WI: County board supervisors dispute over Transit Equity Day

 Since 2022, the Eau Claire City Council, the Eau Claire County Board, and the State of Wisconsin Governor’s Office has proclaimed Feb. 4 Transit Equity Day. The day, partially chosen to commemorate Rosa Parks’ birthday, aims to bring awareness to unequal access to public transit.

This year’s eight-paragraph proclamation, though, did not pass without some dispute from a few members of the county board concerned that the language was too political.

County Board Supervisor for District 9, Allen Myren, proposed an amendment that would remove most of the paragraphs and change the name of the day to Rosa Parks Day, removing references to “racial, economic, and other inequalities” that limit access to public transit for some people.

He said that he was concerned that the proclamation gives the “impression that there’s still systemic racism going on. I didn’t like that they are taking away from what [ Rosa Parks had] done, ending segregation on the buses. They’re basically calling our great transit workers racist and they’re not. I mean, there’s laws against that already.”

He also added that he didn’t understand the reason for including language in the proclamation which stated that “reliable public transit is an essential public service, on par with utilities such as water and electricity and part of a strategy to combat climate change.”

“What’s climate change got to do with Rosa Parks?” he said. “Let’s keep the politics out of it and focus on what she stood for.”

Caleb Aichele of District 1 was the only one who voted both against the amendment and the proclamation in the original language.

“I thought the original resolution was race-based,” he said. “This was just a slap in the face to Rosa Parks. It was absurd. It shouldn’t even have come to the table. If they want to celebrate her in a different manner, that’s fine, but the way that it was brought up wasn’t very well thought-out.”

Joe Night of District 3 voted against the amendment and for the original language.

“I don’t know how much good these proclamations do, but I think transit is a good thing,” he said.

“The language may be a little more flowery than it needs to be. I didn’t have a the problem with ‘equity’ that some supervisors had. It’s always been kind of a routine vote, but the equity language offended a couple supervisors. I guess they thought ‘Does that mean we’re racist that we need to support equity?’ I did not see it that way. The bus should be available for everyone.”

Stella Pagonis of District 4 also voted against the amendment and for the original language. She said, “My colleagues missed the point. Equity is not only about people of color but also — and especially — people who may be disabled. People with disabilities are often challenged to travel from one location to another and riding the city bus may not be an option. My colleagues took too narrow of a reading on the term ‘equity.’”

The amendment failed with 10 county board supervisors voting for the amendment and 16 voting against. The proclamation in the original language passed with 17 voting for the proclamation and 9 voting against.

County board supervisors Thomas Vue and Gerald Wilkie voted both for the amendment and for the proclamation in the original language.

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