[PRCo] Re: Streetcars in the Strip District?

[Fred Schneider]

I am already getting a hundred e-mails a day Ken from all over the world.  Like I really need another list?

I am secretary for my high school class ... that takes several hours a day.   But it's fun.   

I got into a group of guys who will discuss absolutely any current events ... great people ... don't know how I got there.  One of them is on this list.  One is a retired Conrail vice president.   One is a steel company executive, retired.   Sometimes that group expands to 80 people and shrinks to 3 or 4 or 5.    We discuss high speed rail, low speed rail, light rail, subways, trolleys, interurbans, balance of payments, trade deficits, medical care, anything under the sun.   It's a good way to learn.  But some days those guys spawn 100 or more e-mails.     

I would be happy to know what is happening today in Milwaukee, Ken.   If there is any chance I need to go there for a light rail opening, I want to know.   I want to be there.   

But I have only been through Milwaukee three times in my life ... first on the North Shore in 1959 and the last time to break bread with the guys from Kalmbach Publishing last year.   I known TM had a few interurbans but I really don't know the system.   I have no feel for it.   Oh, if you show me a picture, I'm going to recognize it as Milwaukee or Milwaukee Northern or Wisconsin Public Service but I am a generalist.  I don't need to get tied down to specifics about that city.   

You rope them into being friends.    I have found you to be very good and cordial friend every time I come through Las Vegas.   You make it worth while to make a detour when I'm in the southwest.   Convey that to the rest of them.  




On Aug 29, 2011, at 11:19 AM, Ken and Tracie wrote:

> Fred, I believe I mentioned to you that I am the moderator of  the Milwaukee 
> Electric list (which Derrick so kindly  provides.) We have a member who gets 
> upset when the subject drifts into discussions about buses or if anybody 
> criticizes light rail proposals for Milwaukee or rail proposals for 
> Southeastern Wisconsin.
> 
> One time, he began a post with something to the effect of, "I have been 
> receiving complaints about the negative comments about Milwaukee's proposed 
> Downtown Circulator Streetcar."
> 
> My reply, thought not this exact wording was, "YOU'RE receiving complaints? 
> I'm the moderator and I have received NONE!"
> 
> Fred, please join us over there. It's a very low traffic list and the people 
> need to hear your voice of reason. ;-)
> 
> K.
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Fred Schneider" <fwschneider at comcast.net>
> To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementix.org>
> Sent: Monday, August 29, 2011 8:02 AM
> Subject: [PRCo] Re: Streetcars in the Strip District?
> 
> 
>> Jolly good.   Where in England.   There are at least two Anglophiles on 
>> Derricks list.   If I say only John Swindler and myself, then the others 
>> will complain.   I've been in Britain 18 times between 1959 and 2004.
>> John Swindler is the product of a Pittsburgh area father and a British mum 
>> from World War II.   I think he still keeps in touch with the cousins in 
>> Britain.
>> 
>> Perhaps I should take this off list.   After all it is a Pittsburgh / 
>> Western Pennsylvania traction list.  However, over time many of us have 
>> gotten to be close friends.   While I have not personally met everyone on 
>> the list, I have broken bread with a lot of them.   I like to think of the 
>> list as family.  So I do not get offended if the subject varies and I've 
>> been known to post foreign (to us) stuff to the list just to try to get 
>> people to think outside our comfortable box.   (And I have a wife who 
>> understands that a broiled tomato goes with streaky and eggs for breakfast 
>> ... she has been known to do it on occasion.)
>> 
>> 
>> On Aug 28, 2011, at 7:58 PM, Paul June 29, 1925:  The Santa Barbara 
>> (California) Earthquake made a real mess of downtown.    wrote:
>> 
>>> I haven't posted since April, but I have been here before. I live in 
>>> England,
>>> but have an interest in trams and trolleys and have contributed to the
>>> Wikipedia article on Pittsburgh Railways, after visiting the city in 
>>> 2004. I
>>> don't often have anything to say, but stumbled on the article below when
>>> trying to identify a bridge closed at weekends in downtown.
>>> 
>>> On Monday 29 Aug 2011 00:23:47 Fred Schneider wrote:
>>>> Please introduce yourself to those of us who have been on the list for
>>>> years.   I never saw the name Paul Steven before.
>>>> 
>>>> Fred Schneider
>>>> Lancaster, PA
>>>> (Ex patriot Pittsburgher ... ex in 1949)
>>>> 
>>>> On Aug 28, 2011, at 6:42 AM, Paul Steven wrote:
>>>>> So you guys are thinking of putting streetcars back in the Strip?
>>>>> 
>>>>> "Consultants wanted for streetcar plan
>>>>> 
>>>>> By Bill Vidonic
>>>>> PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
>>>>> Friday, August 26, 2011
>>>>> 
>>>>> Pittsburgh is looking for consultants to help plan a streetcar system 
>>>>> and
>>>>> other transportation improvements within the Strip District, which 
>>>>> could
>>>>> include an incline connecting the Strip with the Hill District.
>>>>> 
>>>>> "I'm hoping this will be realistic as possible," said Becky Rodgers,
>>>>> executive director of Neighbors in The Strip. "Will everything that's 
>>>>> in
>>>>> this study come out? You don't know, but it's a great starting point."
>>>>> 
>>>>> The city hopes to hire consultants by November. They will spend six
>>>>> months devising transportation plans and how to pay for them. City
>>>>> officials have said a streetcar system could cost at least $25 million.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Consultants will be paid up to $345,000 by the city and PennDOT through
>>>>> the Pennsylvania Community Transportation Initiative.
>>>>> 
>>>>> That planning work likely would tie into the bigger Allegheny 
>>>>> Riverfront
>>>>> Vision plan. The city in February announced that project, which aims to
>>>>> reconnect the Strip District, Lawrenceville, Morningside and Highland
>>>>> Park to 6.5 miles of redeveloped riverfront.
>>>>> 
>>>>> "We've seen a lot of positive movement recently in the Strip District,"
>>>>> Mayor Luke Ravenstahl said in a prepared statement. "New transportation
>>>>> improvements will build on this momentum by providing residents with
>>>>> better transit options and more bike/pedestrian-friendly ways to get in
>>>>> and around the neighborhood."
>>>>> 
>>>>> The initiative is focusing on the Strip District between 11th and 40th
>>>>> streets, and possible improvements include the streetcar system, the
>>>>> incline, bikeway work along Penn Avenue and a new transit station for
>>>>> development along the Martin Luther King Jr. East Busway at 21st 
>>>>> Street.
>>>>> 
>>>>> The deadline for consultants to submit qualifications to the city's
>>>>> Planning Department is noon Sept. 23. The detailed qualification 
>>>>> request
>>>>> is available at www.city.pittsburgh.pa.us/cp."
>>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
> 
>