El Dorado Trolley

If I recall correctly, you also have to notify the Mayor in advance of the City Council meeting that you wish to comment, and I think your comment is limited to five minutes. I may be wrong. I seem to remember something like that instituted when the Conference Center was being discussed.
At any rate it wouldn't hurt to publicize specific details of the purchase and intended implementation prior to hearing them for the first time when they are presented and before a vote is taken. You can't indicate anything other than general concerns otherwise.

Actually wrote:

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Actually I love informed input. Debate among knowledgeable people can be a good thing. But you've already decided this is a bad idea without knowing any of the facts. The city council are not the ones who proposed this, and they have NOT approved the purchase yet. They had some questions they wanted answers to first. So have you contacted any of them to express your concerns?

You're a giant fraud and liar. I was asking for stats because it sounds like a giant waste of my tax dollars. You jump on my word 'criticize' like it somehow implies I wouldn't listen to the stats if they somehow supported the plan. You think you can judge my level of participation without knowing the tiniest detail of my life situation or background. What an a-hole douchebag.

Actually wrote:

The size of the square has nothing to do with it, and it's not just about a lack of parking at the conference center. Since there's not a hotel by the conference center yet, conference attendees must stay too far away to walk. The trolley will be offered for shuttle service for those visitors, making it more likely that we can attract events. That is a valuable service, and the decline in population is exactly why we should be doing things like this. Additional parking won't bring a single extra person to town, but the trolley will.

"Hey y'all, we could go to Little Rock or El Dorado. Since El Dorado has a trolley, I'm choosing them!"

Yeah, I see that happening.

You guys seem to forget that we "enjoy" a representative form of government. Somehow the posters on this board seem to have forgotten that, and have this idea that 100 % consensus must be reached by the public before a single dollar can be spent. Listen, I don't agree with the way they limit speech at council meetings either. But the internet or newspaper debate that RB proposed would achieve nothing. People like to argue, especially when they can do so anonymously. Topix is a great example. If we governed by Topix, the government would shut down within a week. We selected our mayor and city council. Once we've done that, they have a job to do. If they don't hear from us, then they have to assume that we think they're doing a good job. In this specific example, the trolley was covered by the paper in an article about an EEDB meeting 7 or 8 days before the city council meeting. That gave ample time for anyone to contact their council member or get on the agenda before the council meeting. Complaining about barriers after the fact either says someone hasn't taken the time to understand the process or that they're too lazy to make a phone call. Sure, the system may suck. But we can still be heard. And bitching on Topix is not the way to do it.

Sam wrote:

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"Hey y'all, we could go to Little Rock or El Dorado. Since El Dorado has a trolley, I'm choosing them!"
Yeah, I see that happening.

According to that logic, we should just give up. Why have concerts if Little Rock has more? Why build tourist attractions if Little Rock has more? Little Rock's downtown is bigger than El Dorado's, yet quite a few people come here to visit the square. Why is that? People like the environment. And a trolley could improve the environment even more.

I don't believe internet or newspaper debate will accomplish anything either. There's not enough time for that if anything is to get done. I wonder if the City Council or the individual members could set up public email addresses to facilitate those who wish to express their concerns about issues but dot not wish to call or appear in person for whatever reason.
Apparently there are some issues with the trolley proposal or the measure would not have been tabled until the next meeting. It would help if more details of the proposal were made known prior to the next meeting so that those who might wish to comment could consider them.
It's true that we elect our representatives to do their job, but there is a lot of voter apathy in El Dorado. In recent years significant issues have closely passed with less than 5000 total votes cast. It's hard to say that things might be different if more people voted, but they could be.

roboblogger2 wrote:

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You're a giant fraud and liar. I was asking for stats because it sounds like a giant waste of my tax dollars. You jump on my word 'criticize' like it somehow implies I wouldn't listen to the stats if they somehow supported the plan. You think you can judge my level of participation without knowing the tiniest detail of my life situation or background. What an a-hole douchebag.

Robo - you're the one who used the word "criticize". That means you wanted the chance to speak poorly of the plan before it was approved. Kinda hard to justify getting upset and calling names because someone took your words to heart. If someone tells me they're going to criticize something I did, I wouldn't assume that they have enough of an open mind to listen to facts.

Jody B wrote:

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Robo - you're the one who used the word "criticize". That means you wanted the chance to speak poorly of the plan before it was approved. Kinda hard to justify getting upset and calling names because someone took your words to heart. If someone tells me they're going to criticize something I did, I wouldn't assume that they have enough of an open mind to listen to facts.

So in your world a movie critic isn't allowed to like the movie?

roboblogger2 wrote:

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So in your world a movie critic isn't allowed to like the movie?

Maybe our definitions of "criticize" are different. In my world, if you criticize something, you speak negatively of it. But a movie critic is an analyst, giving their opinion whether positive or negative.

This 'TROLLEY' will have to travel out to the major motels ,I E The Hampton inn and such. In doing so it will have to pass by the Pine Tree motel.Does the City plan to stop at the Pine Tree to pick up passengers for downtown functons? If not I plan to purchase the Pine Tree and sue the city for millions for discrimation. This is a plan not very well thought out.Good going Frank!

Turbo man wrote:

The city is hiring me to put a turbo on the trolley as soon as it gets here and Richard (Bubba) Long will be the driver.

I broached this subject with Mr. Long the other evening. He said he would be willing to drive the rubber wheeled trolley with no name, BUT only till 6PM when it would be time to start drinking. I suggested that after 6PM, he could transition from trolley driver to trolley security officer.

Maybe it will have a bar on board and we can all enjoy a drink with our trolley ride !!!!!

rider wrote:

Maybe it will have a bar on board and we can all enjoy a drink with our trolley ride !!!!!

Now this is an excellent idea. Would help make up for not being on St. Charles. Was watching Angel Heart again last night in Hill's. Rourke surveilling Charlotte Rampling on the streetcar before,"she got her heart cut out down on Decatur Street" ( was it in one of the Pontalbas?). More need for on trolley security for those drugged and drunk public school teacher conventioneers from dry counties. He can handle it. Many times at the New Palace, I watched Richard and Whiskey McKinney try to outdo one another demonstrating how to cuff two suspects with only one pair of handcuffs.

Am having a difficult time visualizing an appropriate uniform for R. "Bubba's" extended after 6PM dual overtime duty as both Trolley Secruity Officer and Trolley Barmaid.

The new conference center lost about $275,000.00 last year. I hear that the college can get out of their contract to operate the conference center in as little as 30 days. El Dorado leaders want to build things and operate things that celebrate a life of leisure, the trolley is just another example. The trolley makes no sense, our money needs to be used to clean up this filthy town, we have several thousand properties that need to be condemed and cleaned up. Wake up city council, get your heads out of your xxx.

A downtown hotel and parking garage might be a big gamble. It could be throwing good money after bad. It's a hard sell.

OK, with an on board "lounge car" effect, our options really open up. On those rare weekends ( I'm guessing the public school teacher from dry counties conventions will be held on week days ) when we've failed to land a major event, we can reimagine the rubber tired trolley with no name as an excursion railway. Tickets can be sold to all us nonbikers to follow the biker chicks on poker runs, stopping at scenic overviews such as Jack's bar on White Oak Lake, real train watching from the elevated rear porch of the Cellar on Adams St. and the view of the lake at Crabapple.

catherder wrote:

The new conference center lost about $275,000.00 last year.

Where's this statistic from?

It was an observation from the Mayor in yesterday's paper in Special City Council Meeting: Tax Uses Discussed from Saturday's paper regarding the conference center: "But he noted that the college had to cover a 250,000 dollar gap between profits and losses for 2011. The contract calls for the city to step in for any amount over 300,000 dollars."

Let's try that again:
It was an observation from the Mayor in Special City Council Meeting: Tax Uses Discussed from Saturday's paper regarding the conference center: "But he noted that the college had to cover a 250,000 dollar gap between profits and losses for 2011. The contract calls for the city to step in for any amount over 300,000 dollars."
It's on page 3A.