Governor's race has been slapped down on his progressive streetcar proposal. I hope he doesn't let the reaction to this idea stop him from turning to left center a little more. Of course, the Albuquerque Journal will bury this proposal in negative stories and any vote on it will not be successful. I have to admit even some of my left leaning friends feel 270 million dollars for a "Nob Hill Streetcar" probably wont fly with west side voters. Selling this to the voters will be difficult. When the original transportation tax was passed during my term as Mayor the first polls showed it passing with about a 65% margin. After the right wing city councillors, were done complaining to the newspapers and talk shows it passed by about 1%, but it did pass and we have had almost ten years of successful transportation and transit projects. About 20% of those revenues went directly into the transit system. We had tried to get a larger share, but the Council wouldn't buy it. Now, the entire tax is being proposed for transit which seems like a good idea to me. When gasoloine is up to $5 a gallon in a few years this will really pay off.I would advise the Mayor and City Council to complete a truly effective grid system for bus service throughout the city. I think once that is done the Streetcar proposal would probably fly. I still like the concept and have seen it work in Salt Lake City where often it is standing room only on their system.
Now, if we can just convince the naysayers in Santa Fe that the Rail Runner won't ruin their lives we will have made real progress on transportation in the Middle Rio Grande corridor.
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