The minority of theCommon Council who oppose the Milwaukeestreetcar were able to stall the final vote until Feb. 10. That gives theAstroturf CRG group time to gather 31,000 signatures in support of a referendumthat would be placed on the April 2016 ballot requiring the streetcar itself togo to a binding referendum.
The next few weekswill be busy ones for both sides of this debate. So what’s next?
- The final vote on Feb. 10. This will likely pass. When you remove Tony Zielinski’s vote for theproject and then to reconsider, it received 9 of 15 votes in support, givingthe streetcar more than enough votes for it to pass at the next meeting.Significantly, Common Council President Michael Murphy voted in favor afteropposing the project in the past. That carries a lot of weight and sayssomething about how important this project is to the future of the city. (And,no, I don’t think it’s the “second coming.”)
- Opponents need tocome up with 31,000 signatures in the next few weeks. Right-wing radio will befanning the flames to help out this effort and the petition drive will be wellfinanced. I’m going to assume that Nate Hamilton’s radio ad will continuerunning as well. One wrinkle for opponents is that they need 31,000 cityvoters. Suburban residents won’t be able to sign.
- If the CommonCouncil passes the project and the petition drive is successful, I assume that the city will go ahead full steam to beginlaunching the actual project so that it’ll be difficult to kill and peoplewill have gotten used to it. (Then again, that didn’t work out so well for thehigh-speed rail project, which Walker killed even after Doyle was signing contractsright and left to try to lock in that project.)
- The Joint Review Board needs to give its final approval. I was unfamiliar with this body until this morning, andit seems like a few council members—except for the streetcar opponents—werefuzzy on it, too. According to state statutes, the JRB gives the final approvalto any TIF or TID project. (Here’s the state fact sheet on it as well as the city’sfact sheet.) It’s made up of the local taxing authorities as well as onemember of the public. Why did the opposing alders mention the JRB this morning?If you look closely, you’ll see that the JRB doesn’t have to be the final wordon any TIF or TID project. A majority of the JRB can request that theinformation the city submits for JRB review be reviewed for errors. And whowould do that review? The state Department of Revenue. According to the state’s fact sheet:
Department of Revenue(DOR) Review Procedure
Once the JRB reachesa decision and takes action to approve or deny the creation of the TID, theyhave seven days to submit the decision to the local governing body. Under statelaw, (sec. 66.1105(4m)(b)4, Wis. Stats.), the JRB may request that DOR reviewsthe objective facts contained in any of the documents listed on Page 2 in the“Information the JRB may request” section.
To request a DORreview
• A majority of the JRB members must support the request
• A request must be submitted in writing to DOR and must specify which objective fact or item the members believe is inaccurate or incomplete
• Within 10 working days of receiving a request for review that complies with the filing requirements, DOR will investigate the issues raised and send a written response to the JRB
What if the information does not comply or is inaccurate?
• If DOR determines the information does not comply with the law or contains a factual inaccuracy, DOR will return the proposal to the municipality
• The JRB may request, but may not require, that the municipality resubmit the proposal for review. If the proposal is resubmitted, the JRB will vote to approve or disapprove as otherwise specified in TIF law. If the JRB requests a DOR review, the JRB must submit their decision to the municipality within 10 working days of receiving DOR’s written response.
• If the municipality resubmits the proposal within 10 working days after the JRB receives DOR’s written response, the JRB must submit its decision to the municipality within 10 working days after receiving the resubmitted proposal.
I’ll try to track down more information about the city’s JRB—its membership, voting history, etc.
So, do you think the streetcar opponents will begin leaning on the members of the JRB? Or try to change state law or file a lawsuit so that members of the public can request a review?
I wouldn’t put it past them. For two decades, the opponents have tried at every turn to defeat anykind of rail, and they aren’t going to stop now. If they can kick this thingback up to the state and put it in the hands of a Walker appointee, they’lleither kill it or tie it up again. As Tom Barrett mentioned during our interview afew weeks ago, in real estate, time kills all deals. So the opponents will tryevery tactic to delay this thing until it’s done.
