Leave it to the non-Star-Telegram sources to really get the sharp point-of-view on the streetcar issue – Dan McGraw in the Fort Worth Weekly has a great story this week about the streetcar and the FTA funding debate, taking head-on the constant Tower 55 misdirection and other issues.

A few choice excerpts:

Jordan and some others on the council say the city has more pressing transportation needs. But the city has received recommendations from three council-appointed committees during the past three years, all of which were in favor of building a modern urban streetcar system. The council — as well as the planning and development staff — have supported the streetcar idea at every turn in the process.

Dan also addresses the constant “we don’t even know where the streetcar will go yet” refrain from Councilman Jordan and others like the S-T:

“We all know that [Tower 55] is the number-one priority for this city,” Jordan said. “Accepting this grant puts us in a strange predicament, because we don’t know if we need streetcars, we don’t know where they go or how we are going to pay for them.”

However, consultants have made clear recommendations on streetcar routes, public support for streetcars is high, and little of the money needed to fund the streetcar project would come from the city’s cash-strapped general fund.

And on funding:

Suggestions that local streetcar funding would worsen the city’s budget problems seem questionable. The plan is to fund most of the city’s share of streetcar costs with revenue from Tax Increment Finance [TIF] districts downtown and on the Near South Side.

TIFs freeze property values at a base level, and that taxable value goes into the city general fund. When property values rise above that base level, the extra tax revenue stays in the district, to be used for public infrastructure improvements. The TIF dollars could never be used to improve Tower 55 or fund commuter rail.

Kudos to council member Sal Espino, who (despite the Star-Telegram trying to tell us that the entire council thinks Tower 55 is a higher priority) clearly understands how the streetcar will benefit the city’s growth:

For council member Sal Espino, there is a larger issue involved. “Part of the reason we are in this huge budget deficit is that we have promoted suburban sprawl development through the years, and … doing infrastructure for those projects is very expensive,” he said. “Doing urban village developments with existing infrastructure is a much better investment, and streetcars are a part of that.

“We can’t just build more roads all the time,” Espino said.

The entire article is really nicely done.  Go read Dan’s article – and definitely compare and contrast the attitude coming from our city’s weekly to that of the Star-Telegram’s Editorial Board.

It’s getting to be almost impressive, the way the Star-Telegram keeps pumping out anti-streetcar editorials that continuously attempt to mislead and misinform its readership.  The latest, available here, attempts another assault on the city’s winning FTA grant and continues to make red-herring ties to the Tower 55 project.

A lot of this ground was previously shown false in the last two pieces on misleading S-T editorials, here and here.  Let’s dip into a few specifics of this latest one, though.

The city has been studying the potential benefits and affordability of streetcars, even hiring a consultant at a cost of more than $800,000. The trouble is that the consultant’s work will not be completed until November.

It is amazing how completely and utterly ignorant of this situation the Star-Telegram’s Editorial Board is, yet they continue to use their position of power to spread misinformation.

Yes, the first two phases of the HDR study won’t be done until November.  What the Star-Telegram isn’t telling you, either due to ignorance or blatant lying, is that the FTA knows this.  They city has already told them.  They’re OK with it.  It isn’t a problem for the FTA.  The Star-Telegram’s Editorial Board is trying to paint this as some sort of rush into the streetcar project and an attempt to dupe the FTA, but the truth is very different.

FTA knows our study’s not done.  That isn’t an issue.  The Star-Telegram’s Editorial Board is being incredibly misleading.

Might the consultant be bringing a very fruitful money tree to help pay for this dream?

This isn’t difficult, Star-Telegram Editorial Board.  HDR’s study will identify good funding sources, but there are already likely sources identified – TIF districts in Downtown and the Near Southside, for one example.  Potential Public Improvement Districts are another example.  The streetcar project will be just like every other transportation project in town – a variety of funding sources, layered together.  And once again, it’s very unlikely to require money from the general fund.

Morris and the council have declared another transportation project to be a higher priority than streetcars. They want the freight rail bottleneck known as Tower 55 on the southeast corner of downtown to be fixed. It causes trains to be backed up for miles, shutting off some neighborhoods from emergency services and causing children to crawl under or between rail cars to get to school.

Next month, the Texas Department of Transportation is expected to apply for a $58.4 million federal grant for the $93.7 million project. The BNSF and Union Pacific railroads have pledged $32.8 million, leaving $5 million to be split by Fort Worth and the council of governments.

Oh, good, Tower 55 again!  The misleading commentary never stops.

First, it’s a bit misleading to even say NCTCOG’s Michael Morris and “the council” thinks Tower 55 is a higher priority – I wouldn’t call that a universally held viewpoint at City Hall.  In fact, at the very meeting the Star-Telegram is referencing, NCTCOG pointed out that Tower 55, commuter rail, and the streetcar were each critical components of the transportation system, equally important to the city’s mobility.  They compared them to the legs of a stool.

Even so, let’s look at this Tower 55 thing again.

Tower 55 will not be “fixed” by the upcoming project listed in the editorial.  Not even close.  The project they’re talking about is a small assortment of at-grade improvements to the rail crossing and its approaches.  While there will be some benefits from it, Tower 55 won’t be “fixed” at all.  That’s going to take years (decades, even) and billions upon billions of dollars to build one of the two trenches proposed to finally eliminate the at-grade crossing.  So, this attempt to paint the streetcar as a threat to “fixing” Tower 55 falls apart right off the bat, because this is no fix to Tower 55.

That’s a minor point, though, compared to the bigger lie – either of omission or commission – the Star-Telegram Editorial Board is engaging in here.

That lie is that the streetcar is some kind of threat – funding or otherwise – to Tower 55.  The reality is that they have nothing to do with each other.

It’s especially galling, considering that at the meeting where Michael Morris of the North Central Texas Council of Governments made the talk about the streetcar’s FTA grant, the very same meeting that the Star-Telegram is ranting mindlessly about here, Morris and city staff affirmed that Tower 55 and the streetcar aren’t using the same funding sources.  They aren’t competing for funds.  Yet, the Star-Telegram Editorial Board (along with certain council members like Jungus Jordan) are continuously attempting to paint the picture that they will be competing for funds.

It’s like talking to a fence post.  The Star-Telegram Editorial Board (and other naysayers) keeps bringing up Tower 55 as a reason not to do the streetcar, but there’s nothing in Tower 55 that affects the streetcar, and vice-versa.  It’s complete and utter misdirection on their part.

Tower 55 is using X pots of money, and the streetcar will use Y pots of money.  Those TIF funds that will likely form a major component of streetcar funding can’t even be used for Tower 55.  Michael Morris himself said that the streetcar’s most likely funding sources can’t be used for Tower 55.

Funny that the Star-Telegram leaves that part of the meeting out, isn’t it?  Either accidentally or intentionally, the Star-Telegram Editorial Board is being untruthful to the citizens of Fort Worth.

Considering how certain council members and the S-T Editorial Board keep pushing the same misleading, inaccurate points time and time again, it makes one wonder who’s behind all this negativity and can’t-do attitude.

Send the letter if you must, council members. Be polite and grateful for being chosen for the grant. Reiterate how important the Tower 55 project is. But most of all, be honest. Make it very clear that Fort Worth won’t know for months whether streetcars are or will be right for the city.

And since Tower 55 isn’t competing for funds with the streetcar, and the FTA already knows – and is perfectly fine with – the HDR study not coming out until November, this entire editorial is pretty much just pointless spreading of fear, uncertainty, and doubt!

Well-done once again, Star-Telegram Editorial Board.