Best CU Discussion Topic of 2008: The Streetcar
Originally announced in February of 2006, the Downtown Streetcar Project was the single most discussed and debated topic on Columbus Underground over the past year. Which is why it took first place in our reader poll for “Best Discussion Topic of 2008″.
Streetcar news in 2008 started up with rumors in February regarding new announcements about how the project would be moving forward. Those rumors turned out to be the unveiling of the controversial financial proposal that explained how the city was going to pay for construction and operations of a Streetcar line by creating a benefit zone around it. In April, things got even more heated when several members of City Council suddenly found themselves too uninformed on the financial plan to consider casting a vote. Meanwhile, every member of Columbus Underground, either for or against the Streetcar, could recite the lyrics to the financial proposal by heart.
And so, it was decided shortly afterward that City Council needed to hold a public hearing to gather more input from residents and business owners. Dozens of Columbus Underground readers were present at the overcrowded City Hall meeting, and several spoke before Council to voice their opinions.
The project continued for several more weeks with announcements of COTA’s monetary support, the launch of Paul Bonneville’s Unofficial Streetcar Website, and the release of the Streetcar’s Construction Impact Memo from HDR Engineering.
Despite all of this, Mayor Coleman opted to pull the Streetcar project off the table and announced that the project was going to be revised for reconsideration.
Updates continued to trickle out over the summer months including a feature running in The Alive, and another feature in the Dispatch. The Columbus Metropolitan Club held a July forum on the topic of the Streetcar that turned out to be quite controversial, but for completely different reasons. Shortly afterward, Council approved the continuation of the engineering study on the Streetcar project.
Throughout the fall and winter of 2008, most everything was quiet on the Streetcar front, and only in 2009 was it announced that the Streetcar project was being merged with the older North Corridor Light Rail project. Technically, this announcement signaled the end of the Streetcar project as we know it, but the functionality and debate should carry on well throughout 2009.
Second Place: McCain Makes Decision on Running Mate
Third Place: 614 Magazine to Launch in April 2009
#5 All topics about Liz Lessner
#6 Why I might someday go to Sloopy’s… We’ll See
#8 Northstar Cafe: The New McDonalds
#9 All topics about Downtown Housing
#10 Dragonfly opens vegetarian carryout ON THE FLY
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Related Tags: best of 2008 • Development • discussion • streetcar • transportation
January 19th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
There are other topics on CU? As some of my office mates have warned me… I may be too close to this…
January 19th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
Better late than never, I guess… My take:
http://www.webcomicsnation.com/rich318/citymouse/series.php?view=archive&chapter=35779
January 24th, 2009 at 9:41 am
There is a new anti-streetcar letter in today’s Dispatch for people to stew over…
Anti-street car letter
This comes on the tail of last week’s pro-streetcar letter.
Pro-streetcar letter
Just an FYI, I guess.
January 24th, 2009 at 9:51 am
Wonderful. Funny that we never talk about revenue streams and target markets with highway projects.
One thing that does bug me about the latest proposal is the jog down High St. and the inefficiencies that might create. Which city bought used rolling stock and created their system off of existing tracks? If I remember correctly, that kept total cost way down for their starter lines. I’d almost like to see that done here. Instead of 1 line, maybe we start with 3 for that 900 million.