It's a pity that Milwaukee, WI isn't subject to the influence of DOGE because they could use it. Several years ago, under then-Mayor Tom Barrett, the city spent tens of billions of dollars on a streetcar that runs in a circle.
Barrett had a weird love affair with trains and got to see the streetcar opening before jumping ship to join the Biden Administration as Ambassador to Luxemborg.
You'll be not shocked to learn the Democrat enclave in southeast Wisconsin has problems with fiscal restraint and that train the former mayor drooled over is a costly boondoggle for the biggest city in the Dairy State:
The City of Milwaukee is hemorrhaging millions of dollars per year in what may be the biggest left-wing boondoggle in its history. 🧵This is the sad, strange, entirely preventable story of The Hop streetcar system: 🧵 pic.twitter.com/apzwCslee6
— Dan O'Donnell (@DanODonnellShow) February 17, 2025
Milwaukee had a streetcar from the 1860s until the 1950s, when cars were popular. In the years between the demise of that streetcar and the birth of The Hop, tracks were removed to make bike and walking paths.
Milwaukee had a streetcar for nearly 100 years, but it ceased operation in 1958 amid a massive spike in personal automobile ownership. This was just fine until 2014, when Democrat Mayor Tom Barrett decided he needed a new $100 million trolley.https://t.co/fWrtcprlcQ
— Dan O'Donnell (@DanODonnellShow) February 17, 2025
$100 million.
If you drive just a little bit west of downtown Milwaukee, the neighborhoods look like something out of the zombie apocalypse.
Milwaukee residents, members of the Milwaukee Common Council, Republicans in the Wisconsin Legislature, and utility companies all warned that this would be a costly failure, but Barrett’s plan was approved in early 2015.https://t.co/7QEi5wEapA
— Dan O'Donnell (@DanODonnellShow) February 17, 2025
They were warned.
Federal grants and a Potawatomi Hotel and Casino naming rights deal covered some of the initial costs, but Milwaukee was on the hook for the ongoing operation and maintenance of what it called The Hop.https://t.co/Si4XfYPuR1
— Dan O'Donnell (@DanODonnellShow) February 17, 2025
For the first year, the cost to ride The Hop was covered by Potawatomi.
And, despite being free, it didn't do well from the outset.
The Hop opened to great fanfare in 2018, but there were almost immediately signs of trouble: It averaged only 2,000 rides per day in its first year even though IT WAS FREE TO RIDE.https://t.co/xgt2YHP8d0
— Dan O'Donnell (@DanODonnellShow) February 17, 2025
Those are insanely bad numbers.
A big problem? It was incredibly slow. In 2019, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel timed it against an Uber, the bus, a bike, and walking. The Hop was by far the slowest. That’s right: It was faster to WALK than it was to take The Hop.https://t.co/Q4jv1dgwXU
— Dan O'Donnell (@DanODonnellShow) February 17, 2025
Yes. The Hop is slower than walking.
Then COVID hit in 2020 and ridership plummeted. Five years later, it still hasn’t fully recovered even though IT IS STILL FREE TO RIDE. Milwaukee never bothered to install fare boxes and will apparently keep paying for people to ride The Hop forever.https://t.co/O2sMvtBCAp
— Dan O'Donnell (@DanODonnellShow) February 17, 2025
What's the definition of insanity again?
$100 million spent and they couldn't install fare boxes?
This is costing taxpayers $5.5 million per year in operational expenses, which Milwaukee is attempting to pay for by radically increasing parking tickets and parking meter fees. In other words, people who don’t use the streetcar are paying for it!https://t.co/AZjJcNktoF
— Dan O'Donnell (@DanODonnellShow) February 17, 2025
This is so on-brand for Democrats.
This, however, wasn’t enough. In 2023, Milwaukee demanded more money from the State of Wisconsin in shared revenue as well as permission to levy a new 2% city sales tax. Both took effect in January 2024, driving sales taxes to 7.9% in Milwaukee.https://t.co/SI5pZ4juhQ
— Dan O'Donnell (@DanODonnellShow) February 17, 2025
This writer doesn't shop in Milwaukee if she can avoid it.
That STILL wasn’t enough, and The Hop is still bleeding money while no one rides it. In October, Milwaukee fired the streetcar’s manager, saying he was "incompetent or ineffective" for, among MANY other things, costing the city nearly $5 million because he failed to file a…
— Dan O'Donnell (@DanODonnellShow) February 17, 2025
He failed to file a federal grant application on time.
That was his job.
Oh, well. DOGE probably would've cut it, anyway.
Today, so few people are riding The Hop that it abruptly stopped providing monthly ridership numbers last August. Again, IT IS ABSOLUTELY FREE TO RIDE.https://t.co/xgt2YHP8d0
— Dan O'Donnell (@DanODonnellShow) February 17, 2025
Any time this writer sees The Hop, it's empty.
A decade after it was approved, The Hop has proven to be the biggest flop in recent Milwaukee history and is very probably its largest waste of money ever. It is well past time to keep wasting money on Mayor Barrett’s Trolley Folly and put The Hop out of its misery.
— Dan O'Donnell (@DanODonnellShow) February 17, 2025
It needs to end. But this writer believes the city would be on the hook for tens of millions in Obama-era grants given for the building of The Hop.
So it's a no-win situation.
But tell us more about how we can't possibly cut spending and get our fiscal house in order.
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