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35°
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NEWSROOM * CIRCULATION * ADVERTISING
Monday
March 2010
22

Bill was a resident of Germantown for about 20 years and now resides in Richfield with his wife and 2 children. Traveling is a favorite activity of Bill's family but they are always happy to come back home. The whole family are avid Packer/Brewer/Bucks fans. You'll never know what you'll find on his blog since he likes to talk about any and all topics. Bill currently works for RE/MAX Realty 100 as a Realtor. During the summer, Bill works at Charter Raceway Park as an announcer and in concessions at Miller Park.
My family and I just got back from a short visit to the Mall of America in the Twin Cities. We flew into the Minneapolis airport and did not rent a car. Before heading out we looked into how we would be able to get to the Mall of America and our hotel without renting a car. We found out we would be able to use the light rail system.
What an easy thing to do! We got on the train right at the airport and got off right at the mall. When we were ready to go to our hotel, we got back on the train at the mall and took it up to the stop the hotel told us to and they picked us up from there. We could have gone another 2 stops and gotten off at the Metrodome to see a Twins game but our loyalties are with the Brewers. As tourists, we couldn't have been happier with our experience!
Anyway, we were thinking how easy it was to get around and how convenient it was for going to the airport, etc... Milwaukee needs to get with the program and join cities like Chicago, Atlanta, Minneapolis and Washington DC and put in light rail. Even if it's just from the airport to downtown, past Potawotami, to Miller Park and out to the zoo and Children's hospital. There are so many people that work at the airport, downtown, etc that would be able to take advantage of it. Not only is it easy, but you'd never have to worry about bad weather or traffic jams, etc...
Going to Bucks/Admirals games could be easier by taking the light rail downtown and not have to worry about parking. Think of all the jobs created too - both building and maintaining/running it! Sure, it's a lot of money to build. But if Milwaukee wants to continue to bring people into the city, they are going to need to step up to the plate and do something about it.
What makes me sad is that Milwaukee used to have an excellent light rail system, called the Interurban. For as advanced as we think we are these days, sometimes I think we're taking steps backwards as we bicker about how to pay for a decent form of public transportation that we had 50 years ago! Funding for widening I-94 seems to pass overnight yet trying to get funding for a single commuter train results in years of feasibility studies that result in no action being taken. I, too, was a bit skeptical of light rail until I went to England and never rented a car to get anywhere. I hope someday our government "sees the light" on light rail and gets moving forward.
I'm glad you liked our light rail :) I live 2 miles from the Mall of America and I take the light rail everywhere. So convenient and no parking worries.
You forgot to mention that it is free to ride the train/light rail from the airport to the Mall of america. This makes it perfect to shop when you have a few hour layover at the airport :)
Check out my blog about the Mall of America - http://www.judyshopsthemall.com
WOW fantastic and GREEN! great story, thanks
How fortunate for Bill, who unlike most Americans, has the means to fly to the Twin cities just for a visit to the mall of America.
I wonder if that "free" light rail is self supporting or must be subsidized by tax payers who never use it.
Bill should move his family to Milwaukee so he can be a contributer to the sales tax which will subsidize light rail. He and his family could also use the existing tax payer subsidized bus system to visit all the Milwaukee locations he's named.
Perhaps Bill should put his money where his mouth is.
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