The Streetcar that Won’t Die

Back in 2006, the Albuquerque City Council tried to pull a fast one on the voters by passing a streetcar system into law on the night before a big Congressional election. While there has been no public push for the streetcar since then on the part of elected officials, Councilor Isaac Benton has not let the project die and he has worked to promote it within his 21st Century Task Force. There are of course many property owners downtown and rail buffs out there who have kept a candle alive in hopes of bringing the streetcar back once the upcoming Mayoral election is over and the economy recovers.
So, when this article in support of the streetcar appeared in the Journal, I took notice. The article was written by J.W. Madison, the Founder, Rails Inc. an organization with some ambitious goals for 2012, including “regular rail service from Raton to Las Cruces and 50% of our electricity (being) renewably generated, especially from wind and solar.” I’m not exactly sure what the latter goal has to do with promoting rail service in New Mexico, but I digress.
Anyway, I couldn’t allow Madison’s assertions to go unanswered, so I wrote this column which appeared in the paper this morning.