Twin Cities Commuter Rail Question?
in 1997 the metro council found there were 6 routes in the cities that would be benificial for commuter rail. dan patch commuter line (minneapolis – lakeville – northfield)was one of them.
in 2002 the state legislature write a bill stating no research, feasibility studies, and discussions would take place about this line and that any mention of it must be for historical purposes only.
why such an odd measure when none of the other 5 proposed lines were totally “blacked out” from public discussion.
thoughts?
My belief from a UK perspective (so it may be totally wrong) is that the proposed links were part of the war on urban sprawl.
The support of that war concerned funding organisations that whilst non profit were in fact lobbying groups and so this was thought of as undemocratic and all government funding for them and their projects was removed. As was the proposed link.
Further the link funded publicly was thought to be an undemocratic attack on the car and the choice of US citizens.
Politics at the expense of the people is my view, the link would have saved lives and man hours and advanced the human race.
Commuter Rail
