Delays in transit planning are hurting Ogden
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No comments [ Add Comment ]By Dan Schroeder
Guest commentary
Almost everyone in Ogden knows that rail transit projects can bring tremendous benefits. They reduce congestion by giving people an attractive alternative to driving. They allow traditional downtowns to flourish by bringing in lots of people without the need for vast parking lots. They can attract hundreds of millions of dollars of private investment around each station. In Ogden we've already begun to see these benefits as our downtown gets ready for the FrontRunner commuter rail.
Two years ago, we learned that Ogden could soon be ready for another rail transit project: a streetcar (trolley) connecting the FrontRunner station and central Ogden to Weber State University and McKay-Dee Hospital.
Our regional transit planners, with the help of a national transit consultant, determined that this project would not only serve thousands of riders each day, but would also be a good candidate to receive federal matching funds. They recommended that the city and UTA jointly initiate the process necessary to compete for those federal funds.
You know what happened next. Mayor Godfrey ignored the recommendation, because he already had his heart set on building an urban gondola from downtown to WSU. Our community became bitterly divided over the competing streetcar and gondola proposals. While we waited for more facts about the gondola, the mayor stood in the way of further progress on the streetcar.
The mayor's main argument against the streetcar has been that we can't afford it -- even with federal matching funds. But now there's a quarter-cent sales tax initiative on the November ballot that will provide funding for new transportation projects throughout Weber County. The Wasatch Front Regional Council estimates that this tax will generate $363 million over the next 23 years. This measure is supported by many business leaders and elected officials -- including the mayor.
If this tax measure passes, Ogden City will be in a tight spot.
While the rest of the county has dozens of highway projects lined up to receive the funding, Ogden doesn't need more highways. We need transit, and there's still no agreement in Ogden over which transit project should be our top priority.
The mayor, too, is in a tight spot. This potential new revenue source demolishes his argument against the streetcar. Yet last week he repeated the argument, claiming that the new sales tax would generate only $70 million (of which transit projects would receive no more than half).
Meanwhile he uses worst-case scenarios to inflate the streetcar's estimated cost.
Perhaps sensing the weakness in this argument, the mayor has now added a second line of reasoning. He says that it's premature to invest in the WSU transit corridor before carefully looking at all the other places where better transit might be nice. Last week he unveiled a map showing six other possible routes, intended to be a "starting point" for dialog on the subject. He provided no information on the cost or expected ridership of any of these proposed transit lines.
"Starting point"? The deception in these two words is breathtaking.
Our regional transit planners have been studying these issues for many years, and have already done careful modeling and analysis to determine where transit investments would be most cost effective. (These planners were not invited to the mayor's presentation.) The most recent revision of our Regional Transportation Plan was finalized just five months ago. During the planning process, Mayor Godfrey made every effort to push down the priority of the WSU line and substitute a different transit corridor in its place. His efforts failed, because the analysis showed that the WSU line has the highest potential ridership and the highest chance of success at winning federal matching funds. Just as nations choose their best athletes to compete in the Olympics, shouldn't we put our best project forward to compete for federal funds?
The mayor's continued efforts to kill the WSU streetcar line show that his universe still revolves around the gondola. And while he waits for the gondola, the train is leaving. If the tax measure passes on Nov. 6, it will be too late for Ogden to have a specific transit proposal ready when county officials start dividing up the new revenue. Maybe they'll set some money aside for an undetermined future transit project -- and maybe not.
Most of the money will be spent on highways designed to help motorists bypass Ogden.
My personal hope is that voters will reject the tax measure this year. We shouldn't approve a tax when we don't know what's in it for us.
But immediately after the election, Ogden needs to take the next step toward planning for whatever new transit project we want. Then we can put the tax measure back on the ballot in a year or two, when voters can have confidence that the tax is in everyone's best interest.
Schroeder has been involved in regional transportation planning for 10 years, as an individual and as a Sierra Club volunteer.
