NOREEN: Streetcar desires, and the case for lunatics
You might call it a desire named streetcar.
No doubt, as we are mired in a recession of historic proportions and there isn’t spare money for anything, some will say discussing a streetcar system for Colorado Springs could only be the work of a bunch of madcap lunatic dreamers.
Others would say that in good times or bad, every city needs a bunch of madcap lunatic dreamers.
A coalition of local groups and people is in the midst of a $333,872 feasibility study (80 percent from a federal grant, 20 percent from local donors, no money from city tax coffers) for a streetcar system that would serve the core downtown area and, depending on various configurations (see my blog), Colorado City, the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs and a line that would run east to Union Boulevard.
A streetcar system has strong support in the Old North End neighborhood, said Victor Appugliese, president of the neighborhood organization there.
“Obviously, it’s a different mode of transportation,” he said. “It’s less cars on the street. It’s less polluting. It just blended well with the neighborhood.”
Appugliese acknowledged “there are some naysayers” in the neighborhood and others concerned about streetcar noise.
Streetcars sound like a throwback to a bygone era, but about 75 U.S. cities are in some phase of planning for them or are already operating them. Typically the streeetcars dovetail with other forms of transportation, from commuter trains to bike paths.
“This is more than nostalgia,” said J. David Thorpe, a local architectural illustrator who drew up a concept for the streetcar. “This is creating a spine by which the city can re-create itself. It makes it easier to be a pedestrian.”
A meeting for stakeholders is scheduled for Tuesday from 5:30 to 7 p.m. in the Wesley Room at First United Methodist Church, 420 N. Nevada Ave. The meeting will cover potential route alignments, possible funding sources, and vehicle preferences, according to the group’s web site.
Sure, the city has been selling off buses. The list of budget cuts is too long and tiresome to repeat.
But Tom Nycum, a retired Colorado College administrator working on the project, said “Sometimes the best time to plan is when the resources are not there.”
The college is putting up matching money, as is the Downtown Development and UCCS.
“We would very much like to be connected with UCCS,” Nycum said, noting there is a growing synergy between the two schools and that connecting downtown with the re-development on North Nevada makes sense.
Dreamers? Maybe they’re not so bad. Maybe Gen. Palmer was one.
“We need to dream,” Nycum said. “If we don’t dream, nothing happens.”
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Listen to Barry Noreen on KRDO NewsRadio 105.5 FM and 1240 AM at 6:40 a.m. Fridays and read his blog updates at gazette.com/blogs/barrysblog
