Regional Planning Commission May Lose Federal Certification

September 29, 2004

Community residents filled a public hearing last night on the performance of the Southeast Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission as this area’s federally certified Metropolitan Planning Organization. About 50 people attended the meeting. Of the almost two dozen speakers, the vast majority called for major reform of SEWRPC, if not its complete decertification. The Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Administration conducted the hearing.

Today, Christopher Ahmuty, Executive Director of the ACLU of Wisconsin, observed,” Last night’s hearing revealed SEWRPC’s weaknesses. They have jeopardized federal approval of their certification and without a certified Metropolitan Planning Organization Southeast Wisconsin may lose huge sums of federal transportation dollars at a critical time.”

For the past two years, the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin has raised concerns that SEWRPC is failing to comply with federal civil rights and environmental justice laws and orders. These require SEWRPC to make efforts to actively involve low income and minority communities in the planning process, and to evaluate in detail the effects of its decisions on low income and minority communities.

“SEWRPC has repeatedly failed to take environmental justice issues seriously,” said ACLU attorney Karyn Rotker. “If it’s not following the law, then federal officials shouldn’t allow it to continue as our regional planning agency.”

Speakers included representatives of groups including the Milwaukee Branch of the NAACP, Citizens Allied for Sane Highways, and the Metropolitan Milwaukee Fair Housing Council. They and other speakers testified that SEWRPC has failed to address issues of concern to low income and minority families, has manipulated the planning process to get the outcomes it wants rather than listening to the concerns of the community. The organization 1000 Friends of Wisconsin, which is very involved in transportation planning, also suggested that SEWRPC also fails to follow good urban planning practices.

Many speakers raised concerns that SEWRPC had deliberately chosen to seek funding from an obscure Milwaukee County committee to get funding for a study of suburban water needs, rather than openly raising the issue with the Milwaukee County board.

Another key theme was that Milwaukee County - with its million residents - has no greater representation on the Commission than Walworth County, less than 1/10th the size. The city of Milwaukee, the region’s core metropolitan area, is not represented at all.

Milwaukee Ald. Michael Murphy submitted a letter from 14 of the 15 aldermen expressing serious concerns about SEWRPC’s lack of attention to Milwaukee’s needs, and Milwaukee City Planner Robert Greenstreet conveyed Mayor Tom Barrett’s sense that city policy makers have a negative impression of SEWRPC “based on fact as well as perception (that) SEWRPC is far removed from the issues facing our city.”

The Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Administration will accept written comments on SEWRPC’s performance until October 15. Comments can be sent to wisconsin.fhwa@fhwa.dot.gov, by fax to 608-829-7526, or to Planning Certification Review, Federal Highway Administration, 567 D'Onofrio Dr, Suite 100, Madison, WI 53719. A copy of the comments submitted by the ACLU of Wisconsin today is attached.

Read the ACLU of Wisconsin's Testimony