MTN stood for Move Traffic Now, 40 years ago

In March of 1979, La Crosse residents were about to vote on a referendum to prevent the widening of West Avenue for two years. But a citizen group called M-T-N wanted the north-south street to be widened by about 20 feet between King and Adams Streets. Both that group and the N-P-A, the Neighborhood Preservation Association, had filed complaints with District Attorney Michael Mulroy about the amount of campaign spending and voter education being done before the referendum. About 68 per cent of the voters chose to limit the avenue to 42 feet wide.

A popular store along West Avenue was about to close. The A & P grocery chain was shutting down 174 stores, including the branch at West Avenue and Jackson. The store later became a Super Valu, and is now the site of a Walgreen’s.

An accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania caused many Americans to worry about the possibility of a meltdown within the facility. The Three Mile Island incident occurred just days after the opening of the movie ‘The China Syndrome,’ with Jane Fonda and Jack Lemmon, about a cover-up of problems at a fictional nuclear plant. Life imitates art in 1979, yesterday in La Crosse.