, an adequately funded transit system will preserve and expand job opportunities in southeastern Wisconsin, promote job creation and allow us to be competitive in attracting and retaining top talent.

On behalf of the GMC, I commend the governor for his support of transit solutions for our region and urge the State Legislature to follow his lead. Our region cannot afford to be without the jobs, economic development and property tax relief that will result from the passage of the current transit legislation.

It is now in the hands of our State Legislature to continue upon the momentum created by Gov. Doyle, the business community, labor coalitions and countless southeastern Wisconsin constituents.

 

Julia Taylor is president of the Greater Milwaukee Committee (GMC), a nonprofit organization of southeastern Wisconsin’s business, labor, academic, philanthropic, nonprofit and civic leaders.

Some of southeastern Wisconsin’s key business leaders said today that the creation of a regional transit authority to upgrade Milwaukee County’s bus system and create a Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee (KRM) commuter rail is essential for the economic vitality of the region.

Backed by some of area's most prominent business executives, Gov. Jim Doyle announced today new legislation to create a Southeastern Regional Transit Authority (SERTA).

The plan includes a 0.5 percent sales tax increase in Milwaukee County to provide a dedicated funding source for the county’s financially troubled bus system.

Business leaders said mass transit is needed to help people get to work and is a key amenity to attracting talented workers to southeastern Wisconsin.

“This is not a want, this is an absolute need for the community,” said Tim Sullivan, president and chief executive officer of South Milwaukee-based Bucyrus International Inc. The announcement about the RTA legislation was held at the Bucyrus headquarters.

“It’s critical that this legislation pass during the spring 2010 session,” said Robert Mariano, chairman and CEO of Milwaukee-based Roundy’s Supermarkets Inc. “It is foolish to ignore, this is an economic development issue. Transit builds the economy.”

“For the vitality of southeastern Wisconsin, getting this bill through the legislature is critical,” said Scott VanderSanden, president of AT&T Wisconsin.

“We believe regional transit and the KRM is an important investment in the future of our region,” said J. Fisk Johnson, chairman and CEO of Racine-based S.C. Johnson & Son Inc. “More efficient and more affordable public transit can help make a city an even more attractive place for business and can help the vibrancy of a community. The lack of accessibility to Milwaukee and Chicago is a big reason it is more challenging to attract key people to our company.”

“It’s really frustrating to see the constant deterioration of public transit,” said Ed Zore, CEO of Milwaukee-based Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. “It’s really important for business to have a good public transit system.”

About 700 of his company’s employees use public transit, Zore said.

 

Clock is ticking

The supporters of the bill to create the SERTA believe they may be on the clock.

Doyle is not running for re-election in the fall. The state’s budget problems may give a Republican candidate a better chance to win the governor’s race. If either of the Republican candidates for governor, Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker or former Congressman Mark Neumann, is elected, they could block RTA legislation. Walker reiterated his opposition to creating an RTA to fund mass transit in the region.

“I believe now is not the time for a tax increase,” Walker told BizTimes Milwaukee. “Considering the economy, the last thing we want is a tax increase right now.”

Walker said concerns about the financial health of the county’s bus system have been exaggerated. He acknowledged that in the long run, financial issues for the bus system must be addressed. However, he said a better option than a tax increase would be to allocate some state sales taxes from the sale of vehicles for mass transit systems. He also said the county should privatize General Mitchell International Airport and use funds from that for the transit system.

Neumann could not be reached for comment about the issue Tuesday.

With the future of the governor’s office up in the air, transit advocates, including several business leaders, are hoping the state legislature approves the new RTA proposal this spring.

Transit advocates are anxious for a solution to the Milwaukee County Transit System’s funding problems.

“The bus system in Milwaukee is desperately in need of immediate help,” Doyle said. “We need to get moving on that.”

Until the problems with Milwaukee County’s bus system are solved, many local and federal government officials are refusing to support the plans for the proposed KRM commuter rail service.

The details

If approved, the new RTA plan calls for a 0.5 percent increase in the sales tax for Milwaukee County to provide funds for the county’s bus system. Existing funding sources, including property taxes, in Racine and Kenosha counties would continue to fund bus services in those counties.

The proposed KRM commuter rail service would be funded by a car rental fee in the three counties of up to $18 per rental.

The car rental fee has already been approved by the state government, but the Milwaukee County sales tax increase has not.

The plan calls for the transit services of the three counties to eventually merge into one RTA.
Other counties also could join the RTA, if they choose to do so.

The transit services in Racine County and Kenosha County have much smaller needs so they want to keep their funding separate for their own bus systems, said Julia Taylor, an RTA board member and president of the Greater Milwaukee Committee. Those counties are more concerned about providing funding for the KRM, she said.

Under the proposal, any new funding sources for the RTA must be approved by voters in a referendum, Doyle said. An advisory referendum was approved in 2008 for a 1 percent Milwaukee County sales tax hike for transportation, parks and ambulance services.

The sales tax increase for Milwaukee County will eliminate the cost of the Milwaukee County Transit System from the property tax base, which will result in property tax relief, Doyle and other supporters said.

“It can’t be paid by the property tax,” Sullivan said. “It has to be paid by sales tax. That would put us in line with virtually every other state.”

Without a dedicated funding source, transit supporters say the Milwaukee County bus system will continue to compete with other services for property tax funds and will be subject to additional service cutbacks and fare increases.

A regional transit plan that addresses the needs of the bus system is necessary to convince federal officials to provide funding for a new commuter rail service, Doyle said.

The state has invested massive amounts of money to improve the region’s roads, including the Marquette Interchange project and the expansion and reconstruction of Interstate 94 between Milwaukee and Illinois, but Doyle said improvements to mass transit are also needed in the region.

“Modern infrastructure needs good roads. We have invested heavily in that,” Doyle said. “But it also needs passenger rail.”

All of those naysayers who believe Wisconsin is a terrible place to do business need to take a deep breath and do some serious recalibrating.
To be sure, like every other state, Wisconsin has its share of challenges - its high taxes and the dropout rate at Milwaukee Public Schools always quickly come to mind. And no doubt, Wisconsin has taken it on the chin with the closures of automotive plants in Janesville and Kenosha.
The losses have made the Milwaukee 7 a convenient target for people who make a habit out of trashing Wisconsin's business climate.
However, the negative drumbeat news cycle needs to take a break sometimes, and Tuesday was one of those days.
BizTimes had known for weeks that Milwaukee is one of two cities to be finalists in a Spanish company's search to build its new North American headquarters. We were told by city officials that we should not report that fact, however, because doing so could jeopardize Milwaukee's chances of landing the project.
Well, Wisconsin Secretary of Commerce Richard Leinenkugel blew those concerns out of the water Tuesday when he reported by phone from Bilbao, Spain, at the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce (MMAC) all-member meeting that he had just concluded a "12-hour cage match" presentation to a Spanish company.
Leinenkugel is courting the Spanish firm with a southeastern Wisconsin delegation that includes officials from the Milwaukee 7, We Energies and Richard "Rocky" Marcoux, commissioner of the Milwaukee Department of City Development.
Milwaukee is "at the finish line" of landing the company's North American headquarters that would bring hundreds of jobs to southeastern Wisconsin and could also generate more work for vendors in the region, sources said.
"It's between us and one other city," said one source close to the negotiations.
Officials representing the Spanish company have been studying the business climate in southeastern Wisconsin for weeks, BizTimes has learned. The company sent representatives to the MMAC's Future 50 program in September, and they toured several southeastern Wisconsin factories, including the GenMet metal fabrication plant in Mequon. The plant tours were designed to give the Spanish company some insight about the array of potential partners and vendors in the region, sources said.
Sources said they expect the Spanish company to make a decision on the site for the North American headquarters by the end of the year.
Sources declined to identify the Spanish company that is being courted by Milwaukee.
We've got a pretty good hunch, however. Think alternative energy. Spain has become the world's second-largest producer of solar and wind energy in the world (behind Germany).
Spanish companies such as Gamesa, a manufacturer and installer of wind turbines, Iberdrola, a power group, and Acciona Energia, a wind park developer, are becoming global players in the fast-emerging alternative energy markets.

Republic Airways jobs
The news that Milwaukee is a finalist for the Spanish company's jobs came on the heels of Republic Airways Holdings Inc.'s announcement earlier Tuesday that it will save 800 jobs in Oak Creek and move 800 new jobs to the region by the end of next year.
Republic, the new parent company of Midwest Airlines, plans to move the jobs to Oak Creek and Milwaukee's General Mitchell International Airport.
Republic chief executive officer Bryan Bedford confirmed the creation of a Milwaukee hub during the MMAC's meeting at the Bradley Center.
Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle announced the use of the state's Enterprise Zone tax credits to help convince Republic to bring the jobs to the state.
Indianapolis-based Republic Airways will consolidate operations in Milwaukee from other cities such as Las Cruces, N.M., and Denver, Colo.
Republic acquired Denver-based Frontier Airlines on Oct. 1.
Bedford praised Milwaukee's pro-business climate as a reason for deciding to bring the jobs here, rather than Indianapolis or Denver.
"We spent a lot of time in the last three months trying to figure out where we can be our best and most competitive," Bedford said.
Bedford also announced Republic will add new routes from Milwaukee to San Francisco and Raleigh, N.C. The company is considering adding service to six more routes.
"Midwest Airlines today is about 45 percent to 50 percent of what it was at its peak. Our goal is to get back to its peak as soon as possible," Bedford said.

 

Mercury Marine jobs
Step back for a moment and recall that Wisconsin also recently beat out Oklahoma to keep Mercury Marine's production plant in Fond du Lac. Wisconsin provided about $70 million in public assistance, along with about $50 million in a loan backed by a Fond du Lac County sales tax and $3 million from the city of Fond du Lac. With the combined package of incentives, Mercury Marine plans to move up to 2,700 jobs to the Fox Valley.

 

Biotech jobs
In addition to the wins with Mercury Marine and Republic Airways, eight biotechnology companies have recently moved from other states to Wisconsin.
Biotechnology in Wisconsin is an $8.7 billion industry with 400 companies and 34,000 employees. Biotechnology is the fastest-growing segment of the Wisconsin economy, with an annualized growth rate of nearly 7 percent.
The state is benefiting from the formation of the Wisconsin Angel Network and the Wisconsin Venture Fund to help facilitate deal flow, investor exchanges and network creation.
In February, Doyle expanded the investor tax credit law as part of an early economic recovery bill. Enhancements included: raising the cap on tax credits for angel investments from $1 million to $4 million; tripling the annual pool of credits available for angel credits, from $5.5 million to $18.25 million per year, and venture credits, $6 million to $18.75 million; and allowing angel investors to claim the entire 25 percent credit on their investment in the first taxable year.
The eight biotech companies moving to Wisconsin are: RJA Dispersions LLC; VitalMedix; Rapid Diagnostek; Aldevron; Flex Biomedical Inc.; Inviragen Inc.; Exact Sciences Corp.; and NanoMedex.
They're moving here from Minnesota, North Dakota, Massachusetts and Florida.
Those relocations recently prompted the Star-Tribune in Minneapolis to write a series (and a related blog item headlined, "Wisconsin kicks our butt") about how Minnesota is losing out to a better business climate in Wisconsin.

 

Jobs from the Flatlands
Meanwhile, Uline Inc. of Waukegan, Ill., will move across the Wisconsin border to its new headquarters in Pleasant Prairie in 2010, bringing 1,000 jobs to a state that is supposedly a terrible place to do business. Uline is investing about $100 million in this God-awful place.
Uline received more than $6 million in incentives and aid from the State of Wisconsin to come here. In addition to Uline, several other Chicago area-based firms recently have opted to build facilities in Kenosha County instead of northern Illinois, including Vernon Hills-based Rust-Oleum Corp. and Lake Forest Village-based Hospira Inc.
And guess what? Business advocates in northern Illinois are now screaming because Wisconsin is luring away so many of their businesses. At a meeting of the Lake County Chamber of Commerce in Independence Grove, Lake County Partners president Dave Young blamed Illinois' "unfriendly business climate" for the flight of businesses TO Wisconsin.
"We have a governor (in Illinois) who goes out of his way to antagonize the business community," Young said at the luncheon, according to the Lake County News-Sun. "Unfortunately, right next door in Kenosha County, Gov. Jim Doyle is very adept at business recruitment and actually enjoys it."
Oh, and there will be more good news. Look for the efforts of the Water Council and Badger Meter Inc. CEO Rich Meeusen to pay off with more freshwater technology jobs in the next couple of years.
On Wisconsin!

Steve Jagler is executive editor of BizTimes Milwaukee.

Earlier this year, President Barack Obama and other political leaders in Washington, D.C., publicly admonished companies for - in some cases - overly lavish business trips.

These pronouncements unintentionally demonized legitimate business travel, which has had a devastating impact on tourism economies and the accompanying jobs throughout the country.

While a city in the nation's heartland such as Milwaukee has not seen the dramatic crash of familiar resort destinations, 70 percent of our $2.6 billion tourism economy (and 66,000 supporting jobs) comes from visitors on business travel or meetings and conventions and we're feeling the pain with hotel occupancies down in the low double digits over pre-recession levels.

Media reports of the president and federal government officials demonizing legitimate business travel earlier this year are still having a significant adverse effect on our economy. The Department of Labor reported that nearly 200,000 travel-related jobs were lost in 2008 and another 247,000 positions are expected to be cut by the end of this year

A new study by Oxford Economics and funded by the U.S. Travel Association and the Destination & Travel Foundation, makes a compelling bottom line case on the ROI of business and incentive travel.

Among the key findings:

• Executives cited customer meetings as having the greatest returns, in the range of $15-$19.99 per dollar invested.
• Executives identified the average return on conference and trade show participation to be in the range of $4-$5.99 per dollar invested.
• Companies would need to increase an employee's total base compensation by 8.5 percent in order to achieve the same affect of incentive travel, according to the executives.

Business meetings and conventions are important lifelines to learn new information, grow businesses and meet with colleagues face-to-face. It's important that we work to protect beneficial meetings, conventions and incentive travel because it makes good business sense. We need the president and our elected officials to again use the bully pulpit and take the lead on this.

 

Working together, we can stop the hemorrhaging. The message we need our political leaders and all of us working in the hospitality and tourism industry to state is quite simple: start traveling. Please spread the message!

David Fantle is vice president of public relations at Visit Milwaukee.

In 2008, the Urban Economic Development Association (UEDA) focused its seventh annual community development summit on transportation, jobs and regional cooperation. One year later, the issue remains and a solution has yet to be determined.

Much has happened over the past year illustrating the urgent need and overwhelming support for investing in a regional infrastructure to oversee bus and rail transit in southeastern Wisconsin: a referendum was passed in Milwaukee County demonstrating the support for a dedicated sales tax for transit, parks and emergency medical services (EMS); the temporary study regional transit authority (RTA) completed their study and submitted their recommendations to Gov. Jim Doyle and the state legislature; RTA enabling legislation was included in Gov. Doyle’s budget bill; and although not what was originally proposed, an RTA for the Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee (KRM) commuter rail was created and funded as a result of the 2009-2011 state budget.

Most recently, progress was seen as Gov. Doyle announced new compromise legislation to create a truly regional transit authority for Kenosha, Racine and Milwaukee to govern and fund bus and rail transit in the three-county region. We are encouraged by this leadership in advancing a truly regional transit infrastructure that encompasses both bus and rail transit throughout Kenosha, Racine and Milwaukee.

Additionally, we are pleased to see that the governor honored Milwaukee County’s referendum by including property tax relief and a sales tax of 0.5 percent for transit. The framework detailed by Gov. Doyle will allow Milwaukee County to immediately address the urgent need for funding its local bus transit, while phasing in Racine and Kenosha with the long-term goal of consolidating into one regional authority. As an added benefit, the plan outlined by Gov. Doyle strengthens the KRM’s application for the Federal Transit Administration New Starts funding by outlining our local plan for a regional framework and dedicated funding.

The momentum created by this recent development must not be lost. As a community we have worked hard to show our elected leaders the importance of seeing this item through to completion, with a real solution that moves our residents from home to work and school, strengthens southeastern Wisconsin’s infrastructure and positions our region as a strong competitor with our peers. It is with this momentum in mind that UEDA has decided to revisit the urgent, and unresolved need for regional transit in southeastern Wisconsin. Though the conversation has intensified over the past year, there is still much work to be done. This year’s community development summit will deliver a call to action, to make regional transit a reality for southeastern Wisconsin. We urge you to be a part of the conversation, and not let this momentum fade.

For more information on Urban Economic Development Association of Wisconsin’s eighth annual community development summit, or to register please visit www.uedawi.org.

Bill Johnson is executive director of Urban Economic Development Association of Wisconsin, a nonprofit membership association comprised of over 100 nonprofit, corporate and individual members dedicated to the professional development of individuals and groups working in community and economic development. Its mission is to support housing and economic development initiatives that revitalize Wisconsin communities.