Another Florida City Going Streetcar

[thelakelander]

Congratulations, Fort Lauderdale!

Fort Lauderdale streetcar plans get federal boost

Fort Lauderdale’s plan to build a visitor-friendly streetcar system to link its shops and downtown buildings will get a major boost this week when U.S. transportation officials dispense an $18-million grant for the first segment of the long-awaited project.

Plans call for the 2.7-mile Wave Streetcar to run on rails embedded in existing street lanes to be shared with cars. Construction could begin in 2014, and the system will likely begin serving passengers the following year.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood on Tuesday told Florida Democrats in Congress -- including Senator Bill Nelson, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Weston and Rep. Alcee Hastings of Miramar -- that the Fort Lauderdale project will get $18 million. A public announcement is expected later this week.

That’s 22 percent of the cost for the first segment. The state, Broward County, Fort Lauderdale and property owners near the route will pay the rest. The total cost is expected to reach about $140 million.

Local officials were delighted to hear about the money and to see a clear sign of federal support.

"Not only will this investment bring new, improved and more efficient transportation to the region, but it will also create and support jobs," Hastings said. "Additionally, the Wave promotes a livable community by integrating land use, transportation, economic development and environmental sustainability."

Maybe it also helps that this is an election year and that Florida, a major swing state, is getting a lot of attention from Washington.

http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/dcblog/2012/06/fort_lauderdale_streetcar_plan.html

[BridgeTroll]

Maybe it also helps that this is an election year and that Florida, a major swing state, is getting a lot of attention from Washington.

Perhaps Alvin should try and take advantage of this... just a thought...

[Debbie Thompson]

I had the same thought, Bridge Troll.  How do we get on board?  If you'll excuse the pun.

[simms3]

On that...Jacksonville is the only major city/area in FL to go red during the Obama election cycle last time, but it was close.  It would seem to me that Broward, being the bluest county in the state and such a large county, that it doesn't necessarily need any silver spoon feeding from Washington.  A place like Jacksonville does (then again the residents might take federal assistance the wrong way and scream "we don't want your strings attached!").

[CityLife]

Take a look at Corrine Brown's 2011 appropriations list. I have no clue which projects got funding, but a streetcar system in Downtown Jax is a much better public investment than many of them. Heck quite a few of these requests are for projects outside of her congressional district.

http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/fl03_brown/pr_100319_apps.html

Congresswoman Brown also sits on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. If Ft. Lauderdale can get $18 million so can we. Make it happen JTA and Mayor Brown.

[fsujax]

Oh, I how wish that was us. One can dream. There is no will power here to move on anything like that.

[CityLife]

@fsujax, Has JTA ever had discussions with Congresswoman Brown or Federal representatives about getting federal money for streetcars in Jax? The leadership for something like this needs to come from JTA, The Mayors Office or an entity with teeth, not the general public.

[finehoe]

Oh, I how wish that was us. One can dream. There is no will power here to move on anything like that.

Jacksonville's response would be to commission yet another study to sit on the shelf with the hundreds of previous ones before deciding even to apply for the grant.

[tufsu1]

@fsujax, Has JTA ever had discussions with Congresswoman Brown or Federal representatives about getting federal money for streetcars in Jax?

Corrine has been pushing the FTA money down here for BRT.

[Timkin]

Oh, I how wish that was us. One can dream. There is no will power here to move on anything like that.

Jacksonville's response would be to commission yet another study to sit on the shelf with the hundreds of previous ones before deciding even to apply for the grant.

^Right. Commission the study. Then Study the Study. Then Shelf the Study because they don't want Streetcar here. mega money spent, nothing notable gained from it, still at square one.


" Only in Jacksonville "

[peestandingup]

Oh, I how wish that was us. One can dream. There is no will power here to move on anything like that.

Jacksonville's response would be to commission yet another study to sit on the shelf with the hundreds of previous ones before deciding even to apply for the grant.

^Right. Commission the study. Then Study the Study. Then Shelf the Study because they don't want Streetcar here. mega money spent, nothing notable gained from it, still at square one.


" Only in Jacksonville "

Don't forget that if in the slightest chance something does squeak by, slap a temporary moratorium on it!

[Ocklawaha]

Maybe it also helps that this is an election year and that Florida, a major swing state, is getting a lot of attention from Washington.

Perhaps Alvin should try and take advantage of this... just a thought...

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!

Oh, and about the time that Middleburg opens the states 47Th rail system and the last of the big developers have expended their last dime on new high rises and other TOD, SOMEONE in Jacksonville will slap his head and say, "Shazam Bubba, maybe we could put trolley pantographs on our buses, that'll fool those developers..."

Remember the National Bus Rapid Transit Institute's official slogan, "BRT, Just like rail only cheaper."

cheap  (chp)
adj. cheap·er, cheap·est
1.
a. Relatively low in cost; inexpensive or comparatively inexpensive.

b. Devalued, as in buying power: cheap dollars.
3. Achieved with little effort: a cheap victory; cheap laughs.
4. Of or considered of small value: in wartime, when life was cheap.
5. Of poor quality; inferior: a cheap toy.
6. Worthy of no respect; vulgar or contemptible: a cheap gangster.
7. Stingy; miserly.
adv. cheaper, cheapest
Inexpensively: got the new car cheap.
Idioms:
cheap at twice the price
Extremely inexpensive.
on the cheap
By inexpensive means; cheaply: traveled to Europe on the cheap.


Congratulations to our cosmopolitan sister to the south, with love from Hooterville.

OCKLAWAHA

[Ocklawaha]

@fsujax, Has JTA ever had discussions with Congresswoman Brown or Federal representatives about getting federal money for streetcars in Jax?

Corrine has been pushing the FTA money down here for BRT.

Yeah, but she's been drinking poison buttermilk served to her by the JTA - COJ - FDOT cartel.