Trolley woes in the news

Two bits today:

1. Marc Stier, frequent spokesman for the Transit Coalition, describes the neighborhood problems and their history in the stand-off over the Girard trolley (scroll down to the first Opinion piece at the link).

   There are a number of serious issues this community has had with SEPTA. SEPTA acknowledges that the Callowhill Depot has been a problem for neighbors for many years, not least because SEPTA workers take parking spots on residential streets. However, SEPTA has tried a number of ways to reach out to the neighbors and Campbell to discuss these difficulties and find a way to overcome them. I also tried to contact her on behalf of the Pennsylvania Transit Coalition, with the hopes that our organization could help work out the problems between the neighborhood and SEPTA. But, so far, Ms. Campbell has been unwilling to discuss these issues with SEPTA or the PTC.

   I hear that some high-level discussions may be occurring in the near-term to settle this mess.
   
   
2. Meantime, John Street is eyeing the option of going on the offensive by towing the cars parked in the disputed zone.

   MAYOR STREET agrees: Ten parking spaces are a crappy trade for SEPTA's $85- million investment in the Route 15 antique trolley line. Illegal parking spaces, at that.

   Towing might get the trolley through, at least until the offended neighbors turned the block into a parking lot in protest. Lets hope cooler heads prevail -- the pressure added by some of Nutter's future rivals weighing in with their scorn will probably help move negotiations back up to tangible speed.