DC Streetcars

Post culture critic Philip Kennicott has an excellent column today on our little streetcar battle here in DC. The city is seeking to bring streetcars back (they were once a major mode of transportation here), and has already started laying some of the tracks. The issue is that the streetcars will probably use overhead wires -- which is currently against DC law, which seeks to preserve grand views down the avenues. The city's DOT is currently proposing a hybrid solution, wherein there will be overhead cables for most of each line but breaks in some specific stretches, where the trolleys will run on battery.

Writes Kennicott:

Arguments against overhead wires rest on two essential assumptions: that the city is filled with streets that have historically significant and aesthetically impressive views; and that wires and poles would be ugly intrusions on these grand vistas. The former is questionable, the latter a matter of opinion.

But the deeper issue is Washington's relation to the nation. Do we want to preserve the early 20th-century sense of ourselves as a grand, imperial city that overawes tourists? Or do we want to be a model city for the 21st century, a place where visitors from across the country and around the world can be inspired by innovative experiments in sustainable urban life?

My one gripe is the headline they've stuck on the column in print ("The debate over D.C. streetcars is coming down to the wires.") Already been done! In the Post, no less! The paper's April 6 article on the subject was titled "Streetcar effort may go down to the wire" (the online version went with "D.C. streetcar project may get hung up on overhead wires.")