A look at what's going on in Trinidad, on H Street, and in the larger area north of Capitol Hill.
Wednesday, June 02, 2010
Beyond DC: Why Streetcars Beat Buses
Beyond DC presents thoughtful and straightforward post that makes a convincing argument for streetcars.
19 comments:
Dave B
said...
Reason #1 is difficult to prove. Yes, everything pays off over time, but how long is acceptable? We have a relatively big initial investment I think. We have to cut through a bridge and try to modify a tunnel which will have to be purchased from someone who claims to not want to sell it.
#2) OK #3) Maybe. Perhaps people should be smarter #4) Redundant because of 2 and 3 #5) Maybe. A lot of other factors go into this besides streetcars #6) Buses will be electric eventually #7) See rebuttal to number 6 #8) Whatever
I dont think you will see any large streetcar projects started after electric buses are widely implemented (which will probably happen in like 10 years by my own non-expert estimation). However, streetcars are good to implement now in cases where some kind of revitalization can be jumpstarted
I'm a streetcar proponent, but I did find myself balking at the proposition that increased tax revenues can pay off the initial investment. That's way too nebulous to be thrown out there without *some* kind of example or data showing it's a plausible statement. As an aside, I was in San Francisco this past weekend and loved the way they've refurbished and re-used old streetcars from various cities (including at least one I saw that was an old DC streetcar!!). The iconic comment is true. In my mind, "real" cities have trams/streetcars, and other cities need to step up and join them.
A lot of people are never going to ride a bus - they give many reasons but it often boils down to a perception that buses are low class.
It is possible to implement rapid bus service that rivals light rail in comfort and speed, but it also requires a much larger initial investment (stations for prepaid fares, traffic signal overrides, etc).
To those who don't think streetcars will result in higher tax revenues, wait until you get your property assessment a couple years after the streetcar starts rolling.
Uh yeah, ya'll still haven't responded to the unionized pensioned problems. Streetcars carry many more passengers with the same amount of (expensive) staff - and additional cars can be added without more staff. These staff are bankrupting WMATA... why are people ignoring this savings in regard to the streetcars?
As a resident of the neighborhood, I was pretty indifferent to the street cars. But now that they've gotten this far into construction, they damn well better finish it and make up the opportunity cost to the businesses that suffered in the short term. It took a lot of guts, especially from those in the initial wave, to start up on H.
Back when they were putting in brick sidewalks in Dupont, the construction forced a few businesses to close. I just hope the District isn't repeating the same mistakes.
have any of you actually changed your mind about streetcars since you first heard of the project?
in terms in funding, i feel like if dc could build the residents of virginia and maryland a new baseball stadium, we sure can build a streetcar system for ourselves.
@Charles, Have you also considered the millions that DDOT is planning on collecting through a special assessment on commercial and residential properties within a quarter-mile of the streetcar stops as described in Mr. Klein’s May 14 letter to Chairman Gray? Will the businesses that survive through the construction also survive the special assessment? How will these additional taxes affect residential properties?
Mike- Rest assured, residential properties are not subject to special assessment tax. Only commercial properties will have to pay, and while I don't like the idea of small businesses paying greater taxes, they benefit the most from the streetcar.
Anonymous at 2:16: Please rest assured that on page 4 of the letter from Mr. Klein to Chairman Gray, DDOT describes a special assessment where residential properties would be assessed for additional taxes, but at half the rate of commercial properties. DDOT notes the need for further evaluation.
Sarah, It is a letter from (not to) Gabe Klein (Director, DDOT) to Chairman Vincent Gray, Members of the DC Council, Neil Albert (City Administrator) and Harriet Tregoning (Director, OP) dated May 14, 2010 responding to a comprehensive set of questions that the Council had about the DC Streetcar program and the Great Streets Program. It is a long document (cover letter, 23 pages of responses to the questions and 14 attachments). It does not appear to be posted on-line, but you might ask DDOT for a copy. Perhaps they will post it. It is definitely very interesting reading.
Please stop trying to scare folks. The special assessment applies to NEW development. Yes, new multifamily buildings will be subject to one-half the rate of commercial development.
There is no statement in the May 14 DDOT letter implying that the special assessment will be limited to new development.
In DDOT’s April 21 presentation, DDOT describes a Benefit Assessment District, where the District assesses a higher tax rate or special assessment on properties within a defined distance of the fixed guideway or stations. No mention is made limiting that higher tax rate or special assessment to new development. They do describe an additional parking fee that would be applied to medium and high-density properties within a quarter mile of the system, again with no mention that it is limited to new development, although that wouldn’t affect single family homes. -- Mike
Anonymous at 9:48: Perhaps you can call Kubly’s office and post a link to a definitive DDOT statement on how the additional tax assessments will operate. I hope that they will also explain any discrepancies between any new statement and their April 22 presentation (http://www.mwcog.org/uploads/committee-documents/bF5ZWV1c20100423172726.pdf) or their May 14 letter to the Council.
The article that you have linked to discusses how commercial properties might be assessed additional taxes to pay for 25% of the capital costs for this project (estimated at $140 million). DDOT anticipates that taxpayers in our neighborhood will pay additional taxes to cover 50% of the capital costs and half of the annual subsidy to operating costs (estimated at $2 million a year). It is assumed that DC taxpayers will cover the other half of the operating cost subsidy, and that the other half of the capital costs will be split evenly between DC taxpayers and a federal grant.
The Washington Post article relies heavily on a November 2009 report commissioned by the Downtown BID. This report is available on the Reconnecting America web-site. That report calculates the cash contributions or supplemental tax rates that would be necessary to pay of one-third of the construction costs if single family homes are not included. Note this is only a fraction of the additional tax revenue that DDOT would collect from the neighborhood. According to their calculations, bonds for one-third of the construction costs could be funded with an additional payment by each of these property-owners of 4.6% of the assessed value. Another option is a supplemental tax rate of 16%, i.e., each of these private property owners will see their taxes increase by 16%. This would cover $46 million, and DDOT would need additional taxes for neighborhood taxpayers to cover $23 million for construction costs, plus $1 million per year to cover half the operational subsidy. Parking taxes of $110 per space (medium to high density residential) and $220 per space (commercial) are also on the table.
One thing is clear, DDOT will be presenting our neighborhood with a massive tax bill. No matter how it will be divided, this will have an impact on revitalization of our neighborhood.
SLB, The May 14 letter is very long, so I cannot post it. DDOT or your Councilmember should be able to provide you with a copy.
Not Mike, but I read the same document and interpreted it the same way. It's a different model than the one proposed by Brookings and discussed in the Post article.
DDOT wants to fund 50% of capital costs for the streetcar system from local special assessments. To meet that target wrt the H Street/ Benning Road line, they'd need to extract $70 million from fewer than 3,000 property owners along the route -- or from fewer than 1,000 property owners if they were to apply this special tax only to "income-producing" properties (Brookings' term -- and it includes apartment buildings).
The approach Klein suggested to Gray seemed to involve taxing everyone, but at different rates -- with "commercial properties with 1/4 mile" taxed at twice the rate as "residential properties within 1/4 mile."
Klein totally botches the rate ($.02/$100 and $.01/$100 won't get you anywhere near $70 million when the total assessed value of all taxable parcels in the district is $1.7 billion.
Basically, we'd have three choices -- hit the owners of the income-producing parcels up for 7.4% of their property's assessed value (which means $70,000+ from a shopowner whose storefront is valued at $1 million), hit all parcel-owners up for a little over 4% ($20,000 for the owner of a home assessed at just under $500,000), or have a differential rate -- like 5% for commercial and 3% for residential.
Bottom line -- you can't get $70 million from 2,909 property owners without without hitting each owner up for tens of thousands of additional dollars. How much do you want that streetcar?
Here's a link to the Brookings report. Scary. http://www.reconnectingamerica.org/public/reports/1044 It's a lot of money that comes out of the hides of small businesses and homeowners. Value capture taxes make the assumption that streetcar magic is the responsible factor for development and that it wouldn't have occurred without the installation. You can also google "value capture taxes" or some variation and read more. Remember that the DC government mystically "found" the cash for the project and more or less put it on the city's credit card. It's got to come from somewhere. The city never seems to see a new tax idea that they don't like, do they?
19 comments:
Reason #1 is difficult to prove. Yes, everything pays off over time, but how long is acceptable? We have a relatively big initial investment I think. We have to cut through a bridge and try to modify a tunnel which will have to be purchased from someone who claims to not want to sell it.
#2) OK
#3) Maybe. Perhaps people should be smarter
#4) Redundant because of 2 and 3
#5) Maybe. A lot of other factors go into this besides streetcars
#6) Buses will be electric eventually
#7) See rebuttal to number 6
#8) Whatever
I dont think you will see any large streetcar projects started after electric buses are widely implemented (which will probably happen in like 10 years by my own non-expert estimation). However, streetcars are good to implement now in cases where some kind of revitalization can be jumpstarted
I'm a streetcar proponent, but I did find myself balking at the proposition that increased tax revenues can pay off the initial investment. That's way too nebulous to be thrown out there without *some* kind of example or data showing it's a plausible statement.
As an aside, I was in San Francisco this past weekend and loved the way they've refurbished and re-used old streetcars from various cities (including at least one I saw that was an old DC streetcar!!). The iconic comment is true. In my mind, "real" cities have trams/streetcars, and other cities need to step up and join them.
I've also found that streetcars are less disruptive to traffic than buses (I'm only comparing with Portland).
A lot of people are never going to ride a bus - they give many reasons but it often boils down to a perception that buses are low class.
It is possible to implement rapid bus service that rivals light rail in comfort and speed, but it also requires a much larger initial investment (stations for prepaid fares, traffic signal overrides, etc).
To those who don't think streetcars will result in higher tax revenues, wait until you get your property assessment a couple years after the streetcar starts rolling.
Uh yeah, ya'll still haven't responded to the unionized pensioned problems. Streetcars carry many more passengers with the same amount of (expensive) staff - and additional cars can be added without more staff. These staff are bankrupting WMATA... why are people ignoring this savings in regard to the streetcars?
As a resident of the neighborhood, I was pretty indifferent to the street cars. But now that they've gotten this far into construction, they damn well better finish it and make up the opportunity cost to the businesses that suffered in the short term. It took a lot of guts, especially from those in the initial wave, to start up on H.
Back when they were putting in brick sidewalks in Dupont, the construction forced a few businesses to close. I just hope the District isn't repeating the same mistakes.
have any of you actually changed your mind about streetcars since you first heard of the project?
in terms in funding, i feel like if dc could build the residents of virginia and maryland a new baseball stadium, we sure can build a streetcar system for ourselves.
@Charles, Have you also considered the millions that DDOT is planning on collecting through a special assessment on commercial and residential properties within a quarter-mile of the streetcar stops as described in Mr. Klein’s May 14 letter to Chairman Gray? Will the businesses that survive through the construction also survive the special assessment? How will these additional taxes affect residential properties?
-- Mike
Mike-
Rest assured, residential properties are not subject to special assessment tax. Only commercial properties will have to pay, and while I don't like the idea of small businesses paying greater taxes, they benefit the most from the streetcar.
Anonymous at 2:16: Please rest assured that on page 4 of the letter from Mr. Klein to Chairman Gray, DDOT describes a special assessment where residential properties would be assessed for additional taxes, but at half the rate of commercial properties. DDOT notes the need for further evaluation.
-- Mike
Can anyone copy or link to the letter to Klein that's under debate? I'm curious.
Sarah, It is a letter from (not to) Gabe Klein (Director, DDOT) to Chairman Vincent Gray, Members of the DC Council, Neil Albert (City Administrator) and Harriet Tregoning (Director, OP) dated May 14, 2010 responding to a comprehensive set of questions that the Council had about the DC Streetcar program and the Great Streets Program. It is a long document (cover letter, 23 pages of responses to the questions and 14 attachments). It does not appear to be posted on-line, but you might ask DDOT for a copy. Perhaps they will post it. It is definitely very interesting reading.
-- Mike
Mike,
Please stop trying to scare folks. The special assessment applies to NEW development. Yes, new multifamily buildings will be subject to one-half the rate of commercial development.
Existing homeowners have nothing to fear.
Rayful: Can you provide some documentation?
There is no statement in the May 14 DDOT letter implying that the special assessment will be limited to new development.
In DDOT’s April 21 presentation, DDOT describes a Benefit Assessment District, where the District assesses a higher tax rate or special assessment on properties within a defined distance of the fixed guideway or stations. No mention is made limiting that higher tax rate or special assessment to new development. They do describe an additional parking fee that would be applied to medium and high-density properties within a quarter mile of the system, again with no mention that it is limited to new development, although that wouldn’t affect single family homes.
-- Mike
Call Kubly's office to confirm.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/14/AR2010051405073.html
@Mike -- since you have this letter, why not post it, or quote the language you keep referring to.
It doesn't make sense. Were residential properties in other neighborhoods assessed when new metro stations were built? (U Street? Columbia Heights?)
Anonymous at 9:48: Perhaps you can call Kubly’s office and post a link to a definitive DDOT statement on how the additional tax assessments will operate. I hope that they will also explain any discrepancies between any new statement and their April 22 presentation (http://www.mwcog.org/uploads/committee-documents/bF5ZWV1c20100423172726.pdf) or their May 14 letter to the Council.
The article that you have linked to discusses how commercial properties might be assessed additional taxes to pay for 25% of the capital costs for this project (estimated at $140 million). DDOT anticipates that taxpayers in our neighborhood will pay additional taxes to cover 50% of the capital costs and half of the annual subsidy to operating costs (estimated at $2 million a year). It is assumed that DC taxpayers will cover the other half of the operating cost subsidy, and that the other half of the capital costs will be split evenly between DC taxpayers and a federal grant.
The Washington Post article relies heavily on a November 2009 report commissioned by the Downtown BID. This report is available on the Reconnecting America web-site. That report calculates the cash contributions or supplemental tax rates that would be necessary to pay of one-third of the construction costs if single family homes are not included. Note this is only a fraction of the additional tax revenue that DDOT would collect from the neighborhood. According to their calculations, bonds for one-third of the construction costs could be funded with an additional payment by each of these property-owners of 4.6% of the assessed value. Another option is a supplemental tax rate of 16%, i.e., each of these private property owners will see their taxes increase by 16%. This would cover $46 million, and DDOT would need additional taxes for neighborhood taxpayers to cover $23 million for construction costs, plus $1 million per year to cover half the operational subsidy. Parking taxes of $110 per space (medium to high density residential) and $220 per space (commercial) are also on the table.
One thing is clear, DDOT will be presenting our neighborhood with a massive tax bill. No matter how it will be divided, this will have an impact on revitalization of our neighborhood.
SLB, The May 14 letter is very long, so I cannot post it. DDOT or your Councilmember should be able to provide you with a copy.
-- Mike
Not Mike, but I read the same document and interpreted it the same way. It's a different model than the one proposed by Brookings and discussed in the Post article.
DDOT wants to fund 50% of capital costs for the streetcar system from local special assessments. To meet that target wrt the H Street/ Benning Road line, they'd need to extract $70 million from fewer than 3,000 property owners along the route -- or from fewer than 1,000 property owners if they were to apply this special tax only to "income-producing" properties (Brookings' term -- and it includes apartment buildings).
The approach Klein suggested to Gray seemed to involve taxing everyone, but at different rates -- with "commercial properties with 1/4 mile" taxed at twice the rate as "residential properties within 1/4 mile."
Klein totally botches the rate ($.02/$100 and $.01/$100 won't get you anywhere near $70 million when the total assessed value of all taxable parcels in the district is $1.7 billion.
Basically, we'd have three choices -- hit the owners of the income-producing parcels up for 7.4% of their property's assessed value (which means $70,000+ from a shopowner whose storefront is valued at $1 million), hit all parcel-owners up for a little over 4% ($20,000 for the owner of a home assessed at just under $500,000), or have a differential rate -- like 5% for commercial and 3% for residential.
Bottom line -- you can't get $70 million from 2,909 property owners without without hitting each owner up for tens of thousands of additional dollars. How much do you want that streetcar?
Here's a link to the Brookings report. Scary. http://www.reconnectingamerica.org/public/reports/1044
It's a lot of money that comes out of the hides of small businesses and homeowners.
Value capture taxes make the assumption that streetcar magic is the responsible factor for development and that it wouldn't have occurred without the installation.
You can also google "value capture taxes" or some variation and read more.
Remember that the DC government mystically "found" the cash for the project and more or less put it on the city's credit card. It's got to come from somewhere. The city never seems to see a new tax idea that they don't like, do they?
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