El Paso Streetcars:
The Beauty of Buying Things we
Can’t Afford
By Raymundo Eli Rojas
Like you, I have been enamored with trolleys and
streetcars. I remember the stories of my
parents, about how they use to take the trolley to Downtown El Paso to watch
films at the Plaza and other theaters. I
was recently in Kansas City and I took the streetcar from the Union Depot up to
the Power and Light District. It was
magical.
So don’t get me wrong, I love these things and I
will probably be one of the first in line to ride them when they open here in
El Paso.
Then I have to consider my property taxes. El Paso Speaks posted an article some time
ago, “Almost as bad as you can get,” El Paso has the second highest property
taxes in the nation when looking at the 50 largest cities in the country.
It’s nice to
do all these things in El Paso that we can’t pay for, to run up the city’s
debt, to shift money over to things like Southwest University Ballpark or the
trolley, and suck that money out of other areas in our city where those funds
are solely needed -- our roads.
There is one thing about streetcars that has come
out in the recent academic literature and urban studies articles, streetcars
(like Southwest University Ballpark) don’t pay for themselves and ridership
declines after the initial opening.
In El Paso, the streetcars will soon be running from
Downtown up to UTEP. The Texas Department of Transportation announced a major
hurdle recently in that they would be replacing the two of the bridges the El
Paso streetcar would go over. Did the
City of El Paso not consider this? Probably not.
We are looking at a new series here and this first
article will look at ridership.
Read Part 2
Also see:
Read Part 2
Also see:
