Janesville City Council gives go-ahead to transit center
JANESVILLE — Staff for the city of Janesville will solicit bids for a new transit center, but one council member warned Monday that he might look for ways to cut the plans, depending on the money involved.
Councilman Matt Kealy said there were "a lot of luxuries" in the design, including aisle parking for buses rather than stacked parking, for example.
The transit center, set to open in spring 2014, will be built on the corner of Black Bridge Road and Parker Drive. The building committee—which consists of staff, a council member and a neighborhood representative—put emphasis on the building's aesthetics because of its visible location, said John Whitcomb, city operations director.
Cost of the project is expected to be $7.95 million, with the federal government picking up $6.64 million.
The council also:
-- Voted down a proposed ordinance requiring taxi owners to bring their rates before the council and to post those rates publicly.
The vote was 4-2, with Kealy, DuWayne Severson, Deb Dongarra-Adams and Kathy Voskuil voting "No," and Russ Steeber and Sam Liebert voting "Yes." Jim Farrell was absent.
Kealy said he agreed fares should be visible in taxis, but he couldn't support an ordinance requiring a private business to bring its rates before the council. For instance, he asked what would happen if gas prices spiked one weekend and the taxi owner couldn't get an audience with the council for another two weeks?
City staff said it had not received complaints from residents about fares. Steeber, who sponsored the ordinance with Liebert, said he received one and was concerned owners could "gouge" residents forced to depend on their services.
-- Changed zoning at 3410 Bell St., paving the way for a fitness club and tennis courts.
-- Agreed that larger than normal right-of-ways on downtown streets be determined as city property because of continual use of the property.
The city does not have formal right-of-ways recorded for downtown streets, and public access is often not in the typical right-of-way because sidewalks are so wide.
The city wants to resurface the streets and renovate Main Street, but it must record those areas to comply with federal regulations to get transportation money.
Oct 24, 2012 at 4:03 p.m.
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It would be nice if some people would learn how the Gazette publishes its material. The print edition articles DO NOT go up before 4p.m. but sometimes ... as in this case ... they publish a "News Blog" item before that point. Publishing a new article on the same topic later in the day hardly constitutes "censorship".
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VeryExciteableLaborParty, keep in mind that HDG has paid property taxes on this plot for a number of years. I'm not sure how selling a fairly useless bit of land constitutes a "windfall" let alone "pork barrel". What other sites do you propose? Who owns them? Somebody does. At any rate, the record shows the lot was conveyed to the city back in 2007 for $350,000, although HDG had valued it at $1.5 million as recently as 2002.
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As to the location, if you remember or PAID ATTENTION AT THE TIME (admittedly now several years ago under the previous city manager), the city wanted this facility closer to the downtown but could not find a site large enough. I personally would have opposed it in a residential area like the Fourth Ward. It is not a "transit hub", the Gazette is slightly misleading with that headline; it is a maintenance, storage, refueling, and management facility. The transfer station will remain downtown.
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As to the contract, this will be bid out under state guidelines and the lowest reasonable bidder will get the job. Do you not know how this works?
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Macdaddy, also about contracts, the city has no legal authority to steer contracts to local contractors. Under state law they are allowed to bid along with everyone else. We actually have some top-flight contractors in Rock County including J.P. Cullen and Ryan Inc., so they are not exactly out in the street begging.
Oct 24, 2012 at 1:12 p.m.
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Labor party: 1. The gazette always puts a blog with a snippet up first then the full article later.
2. We are funding this as the services are for city services not abc company or anything Hendricks owns or controls.
3. Where would you suggest as an alternative? The population has continued to move towards the northeast and so should this building. I mean honestly it is less than 1 mile from existing building.
4. Probably right away but why not keep the job local and money here? I'm tired of seeing out of town companies coming with their employees to do the job and then leave all while sending the money back home.
If you are really for labor why do you complain any time new projects are being proposed? How do you suggest getting people back to work if we never spend tax payer money or work with Diane who always is trying to bring more jobs to the area. How much of your own money are you using to bring jobs here?
Oct 24, 2012 at 10:27 a.m.
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can someone fill me in on this. how many people ride public transit in janesville on a daily basis? i have a bus stop near my house and marvel at the lack of ridership. most often the bus is empty or loaded with one or two passengers. how can this city afford to spend this money when we have so many other needs?
Oct 23, 2012 at 4:42 p.m.
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Maybe they can ask Uncle Sam for a few extra million. That way, they can install gold fixtures in the lavatories and a huge plaque for the front wall with all the council members' names on it! That''ll only work if Obama gets re-elected though!
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