Editor, Every crime riddled impoverished financially compromised dump of a city has a train circulating through it. Bieter and company need want wish and desire crime and poverty to rot the core of Boise. Boise’s outstanding statistics embarrass when they attend national conferences. These statistic prevented any of them from being noticed by Obama, and now, all is lost.

“Festers” is the correct term. I guess it’s Bieter’s Herpes… you can treat the symptoms, but it will still flare up from time to time.

I believe Dr. Ahlquist is from the SLC area, so he’s probably very aware of their successful light rail system. We were down there a year ago and rode it for a good 10 miles into downtown SLC. It’s nice! And there’s been some significant development of upscale apartments, etc., along the corridor. (It’s funded by user fees, plus a local option sales tax. And I’m sure the affected communities kick in, as well.)

However, even a casual observer like me can appreciate a major difference between the SLC light rail and Boise’s “T route” trolley… in SLC and along the Wasatch Front it replaces motor vehicle commuter transportation for lots of people. In Boise it would be a bar-hopper novelty, because it only circulates downtown. People would still need another form of transportation to get to a trolley stop. In addition – most of the proposed corridors is already pretty much developed.

(I’d be far more inclined to support some form of light rail running between Caldwell and Boise, than a $180 million downtown-serving carnival ride.)

Winston Churchill is quoted as saying: “I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.” This Trolley project is a classic example of this kind of hermaphroditic effort to increase prosperity in Boise.

Trolleys have historically been loss leaders in the Boise Valley and odds are that this project will turn into a monster financial alligator which will in turn destroy the lives of many current property owners unlucky enough to be in the development area. Here are just a few reasons why.

Second only to the use of Tax Increment Financing (Urban Renewal District) a new Local Improvement Districts (LID) is the next worst way to finance anything this big. The true cost of an LID over a 20 year period of time will be millions more than projected base costs, simply because of the interest which must be paid on the bonds which finance them. Unlike TIF taxes, LID tax liens are superior to all existing liens or mortgages on any real property they are assessed to. The yearly LID costs alone could easily double the existing cost of property tax for any affected owner. The deck is heavily stacked in favor of any municipality which wants to use LID financing via the Title 50 statutes. Once approved there is only a 30 day period of time to object to the formation of either kind of district. After the expiration of just 30 days, no one involved can realistically be held directly accountable for any problems or issues which arise from the implementation of the project itself. Those who are forced to pay for this LID will have no voice in what they have to pay for, regardless of whether they benefit from the Trolley or not.

In short: Any property owner who is located within the proposed LID taxing zones should RUN not walk to City Hall and demand a different financing method.

Anyone who thinks the development cost of this boondoggle will be $111,000,0000 has been going over to Huntington Oregon too often. And anyone who thinks the ridership will turn out as projected is constantly on the pipe.

Even cursory research states that these things always cost at least 50% more to build (don’t even think about the increase in operating costs) and the ridership is always at least 25% less. And the taxpayers are always stuck with the overages.

And anyone with rudimentary math skills can see the projected “revenue” at the highest end only comes up to $37 million (out of $111 million – riiiiggght) without the “municipal” help. Boise already puts in $8 million to VRT which ain’t going anywhere else if they want “transit” outside of the DT. I suppose they could always continue to raise taxes but at some point all the blood might be out of the turnip.

Ah well, when the populace keeps re electing these tools, they think they have mandates. The funniest is all the Bieter sycophants on the statesman comments who basically flame anyone who dares speak against Bieter then get totally exercised when the mayor and council approve building projects in their neighborhoods.

I have been following the occasional news about the “stakeholders” who have been meeting for the past year or so to steer this project. No one I can see in this comment thread is an official stakeholder, near as I can tell. Or anyone else I know. I guess this is because our stake is not big enough. We would just be paying for it. How much? The city’s consultant says over $10 per ride, in the best-case scenario. This is apparently OK with the mayor. Is it OK with you?

Bieter should get himself a human powered rickshaw and shuttle people around downtown himself if he is so insanely hot on the idea of a transportation “solution” more appropriate for Disneyland than Boise.

I love the idea of a useful trolley but this trolley basically serves BSU students getting to and from their jobs as servers downtown then getting them to a from bars on the weekend. If they want to invest in a trolley it should run from downtown up the 184 to the 84 making stops at curtis then milwaulkee/franklin then eagle rd.to fairview then out to Meridian rd. Back to the frwy then finishing at Garrity and returning. Or at least something sensible and useful. I live in the downtown area and walk most of that “T” on foot. From 9th to Broadway is a 15 to 20 minute walk. Give me a break! I am also from San Diego and very familiar with the trolley as we used it very often. It is nothing like what Beitar is trying to create. His vision is like that of a toy train track, cute but useless.

Agree. We have a new bus station. Let’s use it. Put some buses on downtown circulator routes, promote the service, see which routes work. Then modify the routes to serve the users. With the mayor’s street car / trolley you cannot modify the routes.