Wasteful government spending is nothing new.
Administration after administration — at the state and federal levels — have wasted trillions of tax dollars on entitlement programs, climate change initiatives, LGBTQ studies, and other pet projects. But there is one example of wasteful spending that hits close to home, because it's almost in my backyard.
The Hop.
That's the name of Milwaukee's boondoggle of a streetcar. Before we dive into the fiscal disaster that it is, let's start with some history.
See, Milwaukee had, at one point, a fairly robust streetcar system. In 1860, those streetcars were pulled by horses initially, but by the early 20th Century, electricity was driving public transportation. That lasted until World War II and the expansion of the federal highway system. The sprawl meant people needed cars — a much more convenient means of transport — and the Milwaukee streetcar became a thing of the past.
In fact, city officials either removed or paved over many of the rail lines used by the streetcar in favor of bike and pedestrian paths in and around downtown Milwaukee.
Enter former Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett. Barrett, a Democrat, must've really wanted a train set for Christmas one year, and Santa must've failed to deliver, because he spent a significant amount of his time as mayor pushing to bring light rail back to his city.
That city, mind you, had a 29 percent poverty rate during Barrett's tenure as mayor from 2004 to 2021.
Such economic realities didn't stop Barrett from pushing for his beloved train. He called it a "bet on the city’s future" and it's a gamble the city is losing.
See, the costs to build The Hop — including to move underground utility lines — are staggering. In 2015, the estimated cost of the project was $123.9 million. The Badger Institute said the total cost was probably closer to $130 million. And that's not including the annual operating costs.
In October 2024, the Badger Institute said it was costing the city $5 million per year to keep The Hop operational. Initially, some of those costs were offset by corporate sponsorship. Potawatomi Casino agreed to a 12-year, $10 million sponsorship deal. But despite those sponsorships, the city is still on the hook for something like $4 million in annual operating costs.
"But, what about revenue from riders?" you may ask. Well, I've seen The Hop in action (I refuse to ride it on principle and have never set foot on it), and on a good day, I've seen a maximum of six passengers. Since it began service in 2018, The Hop has served 3.2 million riders. That's just 457,123 riders per year. To make up the $4 million operating budget, passengers would have to pay $8.75 per ride.
They currently pay $0.
That's right. Ridership is free, and they still can't get people to use it.
Perhaps that's because it only goes in a circle in Downtown Milwaukee. Currently, The Hop does not serve the outlying suburbs. You can't get to or from American Family Field, where the Brewers play, and the routes do not extend to the Potawatomi Casino, that's been offsetting some of the costs for the better part of a decade.
In short, Milwaukee is hemorrhaging cash to keep the streetcar operational.
As for Tom Barrett, he washed his hands of the city and took a cushy gig as Ambassador to Luxembourg for Joe Biden.
The only other obvious solution here would be to shut down The Hop. That, however, is also a non-starter right now. Why? If the city ended the project, it would have to pay $48 million back to the federal government.
Milwaukee's streetcar is costing taxpayers more than $4 million per year...and no one rides it. An alderman has a plan to get rid of it without having to pay back federal grant money. What do you think: Is it time to drop The Hop? pic.twitter.com/05hIbyO90X
— Dan O'Donnell (@DanODonnellShow) October 29, 2025
"Well, with millions and millions of dollars of taxpayer funds and $70 million of federal taxpayer grant money...The Hop opened up in 2018 and almost nobody rode it," O'Donnell said.
"In fact, there were never any plans to install fare boxes or charge even a nominal sum like a dollar," O'Donnell said. "The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel even found it was faster to walk to a various point on The Hop's line than it was to take the streetcar."
"Even as it became apparent that The Hop was costing taxpayers millions of dollars, now $4.2 million a year...that the streetcar was forever going to be...an albatross around the city's neck," O'Donnell continued.
Now, Milwaukee Alderman Scott Spiker has sent a letter to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, asking for a waiver of that $48 million fee. Republican state lawmakers, Rep. Bob Donovan and Sen. Van Wanggaard, sent a separate letter to Duffy supporting Alderman Spiker's proposal.
"Releasing the City of Milwaukee from these grant obligations would represent an extraordinary step by the federal government, and we recognize the gravity of this request," Donovan and Wanggaard wrote.
I suppose it can't hurt to ask, of course.
But we can't forget the Milwaukee Common Council voted for this measure. The residents of Milwaukee voted for those men and women to sit on the Council. Several people, including myself, repeatedly warned them that this streetcar was a disaster waiting to happen. They voted for it anyway, and I eventually moved out of the city.
You get the governance you vote for. Sometimes good and hard.
Why should taxpayers in Iowa, New York, Texas, and Florida be on the hook for the $48 million in grants the city of Milwaukee foolishly sunk into a streetcar that no one uses?
They shouldn't be.
The lesson here, of course, is that governments shouldn't spend money they do not have. Taxpayers in Milwaukee and elsewhere are not a bottomless piggy bank that can fund the follies of guys like Tom Barrett.