Well folks, we’ve heard it all. It turns out that when speaking in terms of “Street Car Dollars,” heretofore referred to as “SCD’s” (has a nice ring, no?), a half a billion is really a quarter of a billion and a quarter of a billion is a BARGAIN!Former LO Mayor and Clackamas County Commissioner, Judie Hammerstad, claims in this morning’s Zero (here) that this LO/PDX half a billion dollar street car plan is not expensive:
…The project cost of $458 million is expressed in 2017 dollars, which is inflated by 4 percent per year since 2010. This number includes the value of the right of way of approximately $90 million, which is publicly owned and can be used as a match for the federal contribution. To get to the more realistic cost, subtract the $90 million, use current dollars, subtract the costs of the maintenance facility and the streetcars that won’t be needed initially, and the cost, in current dollars, drops to $205 million to $250 million. That’s highly affordable when compared to other recent transportation costs.
Tell ’em where you saw it. Http://www.victoriataft.com
