Almost two years after alders squashed a plan to study the possibility of bringing streetcars New Haven, the city’s new economic development chief is bringing it back to the table.
Matthew Nemerson, the development director, made that announcement Tuesday morning at the year’s first meeting of the Economic Development Commission.
Nemerson recently took the reins of the city’s Economic Development Department. He was installed by new Mayor Toni Harp, who took office Jan. 1.
Nemerson said he has instructed his staff to try to secure nearly $1 million in federal funding for a streetcar feasibility study. With a state commitment to pay for part of the cost, the city would need to contribute less than $100,000 to the effort, Nemerson said.
To apply, the administration needs support from the Board of Alders. Nemerson plans to seek that support. (An earlier version of this story reported the city faces a deadline in coming weeks; Nemerson contacted the Independent later Tuesday to say the city has until the end of September to apply.)
The Board of Alders has twice rejected the proposal, in 2011 and again in 2012. Despite fervid support from streetcar fans in New Haven, alders said the study wasn’t a good use of money and was too focused on downtown.
Board of Alders President Jorge Perez said he can’t predict how the board will receive the streetcar proposal this time around. He said he hopes Nemerson learns from the mistakes of the past by reaching out to a large number of alders and ensuring the study addresses transportation needs throughout the city.
Proponents call the plan a practically free way to start bringing a new form of mass transit downtown. Critics of the plan have focused both on potential future costs to the city; and on the a preliminary route envisioned for the streetcar, which would have served people primarily downtown and in East Rock.
At Tuesday’s Development Commission meeting, City Plan Department staffer Susmitha Attota shared the results of a survey administered last year as part of an effort to update the city’s comprehensive plan. One of the findings: 52 percent of respondents said New Haven needs “more inner city passenger services such as light rail, shuttle service, bus, etc.”
“Unfortunately, the streetcar didn’t go through,” Attota said, referring to the Board of Alders previous rejections of the streetcar study plan.
Thomas MacMillan Photo
“We’re coming back!” Nemerson (pictured) said.
“The grant is still out there,” Nemerson said after the meeting. He said the economic development department is already “reaching out” to the board, to “see if we can get people to support it.”
“I just think it’s something we owe it to ourselves to look into,” Nemerson said.
He offered two reasons why.
First, streetcar systems, also known as “light rail,” have been proven to offer a high return on investment, Nemerson said. Cities with light rail see increased property values.
Second, people in New Haven continue to complain of parking and traffic problems downtown, many of which could be addressed by the addition of streetcars.
People who come into town might want to have lunch in one place, then go shopping a short distance away, Nemerson said. They don’t want to have to move their car and fight traffic to look for a new parking space. Light rail offers an easy and fun option for those short trips, Nemerson said.
That’s not to say, however, that the study would necessarily show that light rail is the best option, he said. Maybe it would indicate that the city needs to improve its bus system instead. Either way, the city needs to “study intradowntown point-to-point mobility.”
“I don’t think anyone on the board knows they’re doing that,” Perez said of the new push for a streetcar study.
Perez said that he can speak only for himself, not the whole board, on the issue. “I have no idea how the board would react,” he said. “My first reaction is that the board would be interested in doing what’s right for the whole city. If the administration comes out with a plan that addresses transportation systems for the whole city, we’ll be willing to listen. We’re not against improving traffic flow.”
Perez said he hopes Nemerson will address the problems of past streetcar proposals. Previously, “they only worked with very few people” on the board; other alders felt shut out of the process. And there were rumors that the streetcar system “would be taking property from people,” Perez said People also felt like the streetcar would be “like a replacement for the Yale shuttle.”