STREETCAR DESIRED
So Suzanne Anton wants a downtown streetcar network.
You probably heard about the NPA mayoral candidate's pitch last week as part of her ongoing campaign to knock Gregor Robertson off the tracks that run to the mayor's chair.
If elected Nov. 19, Anton has promised to get to work on a plan that would see a streetcar network running from Granville Island to Waterfront Station, with stops at the Olympic Village, Science World and Chinatown.
Sounds wonderful.
But how much will it cost?
That's not clear but Anton has recommended a "public-private partnership."
Why does this all sound familiar? Because it is.
As my nine-year-old records show, politicians were talking about a downtown streetcar when Larry Campbell was mayor from 2002 to 2005. In fact, council is on record of wanting a downtown streetcar system since 1999.
More presently, let's say Oct. 4, 2006, I wrote a story based on a city staff report that estimated a streetcar network from Granville Island to the downtown waterfront would cost up to $200 million-a shorter route from Granville Island to Science World came in around $60 million.
That was in 2006 dollars, people. The report recommended up to 50 per cent of the cost of either network-short or long-should be paid with outside money. That would be senior levels of government and the private sector.
At the time of the report, I interviewed Anton, who was first elected to council in 2005. I asked her about city staff's request to spend $300,000 to have consultants develop a detailed design of the shorter line and a maintenance facility.
Anton said she wasn't prepared to say which way she would vote on the request (she voted in favour, the minutes show) and pointed to other priorities such as alleviating the congestion at the Commercial and Broadway transit hub.
That congestion, as anybody who has stood waiting for a bus or tried to transfer SkyTrains knows, still exists and is a lot worse than it was five years ago when Anton was talking about it.
Her thoughts in 2006: "That's our Port Mann Bridge," she said, referring to the conges-tion that occurs on the bridge that links Coquitlam and Surrey. "I really don't know that we can devote a lot of money to the downtown streetcar without solving our Broadway corridor issue."
Now what's she saying? First of all, a streetcar network is "likely to pay for itself within a decade of operation," she claimed in the press bumph she released at her announcement last week.
And. to the politics: "Gregor Robertson and Vision Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»have allowed this important public transit and economic development opportunity to disappear since the successful 2010 Winter Olympic showcase," she said, referring to the streetcar demonstration project during the Games. "The downtown streetcar network will do more to make Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»the world's greenest city than any current Vision plans which are more about style than real results for the environment."
And. to Vision's retort: "The reality is that the previous NPA council committed the city to $9 million in capital investment for the 2010 Games streetcar pilot project with no idea when or if the entire system could be built," wrote Vision Coun. Geoff Meggs on his blog. "The rusting tracks are a monument to that 'no real plan, no real budget, fingers crossed' approach. It was a great ride for eight weeks."
Twitter: @Howellings
