LRT/HRT and other forms of mass transit are necessary to make a large city
livable.
Minneapolis is one a small handful of major North America (and probably
global) cities to not have a decent mass transit system. We have the second
highest cab fare/mile (second only to NY, where you can at least flag one
down without waiting 1.5 hours), and a poor system of
buses-to-the-central-core that ignores major commuters. Our commuter lanes
are underutilized, and our answer (so far!) has been to add more lanes of
freeway.
Immigration isn't slowing down. Want to know what that does to a growing
city? Has anyone ever been to Los Angeles?
70% of the workers in Minneapolis commute from the suburbs. 50% of the
residents of Minneapolis commute to the suburbs. Whew! That's a lot of
moving people around!
Yes, LRT is expensive, but that is the price we have to pay for not
investing in the city during an earlier decade. The cost of any improvement
won't go down by waiting - this is a one-way price trip. Yes, there's
probably some waste in the planning and bidding process. Yes, we could
probably do it better. But waiting another decade (or two) to save 10%,
heck, even 50%, will seem trivial to the costs in another 10 years.
Yes, the downtown Minneapolis to airport to mall is a silly route, but every
route will appear silly to the 90% not near it - until we have served all
areas of the Twin Cities. Look at Portland (OR) for an example. The first
route was from downtown to Gresham in the east. Then a line to Beaverton in
the west, then finally connecting the airport (much too late in the process,
if you ask me). The final links are south to West Linn/Lake Oswego and (if
Vancouver ever approves it) a line to the north, and the entire metro area
is now within easy reach of fast, safe, affordable commutes. These same
arguments appeared in Portland - when the first line was built everyone
wondered why we would spend so much money on an eastern suburb. Yet,
surprisingly, initial rider numbers were 300% greater than projected! And,
it increased bus usage as feeders to the light rail. That plus SIXTYSEVEN
park-and-ride lots along the way created a huge success, at a fraction of
the cost of building a new system today.
As a frequent traveler, I am disappointed with Minneapolis and its failure
to invest in basic services and infrastructure to support its position as a
livable, vibrant metropolis. Let's take a stand and make it happen this
time. The first step might do us some good.
As a small business owner, I and my colleagues are routinely disappointed
with the difficulties in commuting in and around Minneapolis. Two
co-workers of mine quit earlier this year to find jobs closer to home
because the traffic impeded their ability to get to work on a regular basis.
Please don't fall for "Dick Day"-ism's - we've got too much going for us in
Minneapolis to think small.
KtW>
Kurt Waltenbaugh
ECCO, Ward 10
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of
Keith Nybakke
Sent: Tuesday, May 01, 2001 5:29 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [Mpls] LRT again (was: Mission to destroy our biosphere)
Keith Nybakke
Nokomis East, Keewaydin
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