Dallas Blog

RPColtrane: [aside to Flash] "Good news, good news"

I just wish this whole Streetcar endeavor was 18 months further down the road so we could get some of those BarackBucks stimulating Downtown.

RoB-

Because of the greedy and idiotic owner of those buildings.

Bacon: Its the economy stupid!

Actually streetcars can provide a lot of stimulus. Aside from the actual construction contracts, which will provide jobs, which provide money that people spend. They've also been shown to promote spending along the route. You're replacing dollars that go to service stations (and the owners of most of the oil) and their small profit margins to dollars that go directly to the municipality or to shops and stores along the route.

Another advantage of streetcars is that they can enhance quality of life. There are certain cities that, despite struggling in this economy, have a high quality of life which means that the effects of a recession are not felt as acutely by city residents. Lost your job? You can get rid of your car to increase your pocket money and still get around town on the streetcar. Those options make a city more pleasant to live in. Streetcars aren't a miracle cure, I don't think anyone is saying that. They're just one more tool to enhance quality of life for residents instead of tourists. IF we put them in the right neighborhoods where people are likely to benefit from them. And IF we promote the development of commerce along said routes, which is not very difficult to do thanks to the overall success of MATA and the developments along the DART line. Anyway, there are a lot of long term benefits. Of course you've always got people opposed to everything "public" who would find a rationale to explain why it'd be "better"/"more efficient" to just buy everyone a mercedes...lol

Maybe this is a dumb "101" question, but don't buses provide the same functionality as streetcars, without having to build new infrastructure and with more flexibility in routing?

No, unfortunately buses don't. One, because they're flexible and not fixed routes it's more difficult to encourage development along that route. Note that the development along rail lines around Dallas has not been paralleled by developments near or around DART bus stations. In the Southwest especially you also have to take the stigma of buses into account. For some reason, it's been shown in poll after poll and study after study that people who'd ride a streetcar won't set foot on a bus. People who'd enjoy moving into an apartment/condo/house right off a trolley line won't even think about whether there's a bus stop near their new place, and it certainly won't be pitched to them by real estate agents as an asset to community. While gas prices will change SOME of that stigma I think it's unreasonable to assume prices alone will change all of it. People do a LOT of things that are highly inconvenient because it's culturally accepted - from hazing to high heels. In short, no, buses don't have the same economic or social impact.

I'd also like to throw my hat in for a mercedes. Somebody bail me out of my crappy car!

ellumo8: It's a little disconcerting that the Mayor is running around exclaiming that the only thing to help downtown is to build a half-billion dollar hotel. How many times will you go down and visit it and use its services?

Any restaurants or shops that perchance are built outside of the hotel won't be able to survive on the 60-70 nights a year the hotel has enough people staying in it that they would venture out and check out the area restaurants (and you can be sure the hotel will do all it can to keep everyone who stays there to eat there so they can generate the level of food and beverage revenue they are projected to). Therefore, even if other businesses open in a splash, they'll close in a crash soon thereafter. That won't change downtown for the better - it'll just leave more vacant buildings and empty development - breeding ground for more vagabonds even closer to our convention center.

Hotels follow business; it doesn't follow hotels. If the prospects for additional business at the convention center were so great, a private developer would take up the opportunity to develop the hotel.

As it warms near 90 today, I have an observation...

Cities with streetcars have much milder climates than Dallas. Standing around for 15 minutes outside then taking a 20 minute ride in a streetcar in Seattle would be pleasant. For 4 or 5 months of the year in Dallas, it would just be a sweat-fest.

Rain39, in my experience, at the end of the day at a convention, there's an "ahhhh" effect where everyone wants to GTFO of the convention center and head back to the hotels, restaurants, bars, etc. When you're inside the CC you're in "work mode" and outside the CC is "party / schmooze mode." This is why it's so important for there to be lots of restaurants and bars within short walking distance of the CC (e.g. San Diego). Or, if it's not within walking distance (e.g. the New Orleans CC isn't within walking distance of the French Quarter), then it has to be obvious where the "go to" district is, so you can take a cab there without worrying that you're making the wrong choice and are going to be bored. The West End is ok I guess, but it's not the sort of thing that's going to make people go, "oh yeah, the convention is in Dallas this year!"