Article “Trolley put on side track” would have us understand: “Nearly a decade after the idea was first raised, three years after it appeared federal funding for a 2.6-mile loop was imminent, the proposal to bring streetcars back to Lancaster has foundered. Backers, including Gray, continue to assert that a streetcar line would benefit the city, fostering economic development and improving transportation in the heart of downtown.
“But there is simply no money to conduct preliminary studies — let alone build the $14 million-plus system and operate it…
“Others close to the project suggested the political will to shepherd it through had evaporated in the face of public opposition. “I think there was more resistance than [Gray] thought,” said one source who spoke off the record. “There were other priorities, and he no longer had a passion to do this.”
WATCHDOG: In reality, the street car concept was presented with the same spin and dissembling and, in many cases, by the same people that were associated with the Convention Center Project, the relocation of the freight yard, and the opaque and self serving conduct of Lancaster General Hospital’s top executives.
Every example given of successful street car operations in other cities and the receptivity of Lancaster residents was misleading or simply false. NewsLanc researched and gave the lie to one after another in a series of articles.
During the first decade of the new century, a malaise had fallen over our community and, one could argue, our nation. Through the aggregation of power into a few hands, our business leaders and erstwhile protectors had turned into predators.
But be careful. The Lancaster Newspapers twice published self serving virtual bituaries for the Convention Center Project when their executives knew otherwise. The trolley car scheme won’t be dead until a stake is put through its
Thank goodness. I am not sure that the car on Prince Street made the case to proceed. If anything, it looked massive and clumsy, not charming, in the scale of the width of Lancaster’s streets.
I’ve got a sledge hammer…..who wants to bring the stake? This idea is even more ridiculous than the hotel / convention center / white elephant.
I don’t think that the freight yard people had anything to do with the convention center or the trolley or vice versa, but it is an important point that these things have a way of getting foisted off on the public before any community debate or discussion even occurs.
Of course, our elected leaders have the right to make many decisions on our behalf, but they do not have a right to do so in a way that is secretive and exclusionary. A trolley running in the middle of Lancaster’s busiest streets was just a dumb idea, and completely unnecessary.
Thank God Gray woke up. Waste is waste no matter how one titles it.
IF Mr. Peters is so gun ho, possibly he should take the postition High did with the Convention Center, form a partnership and get to work with the politicians! However I do not think he has the IOU’s that High had going for him and as time goes on and the voters get smarter, the way of doing business as in the old days is over.
I would love to see the 14+ million dollars put into the school district instead. I am happy that Lancaster’s new shops and street corners bring people to visit but as a parent raising my children here… I prefer the focus to be children’s education and not a new “street car attraction”.
Anyone who thinks this is a dead issue is either a moron or just moved to town last week and thinks that LNP actually reports the news. This issue is not dead and is even money or better to get built. Unfortunately, that is the reality.