Streetcar redux
First:
http://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/105035.html
I guess we can post Bee content here instead of linking, since the Bee owns Famous. I'll link anyway, to reduce clutter.
Anyway, this idea is old hat. I stand by what I've said before. Fresno's elected officials are not the brightest stars in the galaxy of elected officials.
First, 30 people and 20K? Why is Fresno paying for developers to do things they should be doing on their own? They should pay to play, not the other way around.
Second, what Portland has done isn't any different from anything done in the early part of the 20th century. They act like its oh-so-new. If they want new, try jumping on Bloomberg and Red Ken's congestion fee pricing plan.
The bottom line is this: downtown needs housing to spark development. They could've given 10K to me, and I would've told them the same thing they learned in Portland.
Rail
Most if not all of the streetcar rails were ripped out in 1940 and probably became Japanese bombs. The rails that used to run down Tulare Street came out when I was in high school.
If the trolley line between downtown and Tower couldn't build a ridership, who thinks a streetcar will fare any better. Caltrans did a study in the early 1990s of what it would take to sustain light rail (which a streetcar line essentially is) in Fresno. The study concluded Fresno didn't have the population densities (if I recall correctly, around 1000+/square mile)to make rail financially feasible.
FAX does a much better job of covering the ground. The system uses clean technology. And, with the right funding Fresno could have one of the best mass transit systems in the state. I, for one, would be very unhappy if FAX expansion was derailed (pun intended) to build what amounts to a vanity project cooked up by another in a very long line of intelligence-challenged (in my view) city council members.
rail infrastructure
it's sad that there was a rail infrastructure in and around downtown Fresno... that was intact even in to the 1970s.. a lot of the old rails were buried, and a lot has been removed since... that track that used to go along Clovis ave came from downtown Fresno and went all the way north to Shepard and ended in River Park formerly known as Pinedale.
Next time you are on Huntington boulevard notice the ruts in the grass median ... people how live in that area say the old rails are still there under the grass.
If the streetcar project is
If the streetcar project is more about transit oriented development and revitalization for the long term (which I do indeed hope it is!) then where are the proposals to start writing the policies and creating the framework upon which these types of developments can be built? I think that we can all agree that in order for this trolley to be successful, and not just a pretty little band-aid for the problems downtown, there needs to be both residential and commercial density to support it. And transit oriented development is absolutely the way to go. But it can't be just a buzzword that we throw around. Where are the proposals to change the zoning ordinance to support TODs? Or to write a specific plan addressing the corridor which the trolley is to be located? How is the Economic Development Department doing in providing incentives for businesses to locate near transit? I love the idea of a trolley, of light rail, of just a strong public transportation system in general. However, if we just leave the current plans and policies the way they are and stick a trolley between downtown and Tower, people are still going to walk into City Hall to develop a pedestrian and transit oriented project and be told that they still have to provide a huge sea of parking and set their building back from the street with 10 or 20 feet of landscaping. We absolutely need to be thinking about transit for the future, even though it may not work for now. I am just cynical in how the process is evolving--it seems as though in this case, the cart is before the horse.
Re: no go on streetcars
I think the thing that people are missing about the streetcar project is that it's not just building a streetcar, it's not just about revitalization, it's about a long term strategy of transit oriented development along a designated transit corridor. It's a long term planning device. Maybe the talk of constructing a trolley line today is premature if we think it's going to work in the next couple of years, but we need to plan for it now, and plan for the development surrounding it now. Estimates say that our population will double in the next 40 to 50 years. Clearly those people aren't all going to be living in suburban homes with swimming pools. We need these type of forward thinking solutions. 30 years from now is not the time to start thinking, "uh oh, maybe we need to start thinking about transit." The time is now, and this is a start.
More info on this concept here:
http://www.transitorienteddevelopment.org/
No go.
The problem with that is the people are gone. They all moved to sprawling subdivisions up north. Why spend money to bring the streetcars back if there is no one there to ride them? The common sense thing to do is to add the potential riders first. No one will move downtown because it has streetcars. The private auto will almost always be more convenient unless 1) traffic is bad, 2) parking is unavailable or 3) gas is priced too high. Absent those disincentives to drive, no one will give up their car. The city should eliminate minimum parking requirements in the downtown area and encourage developers to put as many units of housing there as possible. Then we can talk streetcars.
when Fresno Rode the Rails...
The city should just reinstall all the rails that were removed and stopped being used back in 1939
I would like to see that and those old plans of having rail cars go all the way to Sanger, Selma, and Fowler... there was plans on extending the line all the way to Yosemite too. Imagine a rail line that would go from the Airport to Yosemite.
When Fresno Rode the Rails
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