Scott Walker’s Baffling War On Bikes | ThinkProgress
MADISON, WISCONSIN — In just one year, Wisconsin’s bike friendliness ranking from the non-partisan League of American Bicyclists dropped from the third best in country to ninth. If the state legislature approves Governor Scott Walker’s budget, which slashes funding for bike infrastructure, boosts spending on freeways and imposes a new tax on bicycle sales, the ranking could plummet further.
As Governor Walker prepares for a likely run for the White House, he’s been traveling the country touting his record of slashing taxes on corporations and the wealthy, saying he has “put more money back in the hands of the hardworking taxpayers.”
Yet Governor Walker and his allies in the Madison statehouse have found one corporate sector where they’re willing to raise taxes: bicycles. Though they have been hesitant to hesitant to consider boosting taxes on gasoline or vehicle registration fees, state lawmakers have been pushing a $25 tax on the sale of all new bicycles in the state, on top of the existing sales tax.
Daily bike commuters, like fourth generation Wisconsinite Brian Ward, told ThinkProgress it feels like an “attack on cycling.”
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In addition to floating the new bike tax, the budget currently under consideration would repeal the state’s “Complete Streets” law. The policy, which mandates that all new road construction and repairs take cyclists and pedestrians into consideration, makes up only about $190,000, or six-one-thousandths of one percent of the total transportation budget, according to the non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau. They are also considering gutting millions of dollars from two additional bike infrastructure efforts: the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund, which provides matching grants for creating and maintaining trails, and Transportation Alternatives, which funds the creation of routes for children to safely bike to school, among other initiatives.
Meanwhile, state legislators have moved to increase funding for highways, such as budgeting $146 million to add more lanes to Highway 23. A federal court recently ruled the state’s Department of Transportation relied on inaccurate, inflated traffic predictions to justify that project. The Republican-controlled Joint Finance Committee is also facing criticism for earmarking $200 million dollars for a brand new Transportation Department headquarters.
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Madison one of the highest rates of bicycle commuting in the country, with more than 5 percent of the city riding to work. This has only grown as the city has created safer infrastructure, such as wide, separated paths that run alongside the lake and the railroad tracks, stretching as far as the eye can see in both directions. These trails are so popular that the city has to plow snow off of them in the winter because people use them year-round. Many of the tens of thousands of students at the flagship University of Wisconsin-Madison use two wheels to get around campus and town.
Dane County Executive Joe Parisi told ThinkProgress that when he held 50 public meetings through the county over the past year, the number-one request from the public was more cycling infrastructure. ... And, if there are fewer people in cars, it cuts down on the infrastructure needed for cars, so it ultimately saves us dollars.”
... presence of many local bike companies including Trek, Schwinn, and Saris, a company that makes bike racks.
"They manufacture those right here in Dane County. We’re talking good old fashioned, made in the USA,” said Parisi. ...
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Other local advocates have speculated that the move is retaliation against Trek Bicycles executive Mary Burke, who ran unsuccessfully against Governor Walker in 2014.
But Ward and other local bicyclists see it as a continuation of the Governor’s dismissal of the threat of climate change and his transportation priorities, noting that he also rejected federal funding for a train from Madison to Milwaukee.
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http://thinkprogress.org/election/2015/06/03/3664754/scott-walkers-war-bikes/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=tptop3&elqTrack=true&elqTrackId=fe7c237f94734a79a4f87dfae099008f&elqaid=25727&elqat=1
= new reply since forum marked as read
They just happen to be based in Wisconsin.
He'll find a way .
