Exciting news from the NYT; electric streetcars are coming back to the American urban experience:

…Mayor Michael Coleman of Columbus, Ohio, has come to the same conclusion and is pushing to build a $103 million streetcar network along the city’s High Street connecting Ohio State University with the downtown business district. The loop would be paid for through a 4 percent surcharge on concert tickets, sporting events and downtown parking and a $12.5 million contribution from Ohio State.

“It is directly tied to economic development, and when times are tough in Ohio, we need an additional tool to create jobs,” Mr. Coleman said.

While critics question whether scarce city money would be better spent elsewhere, Mr. Coleman argues that streetcars are important to the city’s growth.

“We have to plan for the future,” he said. “I believe in 10 years, we would ask, ‘Why didn’t we do this?’ It will be 10 times more expensive, and the cost of gas will be unaffordable.”

Wow, this is fantastic. I am really heartened to hear that Mayors are able to see clearly as they strategically plan for affordable and clean public transportation.

A libertarian critic is cited in the article, mostly because he says officials are falling “for the hype”. Hype? This is a concept as old as the hills and the technology is hardly the sort of thing to write home about. The only hype I see is from people who say our standard of living will sustain, let alone improve, if we allow big oil to drill into every last orifice on the globe. That means you too, by the way. Bend over…

“It looks like it’s going to take you somewhere, but it’s only designed to support downtown residents,” [O’Toole] said.

Er, you mean downtown residents including business owners, O’Toole? It not only looks like it will take you somewhere, but it actually does take you somewhere, unlike a car with no gas. Individual ownership of vehicles in the city makes about as much sense as individual ownership of buildings rather than tenant-in-common or condos. Density brings forth economies of scale and benefits from a sum greater than the whole, which I am sure are alien concepts to O’Toole. He would value singular gains more than any shared success, and would probably advocate going in circles like a one-armed man in a rowboat.

Moreover, automobiles and buses are appealing only until you realize that the gasoline engine has a petroleum-based umbilical cord that ultimately chokes urban areas to death. The story I heard was that the tire, oil, and bus manufacturers created holding companies that tried to kill off streetcars in America. They were not only successful, but they recouped their investments in under ten years (due to sales of tires, fuel, and vehicles) as people were coddled into cars since they had no public transportation options. Let us hope those days are in the past for good.