Senator

I'm not 100% sure, but it was my understanding that this is the same book as before but that they recently received grant funding to publish it. Either way, though, you can get a free copy by attending a presentation on it (by one of the authors, I think) on 7/30 at the Fayetteville Public Library.

The study is the UA CDC one Mith just linked to in the post above. And since that post I've actually seen that our current population is closer to 450k, but I'll have to find a source for that.

I had another idea already: Though it might not be a popular option for funding, perhaps we could introduce a development tax in the immediate area around the new light rail stations. Business owners would profit greatly from the increased customer flow, so it seems logical to tax a small portion of that for the development of the system in the first place. This idea is a little risky, though, because we would not want to discourage development, since that would defeat the density arguments for the system in the first place. We would simply want businesses to take a stake in the system that is helping them grow.

Hey everyone, I had a couple more ideas: Maybe we could find a way to compromise with the Western Beltway and 540-widening groups by using some of the funds for both purposes. While we are clearing right of ways for one project, we might as well clear for both. For instance, we could run a light rail route parallel to a western beltway or down the median of a widened I-540. If we plan for this from the beginning of the widening project, perhaps we could extend the light rail system all the way to Fort Smith. I'm not sure about the legality of this due to safety regulations, but perhaps we could generate some additional revenue by allowing A&M to transport cargo on the rails at night. Besides these, maybe we could install wind or solar panels (perhaps even installed on top of the railcars) along the route. The managing body could then sell excess power on the open market, or work as buffers on a smart grid system by hooking up cars with excess power back to the grid during non-peak usage. We could also find new ways to incorporate local communities or companies by including their projects as phases in a larger light rail package. For instance, a trolley system could be included as a local hookupfor Fayetteville, or Bentonville could include a personal rapid transit system for the Wal-Mart campus that hooks up to the light rail system. Not too innovative of an idea here, just pointing it out that it doesn't have to be either/or. I'll try to keep brainstorming new ideas. As always, let me know what you think (thanks for the compliment, Snaple4)! Edit: To make it a little bit clearer, I mean for the Western Beltway route to be an "express route" between the end of the line (probably connecting with XNA or Bentonville) and the beginning (Fayetteville). This train would travel with no or very few stops, allowing it to greatly reduce the amount of time for transit between the connected cities. By limiting the amount of stops on the route, it would also prevent some of the sprawl issues that might arise if there were a full system of stations. I still think, though, that the Western Beltway is a risky proposition when it comes to sprawl. People will inevitably set up shop to sell those drivers food and gas, followed by more and more services until full-scale development occurs.

I think we actually have a pretty good shot at getting some of that money. Here's just a few of the good things we have going for us: The public interest group Greenway, LLC has already completed basic prefeasibility and feasibility studies (by Beta Rubicon) necessary to get funding, and they would be ready to go to conduct an alternatives assessment (a prerequisite for some federal funding like the Small Starts program). The A&M railroad supports the project and would even run the system to keep costs low. The UA Community Design Center recently completed an extensive study of the system and it's impact on the region. There's even a 200-page book being published about it. That would be sure to have an impact on legislators. (http://dailyheadlines.uark.edu/14182.htm) Public figures like newly-elected Mayor Lioneld Jordan (finally) support the project. Anchor companies like Wal-Mart (which has a lot of influence in Washington) and others in the NWA region are implementing massive sustainability projects, and the region is working cooperatively to find the best long-term solutions to become a "Green Valley." These efforts are already attracting new companies to the area (though we are sure to face stiff competition if we don't take dramatic, game-changing steps to cement our status). Though we might not have the population now or some of the other necessary feeder transit-infrastructure like bus-systems, we have to keep in mind that it will take 10-20 years to fund and build the light rail system. Think about how much we've grown in the past decade. Current projections are that we will at least double our population to 600k, maybe even more, in the next 10-15 years. Isn't a population nearing 750k, 850k, or 1M large enough to support light rail? By that time, we better have done something, or our growth (which fuels our increases in wealth, standard of living, etc.) will be derailed. Besides, if we can work together to get a big chunk of stimulus cash, we can use our own money to start side projects like bus systems or trolley systems while we use the federal money for the light rail. This system would create the density and high-value development necessary to sustain itself. It system could prevent the need for a Western Beltway or some of the other bypasses being thrown around. Widening 540 or building other roads are just temporary solutions to a bigger problem--as more and more people move into the area and more and more people generate wealth and buy cars, growth outpaces the rate at which we can build roads. It's why cities across the nation are finally abandoning more and more highway projects in favor of sustainable solutions like rail or other mass-transit options. California, for example, recently decided to build a high-speed rail system instead of more and more multiple lane highways, thus saving money (billions of dollars versus road transportation, airports, etc.) while massively reducing environmental impact. Sustainability is not just about reducing carbon emissions; it is about finding solutions that are good investments of our time, effort, and money that will improve quality of life while solving long-term problems. Road transportation just doesn't cut it. It's an obsolete, dirty fuel, imported from dangerous parts of the world that increasingly makes us less and less competitive in the new green economy while increasing our cost of living and conducting business. If we really want to be a "Green Valley," as we most definitely should to secure the continued growth and success of NWA, we have to lead by example by implementing real-world sustainable solutions. Companies are going to come here just because we label ourselves the "Green Valley" and "The Natural State;" they are going to come here because we truly become green and natural. When all of our power comes from a coal plant and all of us drive gas-powered cars, we have to make some big, dramatic changes, or we will be lost in the next stage of development. It really is as urgent as it sounds. I know that light rail will be incredibly hard to build. And it really, really will be, from the amount of money needed to the political wrangling it will take to get approval. I think it's a shame, though, that we would back away from what we all dream of just because it's hard. We have an unprecedented opportunity to do something huge. A passenger rail system would transform NWA even more than 540 did. One of the best qualities about NWA is that we continue to be the exception to the norm. People used to think that a retail store from Arkansas would never succeed, and we gave them Wal-Mart. People used to think that farms wouldn't become big business, and we gave them Tyson. People used to think that a small southern school would never amount to much, and now the University of Arkansas is one of the premiere public research institutions in the nation. The list goes on and on. And now, people say that we don't have the right density or the right population or some other issue that will prevent us from building a sustainable, long-term solution to growth and transportation like passenger rail. Will we prove them wrong again? I sure hope so. [Edits: changed "cementing" to "cement", corrected figure of doubling to 300k to 600k (current pop. is ~300k or more)]

(reposted with minor changes from the discussion about a Fayetteville trolley system) With the passage of Obama's stimulus package, there are literally billions upon billions of dollars up for grabs to build systems exactly like what NWA envisions for light rail. Though we might not be sure about issues like density, etc., I think that this is too big of an opportunity to pass up to get it built while minimizing the funding we will have to come up with on our own. If we don't do this now, it could take hundreds of millions more dollars from our own pockets. Besides, large-scale infrastructure development like light rail will make sure NWA doesn't lose its momentum during the recession. Here's a message I sent to Mayor Jordan (but haven't gotten a reply yet): Mayor Jordan, I noticed that there will be money for mass-transit projects in President Obama's stimulus package, as well as money for rural development, sustainable energy, and smart-grid technologies. I think that this could be a great time to find some funding for a light rail system in NWA that would not only create jobs here immediately but also would spur further development and economic stability and maturity in the region. Besides the massive economic benefits of a light rail system, the project would help to prevent urban sprawl that will hurt the long-term sustainability and cohesiveness of our region. There should be mutliple opportunities for funding if we approach the project in the right way. By creating an electric light rail system that runs in part off of solar, wind, or other clean technologies, we could get money from both the sustainable energy component as well as the mass-transit component. By applying as a growing area in a rural state, we could get money from the rural development component. The lines that would power the system could use smart-grid technologies so that we could get money from there as well. Perhaps there are even more creative approaches like including wi-fi access on the trains so that we could get money from rural internet access programs; we just have to be smart and look for them. Besides the stimulus package, another idea I had to help fund the project is for the NWA transit authority (or whatever governing body manages the funding) to sell carbon offsets from prevented road travel. The light rail system would greatly decrease the amount of carbon emissions due to gas-powered vehicles, thus creating an amount of prevented carbon viable for sale in carbon markets. Thank you for your time, and I hope to hear from you soon. What do you guys think? Is it now or never? Senator