On Streetcars
November 23, 2010 at 11:58 am | Transit & Infrastructure | Tags: streetcar, Transit, transportation
The big project on everybody’s mind these days is the modern streetcar. We’ve got our consultant, HDR Engineering, to deliver a route recommendation (roughly LaGrave Field to JPS via Downtown and South Main) and a business plan. We’ve identified how much the first phase would cost ($83-86 million), what sort of economic benefit we might expect (HDR’s conservative figures indicate $335 million in additional investment along the route within 15 years of opening, representing a 4-to-1 return on investment), and where our funding is coming from (Phase One’s a combination of the $25 million Federal Transit Administration Grant and the Trinity River Vision and Near Southside TIF districts, plus a commitment from The T for $2 million per year for at least the first 2-3 years to operate the system). Considering all that, it would seem a slam dunk for the project. And yet, the streetcar’s far from a done deal, thanks to a variety of opponents, a lot of misinformation, and some good old-fashioned political infighting.
The City Council, which once seemed united in support for the project, has slid into a split vote (one certain councilman went from “no-brainer” in 2008 to opponent today). The reasons thrown out for council opposition are varied. Some new opposition always comes up whenever HDR answers the last one. Lately, it’s been everything from “streetcars aren’t culturally compatible with Fort Worth” to insinuating that the streetcar would rob money from the general fund or from other public works projects, none of which are true. Some of this opposition demonstrates that a few council members are either completely uninformed about what a TIF district is and how it works, or are deliberately trying to obscure the truth.
It goes beyond the council, though. For starters, there’s the Star-Telegram Editorial Board. The Editorial Board, led by Jill Labbe (who isn’t even a Fort Worth resident, it should be pointed out) and personified by the amateurish, error-filled columns of Mike Norman, has done their best to stir up Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt in the population of Fort Worth with blatant misinformation. Apart from the consistently fair and well-informed columns from business reporters like Mitchell Schnurman, the S-T’s editorial coverage of the streetcar has been appalling.
Meanwhile, while most business leaders you talk to around the central city truly do seem to get the streetcar’s importance, a few of the biggest and most powerful are doing work behind closed doors to stop the streetcar project. These interests are virtually all located in Downtown Fort Worth. That’s right – though they’ve never said as such publicly, I feel that Sundance Square (and the Bass Family behind it), along with certain other well-known downtown organizations and non-profits, have been doing work in the background to oppose the streetcar. E-mails find their way around, after all – this downtown-based streetcar opposition is one of the worst-kept secrets in Fort Worth.
Let’s not forget that downtown isn’t paying anything for a streetcar. The Trinity River Vision is essentially offering to buy Downtown’s streetcar leg for them. Downtown doesn’t have to put anything into the project, yet they’ll stand to benefit enormously. It’s insane that they’d be turning that down. While some downtown interests are trying to make the point that HDR’s over-promising the streetcar’s impact and that the Portland streetcar didn’t actually help development there, it’s instructive to note a few things:
1) HDR’s been extremely clear, mentioning several times that Portland’s streetcar development is the exceptional case, and that Fort Worth shouldn’t be counting on that level of development. Still, even their conservative estimates put ours in a strong position.
2) While Portland has done tax incentives and other things to spur growth in their central city (just as we have), to say the streetcar’s had no impact is flat-out wrong. One can see how the streetcar has concentrated growth along its corridors, has allowed a much higher floor area ratio in development (how much of a zoning’s potential a developer takes advantage of), has reduced parking requirements for development, and much more. You can be sure as well that the owners of the small businesses along the route have located there thanks to the streetcar.
It’s not just about attracting development – streetcars attract AND shape development. Sure, we’ve gotten infill development here, but without effective transit, a huge amount of our infill is dedicated to car storage. One only need look along 7th Street to see that – some of the big 7th Street developments seem half-to-three-quarters parking garage. That’s not a sustainable way to build a central city. Sundance Square has slipped from urban revitalization to car-dependent theme park, but we can’t build the rest of our central city that way and expect it to really succeed – it’ll be too many cars, too much congestion, too much parking vs. usable space.
(Don’t forget one reason why the other TIFs are having to buy Downtown’s streetcar leg – the Downtown TIF has sunk almost all of its money, something like $47 million, into leasing parking spaces to subsidize parking downtown. That’s where that “free” evening/weekend parking comes from – it’s money that could otherwise be used for useful public infrastructure, like streetcars or bike stuff or countless other items.)
It’s also interesting to note how Downtown’s attitude has changed – back in 2008, when there was still talk of doing a “downtown circulator” streetcar that would serve downtown and downtown alone (which was, frankly, a terrible idea), they were planning to pay for it. There was an amended Downtown TIF plan that would have provided for streetcar funding, but it never went to council. It’s interesting that now that the streetcar’s first phase would not be exclusively for the benefit of downtown, they’re unwilling to pay up.
The question of whether or not the streetcar would actually increase development (especially residential development), or whether we’re going to get that development anyway, is one I’d like to examine a bit more. The development in places like 7th Street and the Near Southside obviously shows there’s demand for urban living in Fort Worth, but I believe that demand is hamstrung by a lack of effective transit service in this city. I think the evidence cited by HDR’s study shows that this is the case, and I think it’s backed up by the evidence we can see in our peer cities that have done projects like this. The streetcar will create a more appealing environment for central city development.
I feel that HDR’s study has shown that we have a strong plan, where the return on our investment is significant and would be beneficial. This is exactly the kind of study that our peer cities have been doing, and have been making decisions on. We can’t hire people to do this kind of study, and then say it’s worthless when certain interests don’t like the results – especially when our peer cities are already operating off of similar studies. HDR’s study seems quite level-headed and they’ve been clear to point out what streetcars can and cannot do. NOTHING in HDR’s study has been promising Fort Worth a Portland-like return on our investment – there’s been no promises of $3.5 billion in development. They’ve shown how the system benefits Fort Worth, not just trying to sell us snake oil. I hear from developers and investors around here that sites they own on and near the streetcar line could take a lot longer to develop without it, or may go less intensive or single-use routes.
Think about this: there’s something like 3,000 residential units in Downtown right now. Downtown Fort Worth, Inc.’s stated that their goal is to hit 10,000 in and around the core. Given data they themselves use, showing 100-300 units per year being added depending on the area looked at, it’s going to take 20-30 years before we hit our downtown residential goals. If we invest in the streetcar project, that timeline is likely to be accelerated. Do our leaders really want to take that long to hit our housing goals, take that long to make Fort Worth competitive with our peers?
If we don’t go for the streetcar, we’ll be continuing to subsidize this parking-oriented urban development we’ve been doing. It’s simply not sustainable, and it’ll choke our urban villages’ potential as they redevelop. Effective transit means higher intensity development, and less land that needs to be eaten up by parking.
And I’d be pretty peeved if I was a part of the Trinity River Vision or Near Southside TIF, and the Downtown interests were trying to tell me what I can vote to spend my money on. How would the Downtown interests like the TRV telling them they can’t subsidize their “free” parking via the TIF any longer?
What’s even more insane is that we’re talking about an investment that won’t require any money from the general fund, won’t require any tax hikes or other shenanigans. We’re talking about a streetcar that can be paid for by our TIFs, our already-won FTA grant, and operated by our own transit authority. The money’s there.
Here’s another interesting factoid: HDR’s been figuring the TIF funding using a 5% rate of TIF growth. Historically, the Near Southside TIF, to use one example, has grown at 8% – meaning that even if the streetcar doesn’t have ANY economic impact, the TIFs can pay for it. (And how likely is it that the streetcar will have ZERO economic impact?)
And while some of the streetcar’s impact will be in property values, which will feed the TIFs themselves, it’s going to have a real and immediate positive impact on the general fund. All that development that’ll likely be spurred and intensified by the streetcar is also likely to bring new sales tax revenue, and that goes IMMEDIATELY to the general fund, paying for things like parks, libraries, and pools ACROSS THE CITY. This attitude that since the streetcar doesn’t go through X district it won’t have any impact on that district is absolutely asinine.
Moreover, the streetcar isn’t likely to “rob” development from other areas – people and businesses who want to live and work on the streetcar line aren’t the people who are interested in non-streetcar areas.
The streetcar will give us the ability to be more competitive with our peers for the minds and wallets of up-and-coming professionals and businesses. Just looking at the list of cities that either have streetcars, are building them right now, or are planning them should put the fear of competition into our leaders – Portland, Seattle, Tucson, Cincinnati, Washington, DC, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, Charlotte, etc.
The streetcar is likely to build a higher-density urban center city that generates economic benefits beyond the direct property and sales tax revenues to local governments. It’ll help us in competing for corporate headquarters. What’s more, since much of the infrastructure in our center city is already built, there’s less cost to the city for encouraging development there than with large suburban development.
The people who will benefit the most from the streetcar are the ones who are paying, via the TIFs, while the economic benefits will be felt by the entire city. A stronger central city means a stronger Fort Worth, and a stronger Tarrant County.
The Mayor has put together a town hall meeting on December 2nd at the Convention Center to discuss the streetcar. It is critical that streetcar supporters turn out to this town hall meeting on the 2nd to speak in support of the project. Show up at 6:00 to check out some of the project’s information. The meeting starts at 7:00. Fill out a card and speak your support. The following week, on December 7th’s city council meeting, the council will vote to move into the preliminary engineering phase – that’s why it’s important for streetcar supporters to turn out at the town hall.