Free Republic

Once again, the oh-so progressive, oh-so enlightened Seattle City Council is showing the rest of the country what not to do. The idealistic leftists who control the Council are wasting millions of hard-earned taxpayer dollars in failed attempts to solve problems the Council members created. All this is turning Seattle into the poster city for the failure of Big Government. The city best known for fish markets, coffee stores, rain and flannel-wearing musicians is now becoming legendary for its incompetent leadership and its financial boondoggles. The latest example of Seattle senselessness is the Council’s costly and deeply flawed efforts to...

WASHINGTON — Expanding and extending Beltway toll lanes over the Potomac River sooner, delays and changes to D.C. Streetcar plans, and changes to widening plans for a number of roads across the region. Those are some of the transportation projects that moved forward to be part of long-range plans that can actually be constructed in coming years. Other projects accepted Wednesday as having the funding to move forward include an additional lane by 2025 on Interstate 95 south just across the Occoquan River to exit 160, and a plan to widen Route 15 from Battlefield Parkway to Montresor Road near...

Now that we have light rail, the progressives are ready to move on to the next step, streetcars along Seventh Street in St. Paul, with more lines to follow. The city council will vote Wednesday night to authorize a detailed study of a streetcar line between Arcade Street and Randolph Avenue on Seventh. That would be a second study, the first one being last year, your money paid out to a consulting firm from San Francisco. Progressives are dedicated to blocking the individual while encouraging the collective, but that offers no evidence of progress of any kind. There are already...

The Loop Trolley project is moving forward again, thanks to a nearly $25 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation. The $24.99 million grant, which was announced in July, is funded by the Urban Circulator Program, which provides federal funding to projects intended to increase public transportation in cities. “This is just a huge thing for all of St. Louis, to get that kind of support from the federal government,” said Joe Edwards, president of the Loop Trolley Company, which is planning and raising money for the project. “It’s a real testament to how far along this project has...

A $293 million investment announced today by U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood means that residents in dozens of communities nationwide will soon enjoy major transit improvements, including new streetcars, buses, and transit facilities. The nearly $300 million investment is part of the Obama Administration's livability initiative to better coordinate transportation, housing and commercial development investments to serve the people living in those communities. It is being made through two competitive grant programs, the Urban Circulator Grant Program and the Bus and Bus Livability Grant Program. "This investment by the Obama Administration in our nation's communities will create jobs, boost economic...

There's Marty Chetlin, 82, an architect who retired only a year and a half ago. In great shape, he gets up at 5:30 a.m. for an exercise routine and walks three miles a few days a week. But he can't drive or read anymore. His eyes are bad: macular degeneration. Next to him is Gerry Branik, 80, a retired graphic designer. Like Mr. Chetlin, she lives in Mt. Lebanon. She doesn't drive either but sees most of the town on foot. "Everything I need is up there on Washington Road except a grocery store," she says. They're in the back...

The D.C. Council approved emergency legislation Tuesday that permits overhead power lines as part of the construction of the streetcar line along H Street and Benning Road. The move came after a transparent power play by National Capital Planning Commission Chairman L. Preston Bryant Jr. Last week, Bryant -- who lives in Richmond, Va., 100 miles away from the impacted area -- asked the Federal Transit Administration “to withhold federal funds from the District” for the streetcar system because of the overhead wires. While such wires were banned under 1888 and 1889 laws, Greater Greater Washington’s David Alpert argues that...

Streetcar is coming. Streetcar is coming! I'm sure most of the regular readers of this site have heard the good news. Dallas won a federal TIGER (transportation initiative) grant for $23 million (PDF) to start design and construction of the proposed 1st phase of the modern street car line. The second piece of good news, is that it is actually going to be one of benefit rather than the tourist trap downtown loop initially proposed. The flip side of this story is that while the application was pursued in concert with Fort Worth, the federal government took it upon themselves...

I've come up with a way to help Capital Metro pay for the proposed downtown streetcar line. Let the street people help out by taking up a collection at the intersections around town. Sure, this is going to be a little tough and would require some diligent work from Austin's appraisal-deprived community. The proposed line would cost $233 million, and Cap Metro says it can afford to fork over only about 20 percent of that figure. That leaves a shortfall of nearly $187 million. What this means is that if you had 100 winos hanging out at 25 intersections raising...

NEW ORLEANS - For the first time in almost half a century, the city that inspired "A Streetcar Named Desire" once again desires streetcars. New Orleans, home of the oldest continuously operating streetcar line in the world, had done away with everything but the St. Charles line through the historic Garden District. Now that's changing. A third streetcar line just reopened and perhaps a dozen others — including the old Desire Street line — are on the planning board. In New Orleans streetcars have been part of our tradition," said Pat Judge, spokesman for the Regional Transit Authority. "Tourists like...

It's been nearly a decade since an outmoded trolley rattled along the Overbrook line of the light-rail transit system in the South Hills. The century-old line --which runs from Castle Shannon to the southern edge of the city-- closed in June 1993 because railroad beds, tracks and bridges were too unstable. Steep hillsides where the line passes had been mined for coal and slate in the 1800s, leaving the terrain susceptible to subsidence and landslides. South Hills residents, especially those who live near the Overbrook line, have wondered if transit cars ever would return. Their wait is about over.