W-S Streetcar News

[twincity]

I hope this works out. so many are questioning if W-S is ready for something like this. if they decide to go ahead with construction, i think by 2010 the city will be ready. you gotta love those projection numbers!

4,653 units and 3.5 million sf of new office space are projected along the first line! More news coming in June.

article

[sax184]

I hope this works out. so many are questioning if W-S is ready for something like this. if they decide to go ahead with construction, i think by 2010 the city will be ready. you gotta love those projection numbers!

4,653 units and 3.5 million sf of new office space are projected along the first line! More news coming in June.

article

Ugh. Lots of hand-wringing in this article. There are issues out there, but Winston needs to make this happen for a lot of reasons. A better article could have been written.

[monsoon]

I think they need to do more homework although I realize this is coming from a newspaper and they tend not to be the best source of information on transit projects.

The real test will be what happens when the Winston-Salem residents will be asked to pay more taxes for it.

On a side note. Rock Hill is also studying doing building a similar system. It's a much smaller city but if they are able to work something out, hopefully Winston will too.

[triadguy37]

Ugh. Lots of hand-wringing in this article. There are issues out there, but Winston needs to make this happen for a lot of reasons. A better article could have been written.

I agree, Winston needs to make this happen. This is one thing that will make Winston a truly unique city in NC. I would ride it, especially on weekends if I wanted to go out to a bar downtown. If the city continues to grow there is not going to be enough parking for those who want to go downtown to shop, eat or bar hop. This would be a great tool to bring people on the outskirts of the city into downtown 7 days a week. There is always going to be poor people, but this should not stop a city from progressing.

[eddard]

Here are 2 pictures that were in today's paper that weren't online:

The 2nd pic is 4th St. with a streetcar inserted digitally. I may have seen that one here before.

The streetcar/bus/train system in Augsburg, Garmany was amazing. It seemed like it went nearly everywhere. A person could easily get along without a car there.

[Metropolitan's]

I hope Winston can get this I would pay more taxes , also What about Greensboro do you think there ready for something like this?

[suburban george3]

I hope Winston can get this I would pay more taxes , also What about Greensboro do you think there ready for something like this?

While I would support additional taxes raised somehow by taxing the downtown, Baptist hospital area that this would serve, I would not support a general citywide tax increase to bring this potential "white elephant" to town. Ridership on services offered downtown by WSTA have been dissapointing in the past, so the numbers presented seem "inflated."

Let's look at who's presenting these numbers. It is a company that would receive over $5 million dollars to draw up the plans for this system, not to mention and additional kickbacks they would receive during construction.

All I'm saying is the city needs to proceed VERY CAUTIOUSLY. While this could be a big addition to downtown, we need to look at the WHOLE city's needs and make sure we have the money to address those in the future. We don't have the luxury of a fast growing tax base like Charlotte and Raleigh does to fund projects like these, if we commit to the $50 + million price tag, we could have our hands tied with debt service for years!

Anyone remember the Simpsons episode where Springfield built the monorail system??? Let's just be more prudent and make sure this is the right thing to do!!

[sax184]

While I would support additional taxes raised somehow by taxing the downtown, Baptist hospital area that this would serve, I would not support a general citywide tax increase to bring this potential "white elephant" to town. Ridership on services offered downtown by WSTA have been dissapointing in the past, so the numbers presented seem "inflated."

Let's look at who's presenting these numbers. It is a company that would receive over $5 million dollars to draw up the plans for this system, not to mention and additional kickbacks they would receive during construction.

All I'm saying is the city needs to proceed VERY CAUTIOUSLY. While this could be a big addition to downtown, we need to look at the WHOLE city's needs and make sure we have the money to address those in the future. We don't have the luxury of a fast growing tax base like Charlotte and Raleigh does to fund projects like these, if we commit to the $50 + million price tag, we could have our hands tied with debt service for years!

Anyone remember the Simpsons episode where Springfield built the monorail system??? Let's just be more prudent and make sure this is the right thing to do!!

George, how do you feel about the Northern Beltway, which would cost many, many times more, enrich another series of contractors, and likely take 400 homes and businesses via eminent domain?

[suburban george3]

George, how do you feel about the Northern Beltway, which would cost many, many times more, enrich another series of contractors, and likely take 400 homes and businesses via eminent domain?

I am not a fan of the western section of the Beltway, however I do support the Eastern Leg. I feel that is urgently needed to relieve traffic pressures off an aged, overused, and extremely dangerous US 52. I also think that the Eastern Beltway can help to bring development to an area of the city which has been neglected and in decline for some time. I also feel that "for the dollar" this project will benefit more of the community than a streetcar line running in the Baptist Hospital/Downtown area. The cost is great but the benefits here help interstate transit, commerce, and industrial concerns in the NW NC/SW VA/Triad region.

I would love to see streetcars running around Winston-Salem, don't get me wrong, I just want this completely examined. It's just a VERY EXPENSIVE investment with EXTREMELY QUESTIONABLE returns for the city. I would hate to see all the money spent on a first rate system that is not utilized and could possibly be "mothballed" due to financial losses. While Winston-Salem is currently fairly well financially managed, I would just hate to see future budgets strained by the expense of a underutilized streetcar system. Of course, with the current gas price "crisis" there could be a possibility of major state/federal funding?

I guess in a nutshell I'm saying "Let's look at this REAL CLOSE before we get all excited!"