cra to vote on $5 million for broadway streetcar
This blog has moved to Twitter! Check out my twitter feed for the latest restaurant, retail, and cultural news in the neighborhood.
A major step towards clearing the way for Broadway’s new streetcar will be taken this Thursday, as the Community Redevelopment Agency Board considers a funding proposal to allocate $5 million of “seed money” for engineering and preliminary construction of the project.
Once held up as “a cherry on top of a sundae” by Councilman Jose Huizar (to his grand Bringing Back Broadway vision), is now being referred to as a “major catalytic project,” and efforts to get it built and running have been expedited as a result of economic development studies held recently in Portland and Seattle.
Though it was originally written off as a 10-year endeavor, the streetcar could be reality in just four to six years with construction underway in as little as two years.
“We intend to ride a streetcar Downtown by 2014. I applaud the CRA/LA for bringing this important proposal before the Board,” states Huizar in a public statement issued today.
The money in question would be taken from about $19 million in tax increment funds within the City Center Project Area, with another $5 million to be identified from the Bunker Hill Project Area in the coming years. These tax increment funds were impounded by the courts pending settlement of Los Angeles County legal challenges since 2002, but have since been freed for use by the CRA/LA.
According to early estimates, $90 million will be necessary to see the entire streetcar project to completion, a financial endeavor to be tackled by joint public/private partnerships and donations sought after by Los Angeles Streetcar, a non-profit organization being formed to operate the streetcar system.
A benefit assessment district will be proposed and managed by the non-profit, and is seen as a key ingredient in the funding strategy.
Transportation consultants IBI Group have been hired to identify possible sites for streetcar maintenance facilities, and next steps involve determining preferred route alignments for the Broadway portion of the entire 3.4-mile transit line, which could ultimately link LA Live to the Grand Avenue Project.
The CRA Board vote will take place at 10:00am this Thursday and should be met with support.
18 comments
5 years? Great but, where’s Henry Huntington when you need him? Those robber barons were jerks, for sure, but they knew how to get stuff built in a hurry.
Unfortunately there is precious little to ferry people back-and-forth too. Swap meets, crap clothing and electronics stores, lousy food stands. Aside from occasional “events” in the old theatres, why would anyone ride these things. Novelty aside, shouldn’t the the CRA being working with the BID to first populate Broadway with some better businesses to draw people downtown?
It’s not about the stores on Broadway. It’s about neighborhood connectivity and creating better market conditions by providing a sustained, permanent commitment by the city to the revitalization of downtown. The streetcar will serve all the Historic Core, and connect the neighborhoods together. Broadway is only one small part of that.
i dont know if the streetcar like the ones in portland appeal to me. I think more of a trolley type of cable car with open windows where you just jump on and off makes more sense for such a short distance. the proposed streetcars make more sense for longer distances.
It is important to support the efforts to bring the Portland Style Street Cars to Los Angeles. This is a longterm proposition and not one that is only relegated to the reinvention of Downtown Los Angeles.
To think that we can remain a global city when we are far behind the rest of the world’s cosmopolitan cities because of the lack of transportation options. It is well beyond reprehensible and egregious. We should applaud those who envision making options that appeal to those even with disabilities . It is time to begin the thinking that local service in every part of our city be just that. We must link locally and think globally.
I might have a more naive opinion due to not living in downtown yet, just have to wait till the housing market completely hits rock bottom, how horrible, but this preposal seems like it would give downtown a little more character compared to the rest of the city. A new feel seems welcomed to me, especially how I’ve noted on a earlier comment on how sexually charged women like to try to take advantage of an attractive young chap like myself in broad daylight, on the street for chrissake!, whenever I have to hit the downtown area, and it would be great if they had a feel for something else. those cars would help a lot.
Hooray for the streetcar, but another “partnership” to run it? Really?! Is it not confusing enough to have the MTA & LADOT, plus countless other orgs like Foothill Transit and S.M.’s Big Blue Bus crisscrossing Downtown? And one org doesn’t take the other one’s pass and so on. Sure, there’s the MTA’s EZ pass—pay a little more, and it works on MOST transits, but not all. And you can’t buy it just anywhere—they don’t sell it online. Why not? Why can you buy a regular MTA pass online but not the EZ? There needs to be one org in L.A. County in charge of all these others—either merge them, or at least have a cohesive partnership that work closely together with one pass for all, including the new streetcar. Ever been to Hong Kong? Anyone who has and bought an Octopus Card knows what I’m talking about.
@ Anonymous (#4)
Constantly jumping on and off in San Francisco trolley-fashion makes the whole journey even slower. Besides, this streetcar system is already envisioned to get expanded, thus giving it the longer-distance you claim it needs. The system has to start small as a marketing measure to get funding in place and prove to LA that it’d be successful.
@Vero Queero: you can by the EZ transit pass online.
But, I think you meant the TAP pass. You can’t buy the TAP pass online - but you can refill it online.
http://metro.net/riding_metro/tap/default.htm
I think it’s just a matter of time before the fare system is streamlined in Los Angeles County.
plus! Duh! Trains look cool in the city..(you know thats the real reason)
Ginny, You actually can buy the TAP pass on-line as well. I almost bought one yesterday on-line but did not because it is a use-it-or-lose-it type situation, meaning the money on the card, if not used within the same month (referring to monthly pass dollars) does not “roll” to the next month. I called customer service and they assured me that this was planned for the future, maybe around Jan. 2009. Regards.
As Bert Green (#3) said, the arrival of a streetcar line in downtown brings a factor of permanence and sustained commitment to the area - something residents, businesses and yep – tourists – will respond to. And given our past (LA’s fabric of sprawl was born of streetcars, not motorcars), bringing streetcars back to downtown is not a cute little gimmick but a step in reclaiming our history in a meaningful way.
I don’t believe anyone is claiming you just throw streetcar tracks down a street and POOF, you have an urban resurgence. There is no single catalyst but rather several catalysts bouncing around, feeding off one another. Streetcars are just one of those catalysts.
#8
I was more making the claim that if downtown becomes what we envision we need several modes of transportation within its limits. A street cable care would be perfect for short scenic distances from maybe the historic core to the staples center. A street car like portland would be perfect for those going from the staples center to maybe koreatown and then to venice.
I dont doubt that we will need both modes but I just envision the cable car more going in circles around the main area of downtown and the streetcar actually going to further destinations. The metrolink/subway would then be used to travel the furthest distances like to the inland empire, sd, sf, etc…..
# 13, the long-term plan for the street car, at least at this point, is to initially fund a system that will service Downtown with plans to raise additional funding to expand service to more areas. I’ve attended three of the street car seminars offered by Councilman Huizar and the momentum at this stage makes the realization of a full & integrated street car system seem promising.
unrefined…I think we should define the terms here a bit. In dense, urban areas, streetcars and cable cars have essentially the same purpose - but operating with two very different technologies. Cable cars were developed for hilly terrain (LA had one going up Bunker Hill a century ago and Angels Flight remains today as a cable car). Street cars or “trolleys” typically get their power from overhead electric wires and work well in relatively flat areas.
Street cars can also serve far-flung suburban areas and connect different urban centers (as LA’s once did) but they’re still basically street cars. Look at at today’s Blue Line: it operates as a “subway” downtown, then emerges as a street car , then as an “interurban” to Long Beach and then as a local street car again.
I would never use the street car on those proposed routes. Paint the dash cars red and extend the hours.
thanks for the clarification. It just seems to be me that street cars are just more difficult to board and get off on. My only experience with cable cars is SF and it is always fun to jump on from all different sides and hop off several blocks later. Very convenient
Streetcars are VERY easy to get on and off, at least the modern ones are. They are level with the sidewalk, no stairs to climb, you just walk (or if in a wheelchair, roll) right on from the sidewalk and off you go.