Letter-to-the-editor by Katherine Low was published in a recent issue of the Star Tribune

The following letter-to-the-editor by Katherine Low was published in a recent issue of the Star Tribune.

 

Letter-to-the-editor by Katherine Low was published in a recent issue of the Star Tribune

 

SOUTHWEST LRT

Why the opposition to Park Board suit?

A recent letter to the editor points to the falsehood that “thousands of working families” will be served by a Southwest light-rail 21st Street station. That was just one of many distortions presented in the Dec. 27 commentary “Lawsuit on light-rail tunnel not worth the risks” promoting the $1.7 billion public investment in SWLRT.

Here are a few others:

1) The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board has never opposed SWLRT. The fact is that the Metropolitan Council has refused to treat the Park Board as a serious stakeholder, even though it is attempting to fulfill its duty under federal and state law.

2) While the Southwest metro may be “entirely dependent on roads and motor vehicles,” it has one of the finest commuter express bus services in the region. SWLRT planners hope to lure half of those highly satisfied bus riders onto the train, at a tremendous cost.

3) The proposed route was not chosen in order to connect low-income communities to economic opportunities. Reverse commuting is projected to be low, and mostly coming from the West Lake station. The Met Council projects that the number of daily rides from and to the three stations closest to Minneapolis will be in the hundreds, not thousands.

The commentary makes it pretty clear that the Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce’s concern with progressive issues surfaces only when federal construction dollars are threatened.

Katherine Low, Minneapolis