Streetcar lobbyists driven by federal money

NO EVIDENCE that STREETCARS REVITALIZE neighborhoods and lead to BILLIONS of dollars of economic DEVELOPMENT........UNLESS redevelopment was supported by HUNDREDS of MILLIONS of dollars in public SUBSIDIES!  And LOBBYISTS work the locals to get FEDERAL money into CONTRACTORS' and DEVELOPERS' hands at our EXPENSE.  

Crony Capitalism.

Streetcar Lobbyists

The Antiplanner, February 18, 2014

Lobbying for streetcars has become a “rare growth spot in an otherwise difficult business environment,” reports Politico. At least thirteen different lobbying firms are trying to help cities get federal money for building clunky, obsolete rail systems.

The article repeats the usual drivel about how streetcars revitalize neighborhoods and lead to billions of dollars of economic development. Since there’s absolutely no evidence of that outside of Portland, and the only redevelopment along Portland streetcar lines was supported by hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies, all the Antiplanner can say is that a lot of cities are going to be surprised when nothing happens where they build streetcars unless they sneak in their own subsidies to developers.

Patton Boggs worked with Portland to secure the first modern federal streetcar grant. | AP Photo

Lobbyists ride the streetcar wave 

PoliticoPro

By BYRON TAU and ANDREA DRUSCH | 2/12/14 

Streetcars are all the rage in urban planning circles. And K Street has taken notice.

A renaissance for the vintage mass-transit option has spawned a new niche area for lobbying — a rare growth spot in an otherwise difficult business environment. Driven by the hunt for federal transportation dollars, a handful of downtown firms is seeing an influx of municipalities, states or private development organizations lobbying for grants and transit projects.

Patton Boggs worked with Portland, Ore., to secure the first modern federal grant for a streetcar system in 2009. That system, which opened in 2001 and later expanded with federal assistance, helped spark a renewed nationwide interest in streetcars, which also got a boost when the Obama administration tweaked its transportation funding criteria to advance “livability” and transit-oriented development.

Streetcars were commonplace in cities large and small until the mid-20th century, when most were replaced by bus lines. But since President Barack Obama took office in 2009, his administration has made a concerted effort to fund rail — both the kind of high-speed intercity rail that has attracted derision and controversy as well as local streetcar, light-rail and subway projects.

The Center for Transportation Excellence’s Jason Jordan said the administration’s “clear prioritization” is helping drive the streetcar boom.

The pro-streetcar forces on K Street also have their own coalition. The Community Streetcar Coalition was formed in 2004, when Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) made a legislative effort to get more federal money for streetcars. The coalition represents cities, streetcar makers and transit agencies, among other interests.

“This is definitely a growth area,” said Jeff Boothe, an attorney for Holland & Knight who serves as the executive director of the coalition.  “Cities see the streetcars as a way to organize and shape land use and economic development,” Boothe said. “They see them as in part revalidating their communities.”

But not everyone is a fan of the increased investment in transit that the streetcar boom has unleashed.

Adrian Moore, vice president of policy at the libertarian Reason Foundation and a former member of the National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission, says special interests have driven the growth in streetcars.

“I’ve always thought its ludicrous that the federal government ever got into funding urban transit projects,” Moore said. “You simply cannot argue that having better public transit in Austin benefits me in California and therefore there’s a national interest and we should tax payers from the vast part of the country that does not have transit pay for public transit for the people who happen to live in bigger cities. There is no national interest there. It’s strictly the result of lobbying.”

**************

Where do these ideas come from?  Why are citizens always the last to know about them?  

Unless one is making money from them, maybe we're not supposed to konw.