SEWRPC Right to Listen to Milwaukee Freeway Expansion Opponents Not Suburban
Politicians
March 27, 2003
The ACLU of Wisconsin claims that SEWRPC needs to respect the will of
the low-income and minority people of Milwaukee and not suburban politicians,
regarding proposals to expand the freeway system in Southeast Wisconsin.
The Freeway System Reconstruction Advisory Committee of SEWRPC at its
April 2 meeting will consider a staff recommendation that reportedly will
call for reconstructing the freeways in Milwaukee County without additional
lanes in much of the City of Milwaukee. The Milwaukee Common Council and
a majority of Milwaukee County Supervisors have also voted against unbridled
freeway expansion. The ACLU of Wisconsin says that these recommendations
are in more in the interests of and fairer to Milwaukee County's low-
income and minority populations.
In a letter to SEWRPC leaders, the ACLU urges that the Advisory Committee
heed the staff's scaled down recommendation. The ACLU is concerned that
the Committee, given its membership, may be more sympathetic to suburban
politicians and their ally, Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker, than
the people of Milwaukee. The ACLU's letter concludes by urging SEWRPC
continue to address the issue of environmental justice in Milwaukee.
ACLU's letter follows:
March 27, 2003
Philip Evenson, Executive Director
SEWRPC
W239 N1812 Rockwood Dr
PO Box 1607
Waukesha WI 53187-1607
William Drew, Chair
Freeway Reconstruction Study Advisory Committee
SEWRPC
W239 N1812 Rockwood Dr
PO Box 1607
Waukesha WI 53187-1607
RE: Freeway Reconstruction
Dear Mr. Evenson and Mr. Drew:
I am writing as a follow up to recent articles regarding how SEWRPC intends
to handle the issue of freeway widening in Milwaukee County. In a March
6 letter to this office, Mr. Evenson indicated that the Commission staff
would recommend that the Study Advisory Committee respect the decisions
of the City of Milwaukee Common Council and the Milwaukee County Board
of Supervisors, both of which voted to oppose most freeway expansion in
the City. I trust that you will remain fully committed to this recommendation.
As you are aware, the overwhelming majority of low- income, minority
and African-American residents of the SEWRPC planning area reside in Milwaukee
County, and even larger percentages are in the City of Milwaukee. In addition,
every mile of what SEWRPC labels as "major redesign" is in Milwaukee County,
with a substantial percentage of that in the City of Milwaukee. We therefore
would be extremely concerned by the civil rights implications of any decision
by the Study Advisory Committee which disregards Milwaukee's opposition
to freeway expansion.
This is particularly true since the Advisory Committee does not include
any organizations representing low-income or minority communities. SEWRPC's
comments in response to our December 16, 2002 letter - which this office
just received yesterday and has not had time to fully evaluate - assert
that the Advisory Committee sufficiently represents these interests through
local government membership on the Committee. However, two of the three
local governments from Milwaukee County - Wauwatosa and Oak Creek - have
relatively small low-income, minority and African-American populations,
as do the local and county governments outside Milwaukee.
Further, the Study Advisory Committee includes the Metropolitan Milwaukee
Association of Commerce and the West Bend Chamber of Commerce, but not
such organizations representing low-income and minority interests as the
NAACP, the Federation for Civic Action, the 9to5 National Association
of Working Women, the 9to5 Poverty Network Initiative, the Women &Children
Project, Journey House Inc., Repairers of the Breach, and Esperanza Unida
Inc., all of which filed a transportation discrimination complaint against
Wisconsin in the late 1990s and therefore are clearly affected by about
these issues. Neither does the Committee include a labor representative
whose primary focus is transit and/or low- wage and minority employees.
Again, we urge you to take all steps necessary to ensure that the freeway
reconstruction proposals forwarded to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation
do not include the disputed widening in Milwaukee. We also reiterate our
request that SEWRPC conduct more thorough studies of the effects of reconstruction
on low-income and minority communities, particularly those in the City
of Milwaukee, prior to proceeding with this proposal. We anticipate your
attention to these concerns.
Sincerely,
Christopher Ahmuty
Executive Director, American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin
cc: Gov. James Doyle
Frank Busalacchi, Secretary, WisDOT
Mary Peters, Administrator, Federal Highway
Administration
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