Per the Anaheim Blog, the OCTA Board vote on Anaheim’s streetcar system has been delayed until the next Board Meeting:
Earlier this morning, the OCTA Board of Directors voted to continue its decision on approving the Anaheim City Council’s approval of the streetcar option as the Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA) for the Anaheim Rapid Connection system. Several directors had concerns and questions they wanted more time to have answered.
Here is a summation of the Item from this a.m.’s Agenda:
Orange County Local Transportation Authority Regular Calendar Matters
10. Anaheim Rapid Connection Locally Preferred Alternative Concurrence
Kelly Hart/Jim Beil
Overview
The City of Anaheim completed the Anaheim Rapid Connection Draft Alternatives Analysis Report, and the Anaheim City Council adopted the Streetcar Alternative as the locally preferred alternative. The City of Anaheim initially presented the selection of the locally preferred alternative to the Board of Directors in January 2013. Information supporting the locally preferred alternative has been expanded to address the Board of Directors’ concerns.
Additionally, a Special Board of Directors Meeting was conducted in February 2013 for staff to provide an in-depth review of each of the Go Local Fixed-Guideway Program project development steps, including the scope of each phase, the funding awarded to date, the roles and responsibilities of the Orange County Transportation Authority and participating cities, and future funding sources. As a result of these efforts, staff is returning to the Board of Directors to seek concurrence on the City of Anaheim’s locally preferred alternative.
Recommendations
A. Concur with the City of Anaheim’s adoption of the Streetcar Alternative as the locally preferred alternative for the Anaheim Rapid Connection. The locally preferred alternative is defined as an at-grade modern streetcar system operating in a mixed-flow configuration primarily in the existing street right-of-way on Katella Avenue, Clementine Street, Harbor Boulevard, and Convention Way.
B. Direct staff to work with the City of Anaheim to ensure that the development of the locally preferred alternative provides for compatibility with the proposed Santa Ana/Garden Grove Fixed-Guideway Project.
C. Direct staff to work with the City of Anaheim to develop cost containment strategies to reduce cost of the locally preferred alternative, consistent with the project’s identified goals and objectives, as well as the value engineering efforts utilized by the Federal Transit Administration
The complete item, over 29mb in .pdf form is downloadable here. We’ve separated it from the rest of the Agenda.
OCTA staff has obviously bought into the notion that this $318 million atrocity is needed to drag Disney tourists to a station across Harbor Blvd. (that is, NOT on Disney property — Disney has NO STAKE or MONEY in this project, or the ARTIC station) from the entrance to their two amusement parks. NO believable ridership estimates have ever been presented to JUSTIFY the introduction of 19th Century technology into Orange County which will benefit only one of our 34 cities. As we’ve discussed in the past (see the links below), the Anaheim Resort Transit shuttle buses already service the train station and dozens of resort area hotels with over a dozen routes. Unlike the streetcar system, the ART Shuttles are NOT subsidized by Measure M or the taxpayers.
The OCTA Board is presuming that the Browndoggle, Governor Jerry Brown’s High-Speed Rail System, will actually be built to the equally worthless $174 ARTIC complex which has already commenced build east of the existing and perfectly adequate Metrolink/Amtrak station at the north end of the Angels Stadium parking lot. The Board would be foolish to make that presumption and spend any Measure M money upon it.
We’ll have more on this as the delayed vote approaches. Until then, following is a bibliography of OC Politics Blog’s previous postings on these two nonsensical projects which total NEARLY ONE HALF BILLION DOLLARS of Measure M funds:
- https://ocpoliticsblog.com/transit-expert-bashes-streetcars/
- https://ocpoliticsblog.com/pringles-folly/
- Updated: Another damn streetcar (04/03/13)
- https://ocpoliticsblog.com/stop-the-madne-high-speed-rail-is-a-train-wreck/
- https://ocpoliticsblog.com/foretelling-anaheims-future-with-streetcars/
- https://ocpoliticsblog.com/kris-murray-needs-to-go/
- https://ocpoliticsblog.com/elect-the-octa-board-stop-the-political-appointments/
- https://ocpoliticsblog.com/trains-still-can-make-sense-artic-does-not/
- https://ocpoliticsblog.com/why-artic-we-ask-again/
- https://ocpoliticsblog.com/artic-still-seeking-private-investment/
- https://ocpoliticsblog.com/vegas-x-train-to-fullerton-not-artic-update/
- https://ocpoliticsblog.com/whos-afraid-of-the-big-bad-board/
- https://ocpoliticsblog.com/stop-the-madne-high-speed-rail-is-a-train-wreck/
- https://ocpoliticsblog.com/these-folks-want-anaheim-councilmember-kris-murray-re-elected/
- https://ocpoliticsblog.com/can-will-kempton-get-out-of-town-any-sooner/