Talking about Amtrak this morning with a co-worker, I wondered aloud why there's no stop for the Amtrak train in Wauwatosa.
If you've spent any time in downtown Tosa, you know that a few trains pass through each day. You also know that there's a place a street level -- where the recently rehabbed little red store is located -- just off Harwood, that would make a perfect stop. The building was Tosa's first railroad depot; why not make it Tosa's newest one, too?
There's already a parking lot and some street parking nearby and I suspect there's space for another parking lot, if necessary.
Pop in a ticketing machine (like the one at the airport Amtrak station) and, there you go, folks on the West Side could hop the Amtrak to Chicago (or Columbus, Minneapolis and points west) without heading downtown, adding to traffic congestion, parking issues, etc.
The trains are going past anyway. Factoring a five-minute stop into the schedule can't be all that complex. There's no cost to buy trains, improve tracks, etc.
You know what? Make a short hop between Tosa and Downtown Milwaukee inexpensive and you could take a few cars off the road during rush hour, too, I bet.
Certainly someone else has thought of this before. After all, I'm no transit savant. Simple options like this can help us edge closer to getting more people to ride mass transit.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
