"Downtown fees could power streetcars" The Columbus Dispatch

Another incremental release on some of the details on the streetcar initiative for downtown Columbus. I'll save up my thoughts and perspectives for a Sunday editorial so for now be sure to have a look at the readers pole that goes along with the article. You'll also find maps of a few of the potential routes for the streetcars should we go forward with the plan:

Link: Downtown fees could power streetcars
Group outlines possible routes, costs of project
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Tim Doulin
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

A Downtown streetcar system could cost $42 million or as much as $179 million to build, and be financed in part by people who park, eat and sleep Downtown...

...One way to help cover the annual operating costs, estimated between $4.6 million and $5.7 million, would be surcharges at Downtown parking lots and garages, restaurants, hotels and other businesses near the streetcar line....

...The working group is looking at various federal, state and local sources for construction funding. The city could issue bonds or provide debt service to pay a portion of construction, McGinn said...

» View the readers poll
» View the proposed routes

With the COTA levy issue and the streetcar initiative both having some public polls online and both having a negative responses from the majority of the respondents, I think the true issue for Columbus is revealed: education and buy-in and the lack there of. Just like our education system in Columbus, we are also failing to foster an environment of continuing education, especially when it comes to city issues and policy making.

WE NEED MORE PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT IN PUBLIC POLICY MAKING IF WE ARE GOING TO HAVE A SUCCESSFUL DOWNTOWN. Yup...that about sums it up.

If you read the comments you will see that a majority of those who responded negatively don't have a complete understanding of the issues. So how do we handle that? I've got my plans for dealing with it, of which RetroMetro is the tip of the iceberg.