What DC Streetcar Waste Tells Us About Proposed MoCo "Purple" Line
On March 7th, DC's transportation director gave the D.C. City Council a dose of reality on a pet project that has now spanned over a decade and several mayoral administrations. The DC Streetcar leg currently test running along H street NE was potentially "fatally flawed" and perhaps something that should be "scrapped entirely".$190 million in taxpayer money - potentially gone in a matter of moments. Flushed away. Improving nothing for the public good.
Why does something in DC matter to a MoCo resident? Because $190 million is only about 13% of what the state of MD (and MoCo taxpayers) would have to fork over to pay for the proposed "Purple" line light rail project. The project, a darling of a few politically-connected special interests in MoCo, was first projected to be about $1.5 billion. It then jumped to $2 billion. Now the "conservative" estimate is $2.4 billion in taxpayer resources. Special-interest support points to $900 million in federal funding that the Department of Transportation has earmarked... but that still leaves over a billion dollars in Maryland taxes at risk!
Contact your state senator or delegate. Let them know that Marylanders have about a million other needs for that billion of our tax dollars.
