Streetcars Coming to Grand Rapids?

zot say...rice a roni the grand rapids treat?.........nah

And just WHO do they expect to pay for it?(Hopefully not state and federal tax dollars!)

Will the cars be made in the USA?

Will they be using union labor to build it?

Nice it runs on electricity instead of diesel fuel.

When will they think about building a high speed rail line down the middle of the freeways so us county bumpkins can afford to visit Grand Rapids to ride this trolley???

To answer Neko's questions...

Federal and State dollars will be paying for it.

The cars will be made in Germany by Intamin (www.intaminworldwide.com )... yes, the same people who brought you Cedar Point's "Millennium Force", "Top Thrill Dragster", "Maverick" and "Wicked Twister", as well as Michigan's Adventure's "Grand Rapids.

As a result, non-union labor won't be used.

It will be electrically operated, but the generator will be coal and diesel powered.

Lastly, there will be a high speed rail line down the middle of freeways. However, there are problems... mainly they can't get the electronic voices that announce stops to talk like you county bumpkins.

Oddly enough, my verification image is "1984".

Yep, lets spend a little more...after all, we are just rolling in extra money in Michigan right now!

Think I already knew the answers to my questions?
:-D

Back to da drawing board eh?

I wonder what bullet trains would look like if they were manufactured by Boeing or General Motors...and how fast they could make them go.

IMO... if this trolley isn't made in the USA with Americans doing the labor then us taxpayers shouldn't pay a dime for it!

Otherwise....Let a private company do it and and the city can collect part of their profit for the franchise to operate there.(and no tax abatement please... tax the same as everbody else!)

Put in a train that pulls 5G's when it leaves the station and customers will line up just to ride it!... No taxpayers subsidies needed.

One thing for sure....the politicians and appointees who come up with these "big ideas" without thinking how to pay for them....need to be fired!

How many thousands of people visit the VanAndel Arena each year - how much do they pay for ticket? This will be nothing but a traffic congestor and drain the local, state, and federal budget!

Of course they're built in Germany, because Americans are too stupid to build anything RAIL or CAR reltated that has quality, that might improve inner city life.

And it's about dam time too. And CA has NOTHING like these streetcars. Theirs are overbloated pieces of junk.

Did they find this guy living out of a refrigerator box? Put on a dam business suit for christ sake. Try to look respectable. I wouldn't buy any engineering plan he's trying to sell, looking like that.

For starters, ruling class snob is a retard. If there were a demand for mass transit, a private entity would undertake the project. The system we already have is utilized at roughly 10% of its capacity and these jackasses want to take more of our money and funnel it into a system that will benefit a few people who don't contribute to society in the first place. Another stupid Socialist Utopian pipe dream funded by those who have no choice. Perfect.

Gee, remember when we had the "trolley cars" back in the 1980's? That didn't last very long.

I think this is a stupid idea. But then again, my IQ is vastly above anything from the local goernment or developers.

Gosh, it might help traffic congestion in GR. VanAndel and the hotels and arenas, possibly would be interested in funding something like this. I think I'd be more inclined to come to the city from my country lifestyle (all the way 20 minutes north of GR) if traffic and parking were easier. Might especially be nice for "disabled" folks who would like to attend events but just the walking from parking areas is a journey.

If we got them they would become useless and unused once the novelty wore off.

Great - something new for Granholm to tax!

First, taxpayers already fund mass transit in GR. Do you really think that it actually costs 1.30 to ride a bus? Second, the street car idea has nothing to do with any politicans. It is a possible idea being tossed around by ITP. Third, it is still that, an IDEA. It is still in the study stage. I wouldn't get your shorts in a knot just yet.

Tired of travelling to the Czech Republic to buy trolleys, the City of Portland recently partnered with a local defense contactor, wrestled some federal funding, and launched the development of a protype All-American-Made street car.

Local business leaders there see incredible market potential, as more than 80 cities across the country - including now Grand Rapids - are studying, building, or expanding modern street car systems.

So Grand Rapids could potentially purchase street car vehicles made in the USA. But probably not in the one-trade town of Detroit.

Anyone remember that Simpsons episode where that scam artist talked Springfield into getting a monorail?

How could we possibly afford this with our state's economy in shambles? The busses are already half empty!

Lets fix the jobs here in Grand Rapids,The housing market! Who are they building fancy hotels and motels for downtown? Are there heads in the clouds! We need a street car like we need a fence for turtles ! Must be the same A@ssholes that move like turtles with our Budget plan! Bring Jobs here ,get our housing market back up then talk about site seeing in Grand Rapids for everybody to enjoy not just the rich who are making downtown Grand Rapids there little haven !

okeN wrote:

First, taxpayers already fund mass transit in GR. Do you really think that it actually costs 1.30 to ride a bus? Second, the street car idea has nothing to do with any politicans. It is a possible idea being tossed around by ITP. Third, it is still that, an IDEA. It is still in the study stage. I wouldn't get your shorts in a knot just yet.

With the big names backing this and ITP commissioning a study (that would benefit them)- I think that now is the time for us to get our shorts in a knot.

Take a stand and say - do not waste any money on this system. Not with the dire financial situation the state and Grand Rapids is in. If there is an extra $60 million plus annual operating monies laying around - there is probably a much better use for it than street cars!!

Cincinnati is moving forward with $100 million streetcar route to help wipe out a budget shortfall, generate jobs, as well as attract private investment and young professionals to the city.
Check it out:
http://greatlakesguy.blogspot.com/2007/10/str...