Scott Kerr 4 Mayor

I thought the voters of Wisconsin were better informed and the two amendments to our Constitution would be voted down without question.
I gave people far too much credit!
Please read what the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin determined about these ballot questions and if you still think voting yes on either was a good idea, please explain it to me.

Vote No on 2 April Constitutional Amendments No matter our race, background or zip code, Wisconsinites know that voting is a fundamental right yet a handful of politicians want to limit funding for our elections without any plan to make sure election administrators have the support and supplies they need to help voters make their voices heard....

Please read the Cap Times story closely, notice how the
Metro manager never responds to the issues but only makes vague claims that everything presented is untrue...
Here are some facts that could have refuted or at the very least addressed;
The BRT system has fiber optic lines going into all the bus platforms but they will not be connected to the City of Madison fiber network or any other fiber network because while planning this major system they failed to check if there was adequate capacity for this added demand. There is not and to connect the bus platforms will require a dramatic upgrade of the entire network. Due to this failure cellular internet equipment is being added along with ongoing cell service for each platform. The cost of this has not been disclosed but certainly increases both the construction and operation costs of the system.
Madison is borrowing more than $32 Million for this project (that is disclosed in the project finances) in addition to the Federal funding. Justin as the manager of Metro proclaimed that there was no promise of WiFi and went a step further by stating that there are Wisconsin laws prohibiting public WiFi... This will come as a shock to many libraries and other public places in the state and Metro's own website contradicts that claim.
The heated platform to handle snow and ice is another area where
Metro could have been more forthcoming with the details. Justin simply stated that I had “a fundamental misunderstanding of how the system works.” as I lifelong resident of Madison and a City employee for over 42.5 years I feel that I do in fact have a very clear understanding of how snow and ice work, melting it on the platform without a connection to the storm sewer will create hazardous conditions at the point the heat stops and that melt refreezes.
The Metro statement that some of the points are "made up" is another fine response from a City of Madison manager. No mention of what points he feels are made up but then he doesn't actually address any of the issues and sadly the reporter let him get away with that.
He is correct in that the City wrote a grant proposal for BRT and the Federal funds were awarded for that. Separate funds were given to the City for the purchase of the all electric buses that could have been used to increase the number of smaller buses instead of ordering the fleet of 60' long articulated units that will have much more limited usage.
The fare collection system is similar to what IndyGo put in place while Justin worked there so he knows full well that there is a problem with people skipping the fare and riding for free.
The BRT plan does not include hiring additional employees to check fares and the buses do not have a fare box so how this gets addressed should be interesting.
I urge you to look into the issues Indianapolis has with their BRT and remember that Justin was there throughout the rollout of that system.
https://captimes.com/news/government/gloria-reyes-is-wrong-about-brt-madison-metro-leader-says/article_40d9368a-3de6-521c-b6e9-9d1668423747.html

It could all be a coincidence, I mean we can't assume the worst of our elected officials all the time, but it feels like as the election nears spending becomes much more frequent and the items being purchased are dramatically more impactful on potential voters.
Now I'm sure the $1000.00 bonus paid to all City employees just happened to occur during election season randomly.
The program to help low income residents pay for City services was initiated accidentally while the election was in progress.
But the announcement of an offer to purchase land on the south side for multiple times the assessed value, pay to relocate the business and not even mention the costs of the environmental clean up that will be required on the site that has been a scrap yard longer than the United States Environmental Protection Agency has existed (Decades longer than the EPA has even been a concept)
I know it doesn't sound like a bad thing, for the City to offer $3.76 Million for three parcels that have a combined assessed value of $2.12 Million but when you add in another $2.60 Million to help the scrap metal business relocate to a parcel the City has already selected for them on the south east side it starts to sound questionable, sure the environmental clean up will add another couple of Million to the cost and delay any construction considerably.
Paying over $8.40 Million for a property assessed at $2.12 starts to sound unreasonable but when you find out there has been a private development group negotiating with the business to develop these same properties, spending that much to push the private development out of the way becomes a ridiculous waste of money.

https://madison.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/madison-may-spend-3-8-million-to-buy-south-side-property-for-housing-park/article_12a6b51b-e9aa-563f-93d1-d20c29031233.html #:~:text=Madison%20is%20considering%20another%20major,a%20resolution%20proposed%20by%20Ald.

I am excited to announce that we have earned the endorsement of former Mayoral candidate Scott Kerr. Scott has over 42 years of experience serving Madisonians - needless to say, he understands our community well. It is a privilege to have his support.

Bus Rapid Transit - Sounds like a great idea. I mean mass transit that efficiently delivers us from home to our destination is certainly something that should be available in Madison.
Unfortunately the BRT system being implemented does not achieve that goal, it does however manage to create some serious unintended issues.
Consider E Washington Ave. Bus stops will be moved out to the median, the left lane in both directions will become the bus only lane, there will still be three lanes of traffic in addition to the bus lane but there will no longer be a parking lane.
This forces all bus passengers to cross 4 lanes of traffic to get to or from the bus.
Now think about how many times you have witnessed an individual running to catch their bus... with the BRT that run will no longer be along the sidewalk but crossing active traffic lanes.

This does not sound like an improvement to our bus system.

A former Madison Mayor proclaims that a candidate for Mayor needs to have at least "a quarter million dollars to run a successful campaign"!
I don't believe that to be true. for far too long people have talked about getting the money out of politics.
If we can't get big money out of local politics there is no hope for controlling money at the Statewide or National levels.

Do you believe it takes $250,000.00 to successfully campaign for Mayor?
What do you think that money needs to be spent on?
Would you vote for anyone that that spends twice what the position pays per year just to get the job?

Scott joins For The Record to discuss why he is running for mayor.

For The Record: Third candidate enters Madison mayoral race Scott Kerr joined For The Record to discuss why he's running to be Madison's next mayor