The Journal Times of Racine, March 24
It’s not the time to increase unemployment benefits
Throughout the state, Help Wanted signs can be found everywhere. There are jobs in manufacturing, health care, hospitality, criminal justice, child care, retail - you name it, they are hiring.
But for some reason, Gov. Tony Evers is proposing to increase the maximum weekly rate an individual can receive in unemployment benefits.
He is proposing, as part of the state budget, to increase the maximum amount from $370 per week to $406 per week, a figure that is calculated based on a percentage of what an employee earned before losing a job.
A spokesman for the state Department of Workforce Development, which runs the program, said in a statement to the Wisconsin State Journal that the state jobless benefit rate is less than most states and even with Evers’ proposed increase, the state’s benefit rate would remain below the national average.
The department “believes that individuals who lose work through no fault of their own shouldn’t have to worry about paying their bills,” spokesman Ben Jedd said.
Meanwhile, right now, there are dozens of places offering on-the-spot interviews.
Instead of increasing unemployment benefits, now is the time to increase training opportunities and continue as a state to be on the front end of career readiness.
Officials in the City of Racine, Racine County and at the Racine Unified School District are doing a great job preparing workers.
At the school level, Unified has developed career pathways to prepare students for not just graduation, but a career. The pathways give students a chance to specialize in a particular area, as well as college credits and certifications in some cases, meaning they could start the job right away.
At the city and county level, the First Choice Pre-Apprenticeship Program continues to work to train workers, and officials are continuing community outreach through the Uplift 900 program.
In addition, Gateway Technical College and the University of Wisconsin-Parkside are constantly working to meet the ever-changing needs of the community.
The state doesn’t need to increase the benefits for those who are unemployed. The state needs to continue initiatives to get those workers back to work.
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Leader-Telegram, March 23
Roundabouts welcomed … sort of
In the interest of full disclosure, historically we’ve not been terribly fond of roundabouts.
They can make travel take longer and, in our experience, it appears not everyone in the United States is fully acclimated to an engineering phenomenon that’s relatively new to this country.
By several accounts, the modern roundabout got its start in Britain in the 1960s and spread from there.
“A roundabout revolution is slowly sweeping the U.S.,” reads a BBC story on the subject. “The land of the car, where the stop sign and traffic light have ruled for decades, has started to embrace the free-flowing British circular.”
Free-flowing might be a generous term, but you get the idea. One characteristic, however, is less debatable: In the appropriate situation, roundabouts are safer than the alternatives.
The Wisconsin Department of Transportation cites a 2015 study by the UW Traffic Operations and Safety Lab that showed fatal and severe injury accidents declined 40 percent at roundabouts in the state. Among the reasons: less potential for serious crashes (head-on and T-bone collisions) and slower travel speeds.
Although traffic slows, flow is improved. The state DOT reports that a study involving Kansas, Maryland and Nevada found that roundabout conversions reduced traffic delays by 13 to 23 percent.
Lower wait times at intersections and concerns over safety for pedestrians and bicyclists also factored into the Eau Claire City Council recently approving, by a unanimous vote, a resolution authorizing the reconstruction of State Street from Garfield Avenue to the south city limits. The initial cost of the project, scheduled to include at least three roundabouts, was estimated at $2.57 million.
Some affected Eau Claire residents spoke out against the project. We certainly respect their reservations but assume the city will take those worries into account during the design of the project.
Our concerns now turn to the future. According to a Leader-Telegram story, more than 20 open houses and neighborhood association meetings were held before the City Council voted on the State Street project. We hope that at least that much care is taken when the topic resurfaces in another part of the city.
As for advice, the DOT says there are three key rules to negotiating a roundabout: slow down, choose the correct lane and yield to all lanes. Such suggestions are welcomed considering the continued proliferation of the vexing structures.
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The Janesville Gazette, March 25
Thumbs up/down for Monday, March 25
Thumbs down to taking brick-and-mortar retailers for granted. While not unexpected, news of the Janesville Shopko closing still stung. For one, Shopko is based in Wisconsin, making its descent into bankruptcy all the more depressing. We knew the company was in trouble but had hoped this store would stay open because it was spared from a list of initial closings and was reportedly one of the company’s more profitable outlets. While the Janesville area is on the economic upswing, the retail sector has been slumping. Our brick-and-mortar friends pay property taxes and contribute to the community in many other ways, such as through event sponsorships. It irritates us when people complain about stores closing, yet they’re the ones causing the problem by shopping online and failing to visit local stores.
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Thumbs down to redistricting battles. Even as Gov. Tony Evers calls on the Legislature to create a nonpartisan commission to draw district lines, both Democrats and Republicans are preparing for war over redrawing district boundaries in 2021. Former Gov. Scott Walker has joined a Republican group to raise money for the redistricting effort, while former Democratic U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is doing something similar for Democrats. Meanwhile, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos is refusing to testify in a legal battle over the constitutionality of district lines Republicans created in 2011. All sides should drop their weapons and get behind a plan to remove the partisanship from the redistricting process. Enough is enough.
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