Disneyland Driving Up Costs of Anaheim Streetcar Project

From The Voice of OC:

While various stakeholders continue to disagree on the merits of Anaheim's proposed streetcar project, there is no debating that it is the most expensive project of its kind in recent memory.

An analysis by the Orange County Transportation Authority showed that on a per-mile basis, the estimated $319-million price tag on the Anaheim project is higher than any of the last 11 streetcar projects proposed nationwide.

There are a variety of reasons why such a project in Anaheim would be more expensive than in places like Cincinnati and Portland. Labor costs and environmental requirements among other factors make the cost of any construction project in California higher than in other places.

But it's also becoming increasingly clear that a significant reason for the high cost estimate, nearly $100 million per mile, -- is the demands placed upon it by Disneyland and the rest of the city's resort district.

Read the full story here:

http://www.voiceofoc.org/oc_north/article_b8c70826-b65c-11e2-ae40-0019bb2963f4.html

Comments on the $319 million Disney Streetcar

Here are some comments folks left on an OC Register story that ran awhile back:

..and guess who got that contract? Hill international is the employer of Steven Albert Chavez Lodge, in fact lodge is the Hill staffer responsible for first coping this project, and therefore in line for the 1% finders fee written into his employment contract. I have the docs if anyone wants them.

That doesnt sound very transparent...my city gets 3 bids and lists them on the Council meeting agenda, and chooses the lowest bidder, that way everyone can see whats going on and make remarks at the city council meeting if they want.

The very expensive light rail system here in Phoenix has been a HUGE failure. Nobody pays to ride, as there is an "honor system" in place. The homeless occupy most seats. There have been many incidents of fights etc AND many, many accidents. Only a trackless system should be considered.

All the money is coming from federal and county funds so far. So even if you don't live in Anaheim, you're paying for this.

What dolts. Obviously, they have no memory of the streetcars in Los Angeles, and how they jammed up traffic. And that was on streets wider than Katella! It will be the height of stupidity if the council tries to suck up to the "resort district" in this manner.

319 million dollars for a 3.2 mile trip. One word. Ridiculous. Serves no purpose whatsoever. Add a few more ART buses, there's no need for that kind of expenditure.

Well they can't solve the gang problem so build a street car system so the gangs don't have to use the bike paths.....

Tom Tait- lone voice in the wilderness of fiscal sanity.

That man could be the future of the Republican Party. He certainly could be the best mayor we've ever had. The way he has handled crises in this city is admirable, to say the least. The GOP needs to turn its head back to OC and see what one of its own is doing.

Maybe the voters should have paid close attention to who was running for council and who was backing them before they voted this past November 6th. The City Council will still only have two sane voices looking out for the citizen-taxpayers after this election. This City is in BIG Financial trouble, folks. This is only the beginning

Once again the city council of anaheim has failed. where is all of the money going to come from? are those people arrogent enough to believe the citizens will pass a bond to pay for it? a lot of buses and other forms of transportation could be purchased for 9.6 mil. many of the city streets are still in dire need of repair and 9.6 mil has just been flushed.

No, you are missing the point, Jim- "...guess who got that contract? Hill international is the employer of Steven Albert Chavez Lodge, in fact lodge is the Hill staffer responsible for first coping this project, and therefore in line for the 1% finders fee written into his employment contract." This is taxpayer money and cronyism runs rampant with it. 

Read the full article here:

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/million-377705-project-city.html

ART shuttles Duplicate $319 Million Streetcar route

From The OC Politics Blog:

Once again, the OC Register’s failed its own Affliction Test and missed easily researched facts that the proposed end points of Anaheim’s $319 million streetcar debacle are already served by the 11 year-old Anaheim Resort Transit (ART) system, a public-private partnership operating shuttle buses between Disneyland’s Main Gate and dozens of hotels and other tourists stops throughout the Anaheim Resort District.  ART also serves attractions and shopping areas in Orange, Buena Park, Santa Ana and the Garden Grove hotels which focus on Disney guests and conventioneers.

Kris Murray

Register writer Marroquin might have discovered this for his 3/27 story via some simple research on this Blog or by sticking his head out a window.  ART operates 18 routes daily with over 60 buses of different capacities to match their varying passenger loads (they also operated small electric buses a few years ago, and still may).  ART’s been successful and grown rapidly, per this 2012 Register story, by adding stops at non-Disney attractions like Knott’s Berry Farm, Discovery Science Center, MainPlace and GardenWalk.

A simple shuttle bus system like ART does not operate on a “fixed guideway” like the steel rails embedded in the roadway a streetcar uses.   Buses don’t need a dedicated overhead high-voltage power supply infrastructure as discussed below.  This means buses are far less expensive to operate and much more flexible as they’re easily rerouted when new requirements emerge or usage patterns change (temporarily or permanently), AND there’s little infrastructure costs other than bus stops, signage, seating and perhaps shelters.  Buses are less expensive to buy than streetcars and far easier to maintain by ordinary mechanics.

Read the full story here:

http://ocpoliticsblog.com/register-misses-the-bus-again/

Disney's the reason for $319 million Anaheim streetcar

From The Voice of OC:

During questioning by Orange County Transportation Authority directors Thursday morning, Anaheim City Councilwoman Kris Murray acknowledged what insiders have been saying for months about the city's planned streetcar project: A major reason for the transit line is to allow expansion of the Disneyland Resort. West Katella Avenue and West Ball Road Ball, which border the park, are “beyond capacity,” Kris Murray said. “If we're ever going to see a third gate at Disneyland,” she said, “we need to get cars off the road.”

See video below:

The streetcar project would no doubt accomplish that end, according to a city staff report. Once in the city, visitors could park and be taken via streetcar directly to Disneyland.

Kris Murray's comments, however, highlighted a question that critics of the project have raised: Should $319 million in taxpayer dollars be spent on a 3.2-mile project that serves primarily Disneyland's interests?

It was an issue looming behind many questions asked during a special OCTA board meeting and public workshop regarding proposed streetcar projects in Anaheim and Santa Ana. As expected, OCTA directors challenged the Anaheim project and its defenders, citing the cost of the project and wondering why city leaders didn't choose a much cheaper enhanced bus alternative.

Directors Jeffrey Lalloway and Todd Spitzer — the former an Irvine councilman and the latter a county supervisor — provided the most intense scrutiny. OCTA staff for the first time provided answers to some questions, including factors that contribute to the nearly $100-million per-mile cost of the proposed system.

“The problem is we're spending a lot of not only [Measure] M2 but federal money. I'm an American taxpayer too,” Lalloway said, referring to the countywide ballot measure that allowed a half-cent sales tax for transit improvements.

Read the full article here:

http://www.voiceofoc.org/oc_north/article_c80c623e-8283-11e2-a8e5-0019bb2963f4.html

OCTA Directors Will Scrutinize Streetcar Project

Anaheim's proposed 3.2-mile streetcar system is in for a ton of scrutiny.

After Orange County Transportation Authority directors at the Jan. 28 board meeting raised a number of questions about the project — including the nearly $100-million per mile cost and whether a much cheaper enhanced bus service is a better idea — they decided to have an ad hoc committee in the coming weeks review the details.

There was also talk of having the board's transit committee meeting on Feb. 14 explore issues surrounding the streetcar.

And if those meetings aren't enough, Supervisor and OCTA Director Todd Spitzer has requested a public workshop this month to answer a host of questions after Voice of OC published an email chain that has Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait and others at City Hall questioning whether local officials planned to misrepresent information about the project to a federal agency.

The scrutiny also comes after the Anaheim City Council last October approved advancing the project by a 3-2 vote, with Tait and Councilwoman Lorri Galloway voting no. Tait cited concerns about operating cost and whether alternatives had been sufficiently explored.

The project would connect the city's planned pubic transit depot with the Disneyland Resort and other high-profile destinations like the Platinum Triangle.

Critics for some time have questioned whether the project is necessary. Some argued that the taxpayer-funded project's only true purpose is to deliver visitors to Disneyland.

Editorial: Throw streetcars under the bus

As the city of Anaheim moves full speed ahead with plans to build a $318 million streetcar line, the City Council ought to take a hard look at Tampa, Fla., which built a similar system 10 years ago.

Tampa's 2.7-mile streetcar line has consistently operated in the red elected since welcoming its first riders in 2002. That's because passenger fares don't provide even half the light-rail line's annual operating budget.

Anaheim's propsed streetcar system would consist of 10 vehicles that would travel a 3.2-mile route in about 18 minutes. The streetcars would look similar to this European streetcar, according to city officials.

Mayor Bob Buckhorn, who voted against the streetcar when he was a councilman, would like to shut the money-loser down. But city officials fear if they scrapped the streetcars, the federal government almost certainly would expect to recoup at least part of the $55 million it has sunk into the system.

Anaheim is convinced it will succeed where Tampa has not. It believes that construction of its proposed 3.2-mile streetcar line will come in at or below projected cost; that ridership will meet or exceed projected estimates; and that the city ultimately will not have to rely upon general fund revenue to cover operating expenses.

The city could have hedged its bet by opting for "enhanced" bus service that would traverse the same 3.2 mile route as the proposed streetcar system but would only cost one-fifth as much as the streetcar.

However, a 3-2 council majority opted for the streetcar, reasoning that a fixed guideway system would be more visible to prospective riders, particularly to city visitors unfamiliar with the streetcar. "The visibility of tracks in the street and substantial stations are likely to attract greater ridership," said a report from Department of Public Works staff.

Even so, that would not justify laying out $318 million for a bright and shiny new streetcar system that is far less cost-effective than enhanced bus service, as borne out by an analysis recently authored by Randal O'Toole, a senior fellow with the libertarian Cato Institute.

Read the full story here:

http://www.ocregister.com/opinion/streetcar-381281-bus-city.html

The Great Streetcar

By Cynthia Ward

The Anaheim Resort’s millions of guests drive our local economy, but those visitors also create significant traffic congestion. Over the objections of Mayor Tom Tait, the Anaheim City Council approved a $318,000,000.00 publicly-funded streetcar system to transport Resort visitors and employees. Although Disney uses buses almost exclusively at their Florida property, and the price tag of $53,000,000.00 made buses comparatively more affordable, enhanced bus service was astonishingly dismissed as undesirable-read “not sexy enough.”

Natlie Meeks and Kris Murray

A recent study by transportation expert Randall O’Toole, debunks the arguments used by City Council, and a staff promoting their own obvious agenda.

Streetcars are more expensive to purchase and operate than buses. Their fixed track and power systems are costly and disruptive to existing traffic, and especially problematic for pedestrians. Buses offer greater flexibility, enabling the addition of vehicles for peak hours-critical to address the unique traffic patterns of Anaheim, with crunch time not driven by conventional issues like rush hour so much as variable influences like closing time at Disneyland, last innings at the Stadium, or events at the Honda Center. Buses are easily removed or replaced for service, while a disabled streetcar renders the system unusable, and leaving traffic clogged around a stalled streetcar.

City Council claims economic development follows streetcar projects, but Council’s cited examples in other cities show heavily subsidized projects designed by central planners trying to socially engineer us out of our vehicles. Perhaps the next step from Council is a proposal for subsidized projects similar to Portland, after all the Platinum Triangle has been an abject failure so far. Even if we wanted to underwrite the development of that area, where are we to find the money? With Redevelopment dead, bed taxes are the only remaining funding source for development subsidies. The last time we tapped into TOT for private development incentives was at the Gardenwalk, with an agreement so controversial that nearly a year later Councilmember Murray is still buying ads and working a massive PR program using campaign money to justify her decision to voters.

Meanwhile, traffic impacts, and funding sources for operating and maintenance costs have still not been determined, despite the Mayor’s requests, and a $6,000,000.00 report that taxpayers covered! While the money we have already spent failed to address traffic impacts and other vital questions, we are expected to trust those numbers in moving forward. Now $9,000,000 for yet another study has been awarded to Hill International, the employer of candidate Steve Lodge, who stands to pull in 1% of that contract as a finder’s fee. This “objective” decision to award the project to Hill was made by Public Works Director Natalie Meeks, who is understood to have close personal friendships with Lodge and his wife, who also works as an Executive at Hill. Council member Murray is also a member of the “powerful woman in government funded projects” club with Meeks and the new Mrs. Lodge. But I am sure it is all above board.

Anaheim’s contentious Council majority would have us believe that in demanding answers Mayor Tait is obstructing progress. But the Mayor’s caution in spending our tax money is a refreshing contrast to the irresponsible and reckless speed with which our leaders and City staff have forced this issue. It seems they cannot spend that “free” tax money fast enough.