Streetcar Funding Slashed By D.C. Council

Streetcar Funding Slashed By D.C. Council
Mayor Warns Network is Imperiled

Thursday, May 29, 2014 - 10:03 AM
By MARTIN AUSTERMUHLE : WAMU / MARTIN DICARO : WAMU


Funding is being slashed for a future D.C. streetcar system that would stretch from Benning Road west to Georgetown and from Anacostia north to Takoma.

The D.C. Council on Wednesday gave initial approval to a budget that scales back Mayor Vincent Gray's ambitious plan to spend close to $900 million dollars over the next six years on streetcars. Instead, Council Chair Phil Mendelson proposed putting $400 million into the 22-mile trolley network over six years.

In justifying the decrease, Mendelson said that the D.C. Department of Transportation has not been spending the amount available to it on existing streetcar construction, primarily the 2.5-mile-long route on H Street and Benning Road NE and a short segment in Anacostia. According to him, DDOT has been given $214 million for streetcar-related work since 2006, but has only spent $109 million of it.

Mendelson also said that the funding mechanism for the streetcar funding — a percentage of the cash the comes from future revenue increases — concerned him. Gray wants to set aside 25 percent of all future annual revenue increases, using the 2015 fiscal year as a baseline. Mendelson is instead proposing that the percentage come from growth relative to the previous year, and not use 2015 as a baseline. ...................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.wnyc.org/story/streetcar-funding-slashed-dc-council/