Monday, January 7, 2013

Why would we invest in streetcars during a recession?

In a recession, we can stimulate the economy by investing in putting people to work building a more cost-effective transportation infrastructure that will save us money for generations to come.  

When the economy comes back, there’s going to be a lot of building. Now is the time to prepare the ground to channel that construction. Do we want more suburban sprawl or do we want some walkable urbanism? 

We want our next building boom to make Chicago more efficient, cheaper to operate and maintain, more convenient to live in, and easier to get around in.

Our commitment to world-class modern transit will attract jobs and real estate development from the suburbs and other sprawling cities, stimulate private investment by mitigating the risk to developers, and channel those investments into high-density transit-oriented development along the streetcar corridor.