City of New Haven Photo Illustration.
Less than a month after aldermen rejected a plan to help fund a $1 million streetcar study, the city is trying to get the project back on the rails.
At its regular meeting Monday evening, the Board of Aldermen officially received a proposal from Kelly Murphy, head of the city’s economic development department, asking lawmakers to green-light a study that would look at the feasibility of putting in a streetcar system downtown.
The item is now headed to the board’s City Services and Environmental Policy committee, where it will have a public hearing in advance of a vote by the full board.
Under the proposal, the city would have to put $190,680 towards the streetcar study. The rest — $762,720 — would come from a grant from the federal Department of Transportation. That grant has already been approved by the feds, but the city can’t receive the money until aldermen agree to match it.
It’s a deal that aldermen already rejected once, at their Oct. 25 meeting, when they voted it down 16 to 6. Lawmakers, including Hill Alderman Jorge Perez, argued that times are too tough to be throwing $200,000 towards trolleys.
This time around, Murphy’s letter to the board emphasizes the possibility of finding other money to cover the city’s portion of the trolley study.
“If approved, the City proposes to use a portion of its future capital allocation or regional transportation funds as may be available to
move this project forward,” Murphy wrote in a Nov. 16 letter to board President Carl Goldfield. “We are now in discussions with Connecticut DOT [Department of Transportation] in regard to the local match and I believe that we will arrive at a financing plan that is acceptable to the Board.”
Murphy’s letter also lays out the other expected benefits of a streetcar system to the city. She calls it a “catalyst for job creation and tax base growth.” She mentions other cities — Portland, Ore.; Little Rock, Ark.; Tacoma, Wash. — that have seen increased public transportation ridership and economic development as a result of trolleys. She describes environmental benefits, including the reduction of diesel exhaust fumes.
Those arguments were echoed Monday night by East Rock Alderman Justin Elicker, who has championed the streetcar plan. He noted that recent studies have shown elevated levels of asthma is cities compared to suburbs. A streetcar system could help alleviate that, he said.
“I’m obviously very hopeful it will pass,” Elicker said.
It could happen this time, he said. “My personal thought is that the combination of getting some additional money to cover those matching funds and an effort to reach out to people and help more clearly explain the benefits of a street car system will more likely lead to a positive out come, meaning it will pass.”
Alderman Perez declined to comment on the proposal, saying he hadn’t had a chance to read the latest iteration.
“I’m willing to listen,” he said.
West Rock Alderman Darnell Goldson, who also opposed the first streetcar proposal, said he’s fine with the city “wasting $1 million” on a streetcar study, as long as taxpayers aren’t paying for any of it.
Depending how fast the proposal works its way through committee, Goldson may be among the aldermen who won’t be around to vote on the streetcar study a second time. With 19 new aldermen being sworn in on New Year’s Day, it remains to be seen how the 2012 Board of Aldermen will look upon the trolley plan.