LIGHT RAIL COMES TO DRIVE-THROUGH COUNTRY

The route selection for the Bottineau light rail, which will give folks in the Northwest suburbs (not including Golden Valley) a handy way to get to downtown Minneapolis and points south, is coming to a head, and predictably Golden Valley is seen as a convenient route of least resistance by politicians on both ends of the line.  Now the Bottineau Policy Advisory Committee has endorsed the route through Golden Valley.  Our city council will be squeezed hard to go along with a plan that has no upside, and a big downside, for our city.  The latest version of this squeeze is coming from the Metropolitan Council, which has told our city council members that if Golden Valley does not give its blessing to the route going through Golden Valley, the federal government will not provide funding and the whole project will be scuttled. 

Just to recap, the current proposal for the Bottineau Line has two alternatives routes from Brooklyn Park and the northwestern suburbs to downtown.  One takes the line down West Broadway and Penn Avenue through north Minneapolis to Highway 55, and on to downtown.  The other has the line going down the existing rail line right next to the Mary Hills Nature Area, under Golden Valley Road, into Wirth Park to Highway 55 and then into downtown.  This alternative (dubbed D1) would include a Golden Valley station, probably under the bridge on Golden Valley Road near St. Margaret Mary church. 

It doesn't take much time or thought to conclude that there is nothing in D1 for Golden Valley except train noise and severe irreparable damage to high-quality nature areas.  The existing rail line will have to be moved, and the roadbed expanded, which will involve disturbing or destroying a large area that is now wetlands, natural open space and wildlife habitat.  The Golden Valley Road station will serve very few people, especially since there will be no parking there.  It is remote from most Golden Valley residents, and inconvenient even to those who live or work relatively nearby.  You can safely assume that anyone, including an elected official, who tries to tell you that D1 is a good deal for Golden Valley is in fact serving a different agenda.

The D1 alternative is pretty popular everywhere else, however, and it is not hard to see why.  For the northern suburbs it provides a slightly faster ride downtown with fewer stops, and avoids going through what many perceive as a dangerous and crime-infested area.  Some say it will be less expensive, but this is yet to be determined; building light rail through a wetland will not be cheap or easy, and will inevitably cause environmental damage.  In north Minneapolis there is substantial opposition to the line because around 100 residential properties and some businesses would be displaced, and it would become much harder to jay-walk across Penn Avenue and Broadway.  There will be disruption during construction, of course, and some people will be adversely impacted.  The fractious and volatile politics of north Minneapolis will make a community consensus almost impossible to reach, and it would take political courage that is such a rare commodity these days to withstand the inevitable charges of racism and repression that will be thrown around.  Already some are comparing the proposal to the fate of the Rondo neighborhood in St. Paul, which was virtually destroyed when I-94 was built in the 1960s.  But there is no comparison; I-94 cut a swath over ¼ mile wide out of the middle of the city, and displaced at least 650 families, all without any redeeming economic benefit to the neighborhood. 

Light rail can, however, bring economic revitalization to the areas it serves.  A light rail line in north Minneapolis will, according to the planners, spur economic development in the long run, and provide transportation to people who really need it.   The Hiawatha Line in south Minneapolis has resulted in higher residential property values and increased residential construction along its corridor.  Our political leaders should be thinking ten years down the road, when a light rail line in north Minneapolis would be considered a great asset, boosting the economy in an area which desperately needs a boost. 

But as is so often the case, short-term political expediency trumps smart long-term planning.  The political lines are hardening, and now our city council is being threatened.  If Golden Valley doesn't embrace the project going through Wirth Park, the proponents of the D1 option say, the feds won't provide the needed funding (never mind that the federal government is broke), the Bottineau Line will die on the vine, and it will be all our fault.  Even if this is true (a dubious proposition), the real major effect of Golden Valley's acquiescence will be to make life easier for the Bottineau proponents, and for politicians on both ends of the line.  So the full court press to go along with this crazy plan is on, and will be hard to resist. 

I challenge for the Golden Valley City Council members to act in the best interests of your constituents, the people of Golden Valley, who elected you and to whom you took a pledge.  Don't bow to political pressure and threats from people whose interests are so clearly elsewhere.  Vote for what is right for Golden Valley – against the D1 route - and let the chips fall where they may.