[PRCo] Re: Streetcar Plans Plow Ahead in Cities - WSJ.com

[Dwight Long]

John

We had an ice plant in Beaver until perhaps the 50s.  I recall right after 
WW II there was still one family in our neighborhood who had an ice 
refrigerator.  We kids used to pester the Ice Man for slivers of ice.  He 
would take his ice pick and whack off small pieces for us to suck.  Very 
refreshing on a hot summer's afternoon!

We also had a buggy manufacturing plant nearby in that era, but it was long 
since abandoned and deserted.  That was my first introduction to things that 
used to be but were no more.

Dwight

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John Swindler" <j_swindler at hotmail.com>
To: "Pittsburgh Railways" <pittsburgh-railways at dementix.org>
Sent: Wednesday, August 22, 2012 3:25 PM
Subject: [PRCo] Re: Streetcar Plans Plow Ahead in Cities - WSJ.com


>
> It was a comment mentioned at one of the TRB conferences.  Made by the 
> person standing next to the Salt Lake manager during a pm rush hour. As 
> for ice, a large ice house still existed in Wilkinsburg around 1950, and 
> there is a vague recollection that my dad could buy either block of ice or 
> bag of ice cubes from a vending machine built into the structure. 
> (remember ice picks??)   But that industry generally disappeared with the 
> advent of home refrigerators during first half of 20th century. My wife 
> was looking at some spools of silk thread last night belonging to her 
> great-grandmother who was a seamstress at a store near Marshall Field In 
> Chicago during 1890s.  Suspect this was about the time that electric 
> sewing machines made their appearance.  Another industry that has all but 
> disappeared. And what about the army of telephone operators needed to make 
> telephone calls??  Still existed for overseas calls when my grandmother 
> passed away in England early 1960s.  Now we dial di!
> rect, and think nothing of it. We are reminded of industrial plants 
> because the old plants sit abandoned and rusted, but there are thousands 
> of jobs and industries that have disappeared over the years.  That 
> includes public transit, where 'do it yourself transportation' - the 
> automobile - has proven to be too much competition.  I still remember a 
> news comment about a SEPTA strike in the 1990s.  Essentially that no one 
> cared anymore if SEPTA went on strike.  There were other ways for most 
> people to get to work.  CheersJohn    > From: dwightlong at verizon.net
>> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementix.org
>> Subject: [PRCo] Re: Streetcar Plans Plow Ahead in Cities - WSJ.com
>> Date: Wed, 22 Aug 2012 13:25:17 -0400
>>
>> John
>>
>> Was that "Salt Lake Manager" Paul O'Brien?
>>
>> Don't count ice out.  With global warming, it may become the new gold!
>>
>> Dwight
>>
>> From: John Swindler
>> Sent: Wednesday, 22 August, 2012 07:54
>> To: Pittsburgh Railways
>> Subject: [PRCo] Re: Streetcar Plans Plow Ahead in Cities - WSJ.com
>>   Investors also lost tons of money during the internet boom.  But that 
>> is the way to get rid of schemes that only seemed to benefit the 
>> promoters.  Those with a viable business plan seemed to survive. The 
>> problem today is that with the availability of tax money, it is too 
>> tempting to allow projects to become 'gold plated'.  And that's not my 
>> term.  Gold plated transit is from the title of an article dating from 
>> the early 1970s.  As the Salt Lake manager commented several years ago, 
>> 'you see people on the rail cars that you would never see on the bus.' 
>> Just take a look at Pittsburgh.  The south hills rail lines were carrying 
>> around 25,000 passengers per day during the 1970s, and are carrying 
>> around 25,000 (probably higher now) today.  During that time frame, half 
>> the bus ridership has disappeared.  The problem has been to force PAT to 
>> recognize that a lot of bus ridership just isn't there anymore.
>> As for the construction of streetcar lines a century ago, we have the 
>> benefit of 20/20 hindsight.  We know that the cost of a dependable 
>> internal combustion vehicle quickly declined to where it could be mass 
>> produced and sold.  In the 1890s, the competition was the horse and 
>> buggy.  Who would have ever guessed that a 'rich man's toy would end up 
>> in every household.  The Antique Auto site mentions that in 1906, it was 
>> felt that the demand for autos had been satisfied.  A lot of people 
>> guessed wrong trying to forecast the future. Speaking of forecasting, a 
>> hundred years ago one of the biggest industries in this country was:  ice 
>> CheersJohn    > From: trombone at windstream.net
>> > To: pittsburgh-railways at dementix.org
>> > Subject: [PRCo] Streetcar Plans Plow Ahead in Cities - WSJ.com
>> > Date: Wed, 22 Aug 2012 06:53:58 -0400
>> >
>> > We all know that too many streetcar lines were constructed in the 
>> > beginnings of the industry and many investors lost tons of money. What 
>> > are your feelings today? The author of the article below gives some 
>> > interesting definitions to confuse the average reader with her 
>> > distinctions between trolley, streetcar and light-rail.
>> > DF Cramer
>> >
>> >
>> > http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444900304577579360844409848.html#printMode
>> >
>> > Cities from Los Angeles to Atlanta are making big bets to revitalize 
>> > their downtowns by bringing back a form of transportation many 
>> > abandoned decades ago: the streetcar.
>> >
>> > Some cities are counting on help from federal stimulus dollars, but a 
>> > few are going it alone.
>> >
>> > Late last month, about 500 residents in one part of Kansas City, Mo., 
>> > voted to create a special taxing district to raise $75 million over 
>> > about two decades for a streetcar. In the same week, Cincinnati 
>> > officials passed a measure to allow about $15 million to be spent on a 
>> > 3.6-mile loop. And in Los Angeles, the city council approved a plan to 
>> > ask voters if they are willing to pay additional taxes for a four-mile 
>> > downtown streetcar loop.
>> >
>> > Proponents say the streetcars would boost economic growth and catch the 
>> > fancy of younger generations.
>> >
>> > "Kansas City's downtown has bled jobs, people and buildings for 
>> > decades," said David Johnson, a 38-year-old engineer and co-founder of 
>> > Streetcar Neighbors, a residents group that advocates for streetcars in 
>> > that city. "We're trying to reinvigorate the downtown."
>> >
>> > But others see a waste of tax dollars on projects that, they say, offer 
>> > little more than a way to move downtown workers from their offices to 
>> > lunch.
>> >
>> > "I would love a rail system that actually gets people to work, not just 
>> > to buy a sandwich," said Josh Spring, the director of the Greater 
>> > Cincinnati Homeless Coalition, which opposes the project there, which 
>> > is backed by about $40 million in federal dollars.
>> >
>> > Streetcars, which typically run as single-car, electric-powered units 
>> > on steel tracks in a condensed area, once were a common part of the 
>> > urban landscape. But most cities' tracks were ripped out to make more 
>> > room for automobiles on busy streets. Streetcars are distinct from 
>> > trolleys, often vintage vehicles that cater to tourists, and light-rail 
>> > systems, which typically travel to and from a city's suburbs and carry 
>> > more people in multiple cars.
>> >
>> > The revival in streetcar projects comes in part because of federal 
>> > backing. In 2009, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood pledged $280 
>> > million for urban-transit projects, such as streetcars. During the past 
>> > four years, the Department of Transportation doled out more than $450 
>> > million to 12 streetcar projects across the country, according to the 
>> > Federal Transit Administration.
>> >
>> > Atlanta and Salt Lake City already have broken ground on streetcar 
>> > projects with a total of $74 million in federal funding.
>> >
>> > Minneapolis is preparing to apply for more federal money to get a 
>> > project under way after receiving a $900,000 federal planning grant in 
>> > late 2010, said Peter Wagenius, a policy director for Mayor R.T. Rybak. 
>> > "These streetcar lines are short not because they should be, but rather 
>> > because cities have been doing what was possible with available 
>> > funding," Mr. Wagenius said.
>> >
>> > Many cities point to streetcar projects like the one in Portland, Ore., 
>> > which opened its first leg in 2001 and is expected to expand to 7.3 
>> > miles of track next month from four miles now. City officials in a 2008 
>> > report cited the streetcar as impetus for more than 10,000 new housing 
>> > units and 5.4 million square feet of office, institutional, retail and 
>> > hotel construction within two blocks.
>> >
>> > "Portland wasn't like a mecca before. It was another dirty midsized 
>> > city," said Mr. Johnson of Kansas City, who says he has no problem 
>> > paying an extra $200 per year for the streetcar to roll into his city 
>> > of 480,000.
>> >
>> > But some experts say not every city can be turned into the next 
>> > Portland. Randal O'Toole, a senior fellow with the Cato Institute, a 
>> > libertarian think tank, published a paper in June titled "The Great 
>> > Streetcar Conspiracy," in which he calls streetcars the "latest urban 
>> > planning fad," claiming that operation costs per mile for streetcars 
>> > are double those of buses. "Putting 125-year-old technology into modern 
>> > cities is going to create more congestion, dangerous situations for 
>> > pedestrians and divert taxpayers' money from transit that people really 
>> > need to transit that is silly," Mr. O'Toole said.
>> >
>> > Mr. O'Toole has said $435 million in city business incentives helped 
>> > Portland's celebrated Pearl District, celebrated for its economic 
>> > development, while other areas served by the streetcar faltered without 
>> > help from the city.
>> >
>> > Other cities have had less operational success with their projects. 
>> > Last year, officials in Tampa, Fla., scaled back the hours of operation 
>> > and the frequency of rides in order to balance the annual $1.3 million 
>> > operating budget for a 2.7-mile streetcar, according to Marcia Mejia, 
>> > public information officer for the area's regional transportation 
>> > agency. Ridership numbers for a streetcar in Little Rock, Ark., were 
>> > 112,000 per year, rather than the estimated 130,000. City officials say 
>> > construction work hampered its usage.
>> >
>> > Kansas City officials plan a 2.2-mile streetcar route now budgeted at 
>> > $100 million. Danny Rotert, a spokesman for Mayor Sly James, said $75 
>> > million will come from the property- and sales-tax increases voters 
>> > approved last month, and $25 million will be cobbled together with city 
>> > funds. The city was hoping for $25 million in a federal grant 
>> > competition this year but didn't win.
>> >
>> > "We're trying to recruit young, entrepreneurial talent," Mr. Rotert 
>> > said, who acknowledged that the streetcar is a sizable investment but 
>> > believes its long-term growth will prove its worth. "It's about getting 
>> > residents and visitors to and from the main destinations around the 
>> > downtown area."
>> >
>> > But Sue Burke, 58, owner of an industrial-filter wholesaler in Kansas 
>> > City, is against the streetcar project. The line on Grand Boulevard 
>> > would go right by the front stoop of her business, and she said 
>> > construction traffic and the extra taxes would leave her business 
>> > facing an uncertain future. "It's way too much money for the 
>> > anticipated ridership," she said. "If I have to leave the district 
>> > because of this, I'm leaving Kansas City."
>> >
>> > Write to Caroline Porter at caroline.porter at wsj.com
>> >
>> > A version of this article appeared August 15, 2012, on page A3 in the 
>> > U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Streetcar 
>> > Plans Plow Ahead.
>> >
>> >
>>
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