Streetcar Supporter: I Was Skeptical At First

Arlington residents left a heated town hall on the planned Columbia Pike streetcar with mixed reactions Wednesday night.

The Arlington County Board and county staff took questions from anyone who had them about the proposed $250 million streetcar project that would connect Columbia Pike and Bailey's Crossroads.

Time constraints forced some to leave without being able to ask their question. They were told to fill out a comment sheet, which prompted an angry outburst just before 9 p.m.

[More: Columbia Pike Streetcar Town Hall Gets Heated]

“I am very pleased staff and board members invested time and energy into the meeting,” said Dan Dixon, a member of Arlingtonians for Sensible Transit, which opposes the project. "Unfortunately, the setup was another opportunity for the board and staff to advocate for their preferred outcome."

One of the Sensible Transit group's main concerns is that they believe a bus rapid transit system along the Pike would cost one-fifth of a streetcar system — which some felt was a question left unanswered.

Streetcar supporters, including a small business owner on the Pike and the Columbia Pike Revitalization Organization, had their say, too.

“I think it went fairly well,” said 16-year Columbia Pike resident John Burke.  “Although usually the loudest people are the angriest."

Burke, who takes the bus everyday, believes that the crowded transit system on Columbia Pike will not be solved with a 10-year plan to add more buses, but needs to be fixed with the 30-year solution of the streetcar to decrease congestion in the area.

Arlington Streetcar Now Chairman John Snyder said he believed the event went well and thought is provided attendees with more information about the project proposal. Arlington Streetcar Now supports the project, as do four of the five county board members.

“I hope the meeting showed them the way (the project) is being funded and the depth that went into planning it,” Snyder told Patch afterward. “We’re not gullible… I was even skeptical about the streetcar before I studied it.”

Booths supporting or condemning the project were set up outside of the meeting and representatives handed out pamphlets, buttons, stickers and literature before and after the event.

Some of the questions Wednesday were more like demands for a more rigorous study of the advantages and disadvantages of a streetcar system versus a bus system. Residents wanted to know why they could vote on the matter and how it would affect small businesses and affordable housing on the Pike.

Board members and county staff tried to answer each question, but some residents felt that they were not heard.

The county will post a video of the town hall in about a week.