Another data point in Mayor Pave’s continuing pursuit of pork and a more perfect Schaumburg:

The whole S & M (county highways S & M, that is) debacle hasn’t gone over well locally. These massive road projects (at the junction of Mineral Point Rd./County Highway M/Junction Rd.) are so ugly that even the highway-oriented common council has balked at the costs & the sprawl.

It is widely recognized that any road development that is so massive in scale will waste city resources for decades to come. Worse, it will undermine any hope of actually building a city as opposed to suburban sprawl. Contrary to his assertions that these massive highway expansions are necessary for healthy economic development for the city, the fact of the matter is, the benefits accrue entirely to people who live far outside of the city limits. City residents pay the price. In dollars and in health.

I’ve already seen the plans, and any hope of accessing the area by bike, walking or transit will be impossible. And this has been the heart of the criticism.

So the Pavin’ Mayor is backed into a corner: He’ll have to go for federal pork to make his project happen. Right now he’s spending precious lobbying time begging Representative Baldwin, Senator Feingold and Senator Kohl for highway bacon to make this highly unpopular project happen.

Schaumburg here we come!