bers voted to suspend the streetcar project that is already under construction. The may- or and council members voted against the project on the basis that it was too expensive for Cincinnati. The negative vote took place early in December 2013 and work stopped immediately. The Federal Transit Adminis- tration froze all payments for the project un- til the city makes up its mind. With the pres- sure from the Feds, however (including repayment of money already spent), con- struction resumed just a few days later. John Spychalski supplied the news.
Sacramento: Model Transportation Locale Some months ago former Secretary of Tran- spiration Ray La Hood declared that Sacra- mento, Calif., the state capital, could be a model for integrating rail transit into a com- munity. Sacramento has several fine light rail lines and is in the process of extending them, along with building a new line north and west to the airport. Extension of the Blue Line to Cosumnes River College is well underway and an extension to Elk Grove will soon move ahead. An extension to Cit- rus Heights is in the long-range plan as are all extensions, because of the need to assure funding. There are several streetcar routes planned for downtown Sacramento and for Rancho Cordova. I have been fortunate to have visited Sacramento in years past and have been im- pressed by the vision and quality of the management team and support by local and state government. One of my trips was about 20 years ago for a meeting of the American Public Transportation Association. APTA
had arranged for a vintage trolley to be brought up from San Jose and I had the great pleasure of riding the car with George Krambles and Bill Middleton. Thanks to Robert Doyle for the news and the reminder.
Flashes
TUCSON, ARIZ., should have streetcar service in operation by the middle of 2014, which is about eight months later than planned. The service will employ cars built in Portland, Ore., by United Streetcar. Unit- ed Streetcar has had some problems in building the cars, but matters appeared to be under control by the end of 2013. United Streetcar points out that it has been about 60 years since a domestically owned street- car builder has been present. Long gone are J.G. Brill Company, Cincinnati Car Compa- ny, St. Louis Car Company, Pullman-Stan- dard,
and Maguire-Cummings. Many
thanks to Ronald Dutton for the news. METRA, the Chicago region commuter rail service is a big operation. The 2014 pro- posed budget is $728.6 million for opera- tions, and $209.3 million for capital needs. As large as that seems, Metra would need $9.7 million from 2012-2021 to reach and maintain a state of good repair. Metra plans no fare increase for 2014. Thanks to Steve Scalzo for the news.
They call them buskers in NEW YORK
CITY and they are the musicians who per- form in the subway to help entertain the five million daily riders. There are drummers, gospel singers, one-man bands, and even Joshua Bell on one day. Those canny buskers, wise to the best days and the best
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