After an unintended trial balloon revived a controversial debate over mass transit, Mayor Toni Harp weighed in Tuesday night on the idea of bringing a “streetcar” or “trolley” to town.
Harp’s economic development chief, Matthew Nemerson, revealed at a Tuesday morning Development Commission meeting that the administration plans to revived a proposal to seek federal money for a transportation study that would include whether to bring streetcars to town.
After this story appeared about the meeting, City Hall started hearing from local officials who hadn’t been clued in to the plans. After a day of discussions, Harp released a statement Tuesday evening. The statement affirmed her general support for the study. It also affirmed her commitment to include critics of the original plan in the process to take into consideration concerns about including more than downtown and East Rock in any subsequent plan and avoiding eminent domain.
“Administration Seeks Alder and Community Input,” the statement as headlined.
The full statement follows:
Following a discussion at the Economic Development Commission meeting this morning related to authorized federal transportation funding, Mayor Toni Harp announced today she does have interest in pursuing federal funding for a transportation study of New Haven’s neighborhoods and downtown.
“Transportation is a civil rights issue, it’s an economic development issue, it’s a jobs issue,” Mayor Harp said. “Too many residents in our community struggle to find suitable transportation to get to work, to a doctor’s appointment, or to the grocery store. With better public transportation we can work to ensure a better quality of life for residents, particularly economically vulnerable families and seniors.”
The federal grant in question had been previously pursued by the DeStefano administration with a trolley-focused plan that was voted down twice by the Board of Aldermen, due in part the opaque process by which it was proposed. While using the same federal money, Mayor Harp presents a different approach as she proposes the study.
“We’re looking to include all of the alders, as well as community members, in the decisions about how this study is commissioned and completed,” Mayor Harp explained. “Earlier today it was reported that this would have to pass in ten days, too little time to take this to the aldermanic committees – that is inaccurate. We have plenty of time to include everyone. News of this came out inadvertently during the presentation of an unrelated report, rather than through our usual process. We want everyone to know this doesn’t indicate how the study will proceed – we want everyone to be involved.”
“While we’ll still be looking at trolleys as an option, this study goes beyond that,” said Mayor Harp’s Chief of Staff Tomas Reyes. “It will show us where our transportation needs are and which areas are being underserved.”