Despite the picture, this is not a bash-Metro post. However, it’s hard to deny that this one-in-2300 sign [“Metro begins covering ‘suspended’ bus stops”, Along for the Ride, Ken Leiser, 2/20/2009], is not indicative of the problem that I think streetcars can help resolve.
To that end, in my best Thomas Jefferson voice, I’ll tell you how the laws in place promote regional prosperity, and not that of the City of
No state shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any duty of tonnage, keep troops, or ships of war in time of peace, enter into any agreement or compact with another state, or with a foreign power, or engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as will not admit of delay. [emphasis mine :)]
There you have it. However, such a compact was approved by Congress in 1950 as Public Law 743 (64 Stat. 568), resulting in the establishment of the Bi-State Development Agency of the Missouri-Illinois Metropolitan District. Furthermore, according to the “Background and Need for the Legislation”, as drafted in a 1995 amendment to the compact, “The Bi-State Agency was intended to promote planning, development and transportation in the area surrounding St. Louis on both the Missouri and Illinois sides of the Mississippi River and it was given specified power to facilitate such activities” [www.thomas.gov]. And any future changes to the compact will need to be approved by the United States Congress as well.
Is it just me, or do you think our members of Congress know the intimate details of our mass transit problem? Just today, Maura Judkis, of U.S. News and World Report, suggested St. Louisans should buy a bike after the trifecta destruction of service cuts, job losses, and fare increases [http://www.usnews.com/blogs/fresh-greens/2009/3/18/is-your-citys-public-transit-suffering.html?s_cid=rss:fresh-greens:is-your-citys-public-transit-suffering].
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