Streetsblog Los Angeles

The Downtown L.A. Streetcar is one step closer to reality…one giant step.

Click on the image to see a larger version of the proposed route.

Last night, the Los Angeles City Clerk announced that the a measure to fund $62.5 million of the $125 million project was passed by Downtown voters with over 70% in support. As with Measure J, the initiative needed a two-thirds vote to pass. The election was held via mail ballot and was open to all Downtown property holders.

As of last night, clerk reported that 73 percent of about 2,000 ballots cast favored the measure, with 67 percent required. There were still 110 votes remaining to be counted, but even if every single one was a “no” vote it would not take the measure below the two-thirds threshold.

The proposed route of the streetcar covers 10 blocks along Broadway before turning left over to L.A. Live. Then it heads through the financial district. It is scheduled to open in 2015. The other half of the funding for the project is expected to come from through federal grants.

While Steetsblog took no official position on the Streetcar, contributor Brigham Yen penned an op/ed as part of Streetsblog’s election coverage explaining the measure and urging a “yes” vote. Yen noted that ridership orojections for the Streetcar are much higher than current bus ridership along the corridor, the redevelopment benefits and that once the streetcar route is completed, expanding it to other streets would be easier than the initial route.

L.A. Streetcar Inc., the non-profit that is supporting the Streetcar explains that based on this measure, he majority of residential units included in the downtown area will pay less than $100 a year, with the median rate for a 1,000 square foot unit coming in at roughly $60 a year to pay for the measure. “That’s less than dinner out once or twice a year.”

My favorite alternative connects the black line running down Broadway to the yellow line snaking through South Central Los Angeles and around the Staples Center. See all the alternatives here.

Tomorrow night, the L.A. Streetcar team and Metro will hold a public meeting to discuss what options will be studied for a new streetcar system for Downtown Los Angeles.  There are seven options on the table, all of them serve a different need, and all of them will bring something new, or rather something old, back to the Downtown.

There’s plenty of information about the project and meeting online.  You can get the meeting details, read a short briefing put together by Metro, or visit the official LA Streetcar homepage and comment on the alternatives.  Last but not least, the streetcar boosters have their own webpage at Go LA Streetcar.

Last week, the mapping blog Big Map Blog, released an old map of the streetcar system from 105 years ago.  The quality of the old streetcar system has become something of an urban legend among transportation reformers.  People talk about the system as though it provided a universal transit system that was unrivaled.

And looking at the map, it’s easy to say why.

Yup, the old streetcars went to Staples Center. You can see a lot more of the 1906 map at The Big Map Blog.

But as impressive as the old streetcars were, it’s time to look forward, at what’s being offered by the current proposals. None of the proposals can replace what used to exist, but each of them brings something new to the table.

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