S.L. leaders' latest desire — streetcars

Streetcars may be returning to downtown Salt Lake City — minus the mules.

Mayor Ralph Becker, members of the City Council and other city leaders want to see a network of streetcars added as a downtown transit option to complement the Utah Transit Authority's light- and commuter-rail system.

Becker and other city leaders have climbed aboard the streetcar bandwagon after seeing how it has spurred economic development in Portland, Ore. Portland's initial $55 million investment to build 2.5 miles of streetcar track in 2001 has led to about $3 billion in private investments, said DJ Baxter, executive director of Salt Lake City's Redevelopment Agency.

City government and business leaders visited Portland, Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia, last week as a part of a redevelopment and transit tour. The purpose, Baxter said, was to see firsthand how the cities' transit systems have strengthened economic development — and vice versa.

A handful of those who took the trip met with members of the media Thursday, and all of them raved about the streetcar.

"They're an incredible inducement for development," Becker said. "Lay the tracks and development follows almost immediately. That's what we saw place after place."

An example of that is Portland's Pearl District, a once-rundown section of the city. Before, during and after photographs of the area show its rapid turnaround after tracks for a streetcar were put in place.

"Laying tracks in the road provides an assurance for developers ... as they look at where they're going to invest for the future," Becker said. "It changes the dynamic (of an area), and it changes the development opportunities for the developer."

Much more study is needed to determine how and where a system would work downtown, but city leaders are committed to making it happen.

"After this experience, I can tell you I am sold on the concept and the benefit of streetcars," said JT Martin, city councilman and vice chairman of the city's RDA board.

The idea hearkens back to 1872, when a mule pulled the first streetcar along tracks on Main Street. That first streetcar turned into a 41-car system covering nine miles of track, according to city officials.

In 1889, Salt Lake City became the second city in the country to replace donkeys with electric streetcars. By 1900, the Salt Lake Valley had more than 145 miles of track that connected neighborhoods to downtown.