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Saturday, December 30, 2006 Dear Editor: Rick Murphy's Dec. 28 take on a complementary arrangement of light rail and streetcars is right on. As an ardent public transit user/advocate, I cannot get my head around the mayor's streetcar idea. Among other problems I find is that the proposition has totally crowded out discussion of further funding for Metro Transit, which is a great service operating on reduced budgeting. In Mayor Dave's initial 2003 campaign, he told an audience at the Wil-Mar Center that bringing hybrid electric/fuel buses into the fleet would be one way to deal with pollution/noise issues concerning State Street, and elsewhere. Beyond that point, we riders have seen little to enhance our great bus system. I can't see how streetcars would help me as a Metro user and property tax payer on the isthmus. As a supporter of many mayoral projects, I feel left out on a topic which seems more like a tax boondoggle seeking a home. I can see many folks riding the streetcars for the newness of it, but the tracks would be in the midst of existing bus and single-passenger vehicles on three already tightly squeezed arteries. The argument that providing a "perk" for developers to drive something that is not already here seems just plain wrong. We have more development in the Marquette/Atwood/Capitol neighborhood area than we can keep up with, and since TIF money seems plentiful citywide, I see no lack of pending developments. |