ACHD
Desire Named Street Car Rears Its Ugly Head Yet Again
January 17, 2014 
Thousands of tax dollars later, Team Dave’s desire named street car has resurfaced.
This time around instead of hiring a PR outfit to creat public support for Mayor Dave Bieter’s dream of a “downtown circulator,”
City officials are aiming for a Jan. 29 meeting to seek “input” on what type of circulator in the downtown area is desired… not presuming NO STREET CAR is desired, based on past surveys.
The GUARDIAN can only echo years and years of reports, studies, surveys, and studies. GIVE US A DAMN BUS SYSTEM and quit wasting our money! People wanting a streetcar make as much sense as those who hailed the runaway bus driver as a hero–before coppers filed charges against him for whacking trees and nearly wiping out the Idaho Power building.
Hint: the city is unlikely to get streetcar permission from ACHD if they can’t get the hockey pucks installed to monitor parking meeters.
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Comments & Discussion
Comments are closed for this post.
Jan 17, 2014, 5:17 pm
How about a Mayor who is honest, cares for all the City’s residents, (especially those of us who are carless…for various reasons), and who wont accept federal grants from Sam…only to milk the interest and spit on the little people for a decade. Or better yet…a Mayor who can accomplish ‘safe and painted crosswalks’ so ‘michelle’ isn’t whacked just trying to get an education. Dave….please leave office…the sooner the better.
For me…for Laura. TDHK 777
Jan 17, 2014, 5:27 pm
it won’t go away until Bieter goes away. let’s all hope that is soon!
Jan 17, 2014, 7:54 pm
if they put in a street car, and spend our money on it, then that damned thing better run from park center, to state street, through garden city, up and around the bench and then back down federal way to even come close to being useful.
Jan 18, 2014, 12:15 pm
Stupid, stupid, stupid! What a waste of money!
Jan 18, 2014, 12:45 pm
Clever title, Dave! You may have to teach the young folks what it refers to.
How about a bus system that will take folks home later than six-ish. If there’s no demand for that, what makes a street car desirable? Boise doesn’t even have a hill like San Francisco, for extra charm.
Jan 18, 2014, 8:36 pm
I laughed when the City folks said they were looking for a “steering committee…”
Just as you don’t need anyone to steer a streetcar with its fixed tracks — the City doesn’t need a steering committee to steer this project as it is stuck in pre-defined tracks.
Jan 18, 2014, 9:32 pm
Salt Lake City has a very successful bus system along with their train system and most cases both run until 12:00AM. Even Jackpot, NV has a reliable shuttle bus via Cactus Pete’s that runs between casinos, parking lots, the RV park, etc. 24-hours.
Boise has a marginal bus system. Oh it gets some from point A to B, but I hear that if you work a swing shift you are out of luck.
Now the Mayor wants his Trolley again. Grant monies come from the tax payer – you know the very same taxpayer that says (or should) say NO STREETCAR! Sigh, I guess our taxes WILL go up. Surprised?
Jan 19, 2014, 10:26 am
DO: yes, Dave is spending our tax dollars on this foolish endeavor and it will continue until we vote these clowns out of office. That won’t happen until we get voters to get off their duff and vote. 15-20% voter turnout is pathetic!
Jan 19, 2014, 5:31 pm
We were at a function last night and someone mentioned the “street car” deal may be rearing its ugly head again. All we heard from the group was disgust of the Mayor and his cronies on the council.
Jan 20, 2014, 10:20 am
The motive behind a streetcar is to use as an economic tool. (the theory) If there are dedicated transit routes that cannot be moved (more or less), you will have developers buy in and economic growth will persists. A bus route doesn’t have the same effect even though it may be a wiser use of money. If there was more work-force housing and mode-share transit options in Boise the street car would work well. I am all for transit options, but I am more likely to want a solid Bus Rapid Transit project before a streetcar.
Jan 20, 2014, 3:59 pm
How much federal money is available for the project? Subquestion, when do those dollars go away if we don’t use them for transportation?
Jan 20, 2014, 4:31 pm
Steel rails are about as flexible as the metal they are made from and the cost per mile of service is not cheap.
I can remember when I was a lad of 10 yrs. old going to St. Louis to visit and all the different modes of transportation we had from street cars, busses hooked up to an overhead electric grid and just plain busses and taxi cabs.
Most families in the early 1950’s had one car and dad shared rides with other workers because gas cost $0.30/gallon give or take a penny. Weekly wages were $75 if you had a decent job.
Point is, we are all spoiled and think everyone needs a car who is 16 yrs. old or older. The reality is, WE DON’T but we got to this point on the easy pay plan for cars. If gas cost us much as it does in Europe the landscape and demand for public transit would change.
Jan 30, 2014, 6:09 pm
All politicians should be wired to a lie detector when making any public speak or policy