|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Issue: 985 Date: 7/9/2009
|
|
Trolley from Forest Park to Loop may revive the "clang, clang clang"
|
|
|
|
 |
| Loop Trolley ribbon cutting on 12/5/2005 |
|
|
(Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch) By Margaret Gillerman, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
UNIVERSITY CITY - A lone saxophonist stood on a corner in the Delmar Loop on a recent day, trying out a "new" song.
"It's 'Meet Me in St. Louis,' from the movie," explained Tony Street, the hip 30-year-old. "My mother loves it." He may want to learn "The Trolley Song" from the same 1945 classic, which featured Judy Garland in a story about a St. Louis family and the 1904 World's Fair.
The song celebrates the "clang, clang, clang" of the streetcars that were common a century ago, then disappeared, but may one day again run right past the spot where Street played.
Proponents of building a 2.2-mile line from Forest Park to the Lion Gates at the western end of the Loop will present details, answer questions and seek reactions at a meeting Wednesday afternoon at the Regional Arts Commission.
The project's cost, $45 million to $55 million, would be paid mostly using federal funds, with a local share and private donations.
The Trolley Company Advisory Board, led by Loop businessman Joe Edwards, will make a formal recommendation by the end of the month to the East-West Gateway Council of Governments, a clearinghouse for federal money.
As envisioned, the tracks would run from the Missouri History Museum north along DeBaliviere Avenue to Delmar Boulevard, then west past the Delmar Metro station and into University City, turning around at or near Trinity Avenue. Backers say the plan would not aggravate traffic congestion or parking problems and would not compete with the Metro transit system for funds. The tracks for at least most of the way would run in a normal traffic lane.
Terry Freeland, manager of the Transportation Corridor Improvement Group for East-West Gateway, said, "Now that people will be able to see the possible alignment and the drawings, they can begin to think of it as more real."
He noted, "The big question remaining is, where are you going to come up with the funding for construction?"
Proponents are asking the region's members of Congress to earmark about $40 million for the project in the next transportation bill. So far, about $2.3 million has been spent - $1.5 million for engineering and other studies; $200,000 for a feasibility study by Metro in 2000; and $600,000 to purchase and restore vintage streetcars. Most was federal money.
Property owners along the route and voters in the immediate area overwhelmingly approved a 1-cent sales tax for a transportation development district. It's expected to raise as much as $400,000 a year that could be used as a local match for federal funds and for operating costs.
The payback, Edwards says, is to use "green" electric transportation to increase visits to the Loop and Forest Park while enhancing business and residential development along the way.
Edwards owns Blueberry Hill, the Pageant theater building, Pin-Up Bowl, Moonrise hotel and other properties at the Loop, and is widely credited with leading its turnaround. He said he first proposed trolleys back in 1997.
A 2000 feasibility study by Metro showed that bringing back streetcar service to St. Louis would stimulate new development and jobs, attract high ridership and attract visitors, said Tom Shrout, executive director of Citizens for Modern Transit.
The trolley board includes University City Mayor Joe Adams; Ben Uchitelle, former mayor of Clayton; Robert Archibald, president of the Missouri Historical Society; Don Musick, president of Musick Construction Co.; philanthropist Desmond Lee; and J. Kim Tucci, co-owner of the Pasta House Company and board member of the St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission.
As envisioned, the system would use five handicapped-accessible vehicles running at 10-minute intervals with nine stops.
From 1888 into the 1960s, electric streetcars - or trolleys - criss-crossed the streets of St. Louis and inner suburbs. Some rumbled out to Kingsland Avenue and Delmar Boulevard and then looped back. The tracks are long gone, but the area's Loop name remains.
Near there, a bright red trolley from Milan is on display, with words to "The Trolley Song" posted beside.
Edwards said he prefers the term trolley to streetcar because of St. Louisans' happy association with the old movie.
"To have that Judy Garland ring to it - that clang, clang, clang and the World's Fair - it's lighthearted, it's fun," he said. "It has memories."
|
|
  |
| July 2, 2009 - Passersby look in at the model trolley and Delmar Loop setup in the display window of Blueberry Hill in University City. Some locals are pushing for a trolley system to be installed on Delmar Boulevard that would run to the Missouri History Museum and back. (John L. White/P-D) |
|
|
