So the streetcar is getting closer to reality. For TWIS readers, this will open up a whole new world for bar-hopping, hooking up and texting in motion with ZERO guilt.
On Nov. 15, the City of Sarasota held a workshop and soon thereafter, consultant Tindale Oliver came out with a revised route. The new route is 1.8 miles long and connects the Rosemary District, downtown and the new Walmart site at the old Ringling Shopping Center (a route advocated by TWIS as more of a transportation and livability move than recognition of big box insanity). But the route is great and looks like it can serve lots of students, tourists, residents, shoppers, business people and pub crawlers. It also looks like it will serve people along Sarasota’s crazy income spectrum and begins to make use of downtown assets on relatively higher ground (see: Hurricane Sandy, New Jersey, storm surge). This is good work.
As shown in the picture, there is a green haze overlay zone, which sends signals on development. It’s important to note that:
- Other than the two terminal stops, it’s not clear where the stops will be.
- The areas immediately adjacent to the stops are where the transit value is greatest.
- However, the value can be boosted by enhancing the pedestrian walkways and shortcuts.
- It’s not clear how this thing gets funded.
So here are a couple of things worth considering:
- Now that the state doesn't dictate every single detail of development, it is up to us to get up to become experts on how to do this stuff. There is a workshop on Dec. 6 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. sponsored by the Florida Department of Transportation on Transit Oriented Development (see fltod.com). TWIS is on it, and if you can’t go, this link takes you to registration and all the material. We’ll have highlights.
- A lot of the research and information on streetcars is based on (1) other transit technologies like subways, or (2) from streetcars in large cities where the trolleys feed into rail. That ain't us, so we need to be honest about comps.
- The Sarasota Streetcar Initiative is a great place to start, convene and grow talent. They also have a good Facebook page. Here's an idea: Pastry Art has open mike night. Every once in a while they should have open plan night where planning and transit goobs get together with maps and web sites and Post-It notes for a giant, coffee-fueled study circle.
- The affordability and equity thing is a real risk because fixed-route, fancy transit brings investment. The best way to ensure that this thing doesn't push renters, artists, and small business owners in Rosemary out is to think this thing through now. One of the best examples is the Funders Collaborative in St. Paul Minnesota.
Perhaps the biggest question is funding for the $15 million project. The trick is to make sure there is support, the land use pays off in taxes and fun, and outdated assumptions and egos stay in check long enough to form a coalition working to a shared vision. Ready?
