From The Sacramento Bee, By Tony Bizjak, October 29, 2007
Relic may be rolling again
Streetcar plan gains speed as cities see practical charm
On a winter's evening six decades ago, Sacramento's last two streetcars trundled quietly into retirement, pushed aside by the city's booming postwar car culture.
Sacramento streets had gone modern. Cars were unchallenged kings of the road, and Sacramentans were loving it.
"Everybody was buying cars," says lifelong Sacramentan Donald Rivett. "People were putting on the dog."
But times change, and so do ideas of what's modern.
Faced with congestion, parking woes and bland streetscapes, Sacramento planners have reached an ironic conclusion:
They want streetcars back, and soon.
Sacramento and West Sacramento hope to build a $53 million-plus streetcar rail line that would traverse the Tower Bridge and venture a mile into each city's downtown – and do it within the next four years.
The ambitious plan faces challenges. It will require a high level of cooperation between two sometimes cross-river rival cities. It'll also need unprecedented buy-in from local landowners: Officials say property owners will be asked to pay a good chunk of the cost.
Yet advocates remain hopeful.
"I think it's a terrific return to the past," Sacramento City Councilman Ray Tretheway said. "I think people will get it."
Sacramento wouldn't be the first city to rediscover the old-school charm of trolleys as it remodels its downtown into a live-work neighborhood for people tired of suburban commutes.
For nearly a decade, sleek new streetcar lines have popped up from Kenosha in Wisconsin, to Little Rock in Arkansas and Portland, Ore.
These trolleys are not just transportation devices, planners say. They are "placemakers."
Cities like Portland boast gleaming and glassy streetcars with sleek profiles and bright colors that exude cool.
San Francisco runs picturesque vintage streetcars that appeal to nostalgia.
Seattle's new line, in its South Lake Union area, captured national attention and some snickering recently when officials decided – thinking of the acronym – to call it the South Lake Union Streetcar, not trolley.
Even with a modern face, today's streetcars share the limitations of their clanging ancestors.
They don't go far. They don't go fast. They get stuck in traffic. And they require overhead electric wires.
But if done right, officials said, streetcars are magnets, attracting street life, stimulating development, and allowing downtowners to keep the car garaged all day – perhaps all week.
Portland is the paragon of the new streetcar movement and inspiration for Sacramento and other cities.
"They really got it right. They nailed it," said Jim Graebner of the American Public Transportation Association.
Portland's decision in the 1990s to build a streetcar through an old railyard helped create the now-famous Pearl District.
That district thrives, Portland developer Sue Miller said, in good part because its residences, offices, stores, restaurants and parks are linked by transit more appealing than buses.
Ben Andrews, who lives in a Pearl District condominium midrise called "Streetcar Lofts," says the neighborhood feels like a small piece of Manhattan.
"People will say, 'I took the streetcar,' to sound cool," Andrews said. "It's part of the whole going-green thing."
A few planners in Sacramento have talked about streetcar lines in Rancho Cordova, Roseville and Lincoln, and around Arden Fair.
But streetcars are useful only in dense urban environments.
That's exactly what West Sacramento officials hope a streetcar will help them build. They want to turn the nearly blank industrial Triangle area around Raley Field into an extension of downtown Sacramento, with offices, hotels and residential high-rises.
Val Toppenberg, West Sacramento redevelopment head, said streetcars would give their plans a shot in the arm.
He's toured Portland's Pearl District and sees similarities. "I think we can expect the same results here."
Officials say choosing the initial route is a balance between usability and affordability.
The plan of the moment is to run the line from West Sacramento City Hall, past Raley Field and the waterfront Triangle area.
It would cross the Tower Bridge, continue on Capitol Mall – where it could run on the grass median – then head to K Street, J Street, the Convention Center and the state's East End office complex.
If ridership is good on that initial 2.2-mile line, expansion is more likely, officials say.
One extension could run north into Sacramento's downtown railyard, planned as a transit- and pedestrian-oriented village.
The railyard area is expected to get a light-rail line for faster, longer-distance trips, including to the airport. But railyard developers say they welcome a streetcar line, and are willing to talk about helping pay for it, too.
A second line in West Sacramento could send streetcars rolling south along the Triangle district's waterfront, past rows of waterfront hotels, offices, restaurants and apartments.
Despite the swell of enthusiasm, streetcars bring some unanswered questions.
By spurring cross-river growth, streetcars may exacerbate traffic bottlenecks on Sacramento River bridges. Officials also have yet to agree on how to safely mix the train and cars on Tower Bridge.
West Sacramento officials say they'd really like another bridge for cars, but acknowledge the streetcar politically is a more viable first bet.
Then there is the question of whether Sacramentans, who do not ride buses or light rail in great numbers, will climb aboard.
Consultants HDR, in Portland, estimate 10,000 riders a day if the ticket price is in the $1 range.
Bob Blymyer, a lifelong streetcar fan and member of the Sacramento County Taxpayers League, questions the economics.
"I would not support it if they were doing it just to have something cool and historic," Blymyer said. "We'd need to see a good rate of return on the investment."
A larger issue is where the initial $53-million-plus would come from. The price tag jumps to $70 million if the cities decide to go with modern Portland-style streetcars.
Regional Transit officials, who are helping plan the line, say they do not want streetcars to get in the way of federal funding for a long-desired light-rail line to the airport.
That means substantial seed money may have to come from business and property owners near the proposed streetcar line. Other suggestions include extending an existing West Sacramento sales tax, adding a downtown parking surcharge, and competing for state bond funds.
"That is going to be our toughest nut," said Dan Ramos, a streetcar supporter whose company owns land next to the Tower Bridge in West Sacramento.
Mark Freidman, who owns West Sacramento land near the proposed streetcar line, said developers may well be willing to chip in if the streetcar reduces the size of costly parking garages they'd otherwise have to build.
If streetcars do end up playing a role in enlivening the central city, it would mark an ironic reversal from 60 years ago.
Ninety-year-old Rivett remembers when downtown streetcar line extensions helped create the new suburbs of east Sacramento, Oak Park and Land Park.
As the city expanded, "cars were convenient," he said. "They took you from here to there, places the streetcars didn't go."
Streetcars had become street clutter.
Now, it's cars that create the clutter. Times change, Rivett says, and he's learned a thing or two.
"Cars are convenient," he said, "but traffic isn't. I think the streetcar makes sense."
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