The City of Milwaukee is willing to pay a new marketing and communications officer for The Hop, its little-used $128 million streetcar, up to $108,000 per year plus benefits that include a pension, deferred compensation plan, health and dental insurance, paid parental leave, a comprehensive wellness program, onsite clinic services, an onsite employee assistance program, alternative work schedules, long-term disability insurance, group life insurance, tuition benefits, paid vacation, 12 paid holidays, paid sick leave “and other paid leaves,” a flexible spending arrangement and a “commuter value pass” for the Milwaukee County Transit System that — unlike The Hop — actually covers more than a two-mile route downtown.
Some of the reporters at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel make well under half of that and have already been doing marketing for The Hop for years, so there should be at least a few candidates.
Ald. Scott Spiker, in the meantime, has been trying to find a way to get the federal government to let the city derail the albatross without having to pay back tens of millions of dollars in federal funding. It’s a noble cause, although the city would be wise to close The Hop regardless of the short-term financial repercussions.
In the meantime, expect the new marketing and communications officer to make the oft-repeated argument that The Hop has spurred all sorts of development downtown. Most developers are exceedingly reliant on city leaders and are unlikely to speak too plainly about whether the Hop had anything at all to do with decisions to build. But here is a very revealing story we did a few years back that I hope everyone will read again in advance of that inevitable balderdash.
The Hop is still free to riders, though not to taxpayers.
Operating expenses alone will reportedly be almost $7 million next year — a figure offset by $2.7 in sponsorships, advertising and grants — and not at all by fares, which The Hop doesn’t collect. Each “free” ride actually cost taxpayers over $16 dollars last year, based on our analysis of Federal Transit Administration figures.
The best way to drive that figure down would be to attract more riders, but that’s been a struggle for years and years, we’ve reported time and again.
Candidates for the marketing and communications officer gig have until Nov. 14 to apply, and I’d expect plenty of applicants — though finding one who has actually ridden the thing might be a bit of a challenge.
Mike Nichols is the President of the Badger Institute.
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