Take it from a Houstonian who bought into the hoopla of a “light rail” line. Our 7.5 miles of toy train cost HALF A BILLION dollars. To think your system will cost $88 million is a fantasy.

JUST SAY NO!

It was a streetcar, not a train, which is why the estimated cost was 88 million instead of probably 300 million for a 7 mile rail line.

Jason,

You’re absolutely right, of course…but don’t bother attempting to explain the difference to ideologues. Bill in Houston gave himself away by using the pejorative phrase “toy train.”

You know, it’s funny: the recently approved rebuilding of Interstate 35E south of Denton is slated to cost FIVE BILLION DOLLARS for TWELVE MILES of work! I wonder why all the anti-tax Libertarians and members of the Tea Party tend to look the other way when our money is being used for roadway projects, which do nothing but dig our hole deeper?!

Interestingly enough, the council’s “don’t-bother-me-with-facts-our-minds-are-already-made-up” vote came on the same day that crude oil prices reached a two year high – closing at over $90.00/barrel – and U.S. retail gasoline averages began flirting with the $3.00 mark.

When will we ever learn?!

Garl B. Latham
Dallas

This is way Fort Worth is way behind other cities, they don’t do any investing into their city unlike Dallas, which has a light rail. If Dallas wasn’t so expensive, I’d move out of Ft. Worth and into Dallas lol.

Ft Worth living in the PAST FOR EVER !

This is the sad side of Fort Worth politics. After driving forward on the issue for months (years in the making, but only months in the sights of the city council), the city government decides at the last minute that what works elsewhere wouldn’t work here. Why? Because the old boys in the back room don’t like it. They’re so afraid of the idea that they won’t even allow a feasibility study. I used to say that I didn’t care what the Bass family did downtown as long as they let us play with it, too. Now, unfortunately, it seems they’re using their downtown hegemony to curtail development that benefits more people than themselves. Our bus system is already dying a slow death over poor planning and lack of leadership. Have we decided to become like Arlington, the city that never grew up, and let small minded people kill our public transportation options as we sleep?