Not a Demonstration

Dear Editor,
    “And the entire commuter rail project – essentially a demonstration line for a real suburban/city system yet to be executed.” [“Point Austin,” News, April 30.]
    This is something a lot of central city rail advocates convinced themselves of, against my advice, but in fact Capital Metro after 2004’s election completely abandoned plans to build urban rail that would actually benefit city residents, not that such a rail line is even feasible given that the Red Line took over most of the right-of-way of the one truly slam-dunk light rail line possible in this city (the city’s way-too-late plan is a poor substitute).
    Their official plans are more commuter rail (like the Green Line to Elgin) and more often (double-track the Red Line, still going from Leander to shuttle-buses). It’s highly unlikely they’ll ever contribute one dollar to urban rail for Austinites unless our City Council members toughen up and demand they do so.