Light Rail Extension Brings Blight (Phoenix, Tucson: apartment, how much, buying)

[hikernut]

Originally Posted by Magnum Mike

I have a friend who lives in Mesa and doesn't have a car so she rides the light rail to downtown Phoenix then the bus to her work location around 75th Ave & McDowell. It takes her 3 hours to commute each way.

Yeah, my commute by public transport would be over two hours each way. Bicycle is faster.

[kent_moore]

All read was about staying away from homeless person.

Maybe its time to have a prop dealing with homeless people. Leave the light rail alone.

[Magnum Mike]

Originally Posted by Magnum Mike

There are actually 2 propositions, 105 & 106 and I will vote yes on 105, and I'll have to read the details on Prop 106. Light rail is too expansive and it's not cost-effective. The Phoenix area is not a light rail city mainly because of how vast the entire metro area is, most of the people drive automobiles and an expansion of the light rail system is not going to help the majority of day-to-day commuters. On the other hand, a commuter express system along the I-10 corridor west of downtown Phoenix would certainly help, but that's not in the plans, and the issue with that is there's no place for it other than the median on I-10, which is owned by ADOT and I don't think any city governments have a say in how it should be used. Also there is no median on the 10 east of 35th Ave so if any sort of commuter rail were to be built on that portion of the 10, it would have to be on existing lanes of the freeway going into downtown.

Overall, I think focusing on fixing the problems with the streets should take precedence over expansion of the light rail.

Oh Crud! I messed up, I meant to say "too expensive"..

[kytoaz]

Originally Posted by AndyDwyer480

I don't make it a habit to clog my phones memory with photos of Blight on my commute.
Don't believe me? Come by and see for yourselves anytime. Preferably in the early am. Just this morning on the intersection of main and Gilbert (at the McDonald's)I had to defend myself against an obviously tweaked out lunatic. Not even 6 am.

I'm done caring why they're there ( illness, family etc) **** I'm mentally ill. I have no family outside of my wife and kid. I've slept on the street. And I got SICK OF IT!

Eventually I got my crap together and am now living the dream. I work two jobs and have a paid hobby at home. I'll never go back. Not if I can help it. My child depends on me and I refuse to let him down!

But In the meantime it would also be nice to get on the train, take the kid to the comic book store and have a good time without being accosted by people who are high on meth.

I don't want to see homeless people harassed, hurt, locked up or anything like that. But crazy tweakers who ruin your day ? **** em. Why do we even have jails if we can't agree VIOLENT PEOPLE deserve to be in them? Huh?

This problem is exploding nation wide, in every city, regardless of public transportation. There are many, many causes to the spike in homeless population in this country but blaming it on the light rail just isn't accurate in my opinion.

[jnojr]

Originally Posted by kttam186290

You've already done that -- and got caught ! -- I might add.

We've got people living in the Santa Ana River who state they originally came from Phoenix. And this situation is being thoroughly investigated by the State of California as I type this.

Whoa, that must be like Sacramento investigating high gas prices!


Sorry, I have zero tolerance for bums. "You aren't welcome here, here's a Greyhound voucher. Go somewhere else." If they happen to choose the land of milk and honey...

[AZSunDevil83]

Originally Posted by Magnum Mike

There are actually 2 propositions, 105 & 106 and I will vote yes on 105, and I'll have to read the details on Prop 106. Light rail is too expansive and it's not cost-effective. The Phoenix area is not a light rail city mainly because of how vast the entire metro area is, most of the people drive automobiles and an expansion of the light rail system is not going to help the majority of day-to-day commuters. On the other hand, a commuter express system along the I-10 corridor west of downtown Phoenix would certainly help, but that's not in the plans, and the issue with that is there's no place for it other than the median on I-10, which is owned by ADOT and I don't think any city governments have a say in how it should be used. Also there is no median on the 10 east of 35th Ave so if any sort of commuter rail were to be built on that portion of the 10, it would have to be on existing lanes of the freeway going into downtown.

Overall, I think focusing on fixing the problems with the streets should take precedence over expansion of the light rail.

I hear this argument all the time but sounds like public just isn't too educated on the subject. With the Phoenix City Council delaying the extensions to PV Mall and to GCU, these funds have already been reappropriated to accelerate street repairs that was already scheduled to happen w/ the voter approved Transporation 2050 Plan back in 2015. The premise that streets are not being repaired or improved is simply false, perhaps it isn't at the speed that some would like but either way, there was a plan and funding mechanism for it. (source: https://www.phoenix.gov/T2050/Elements)

Furthermore, you say that you support Commuter Express System but you realize voting yes on Prop 105 will virtually kill any type of rail investment. Sounds like you need to educate yourself a little bit more and maybe you need to vote no on Prop 105 after learning all the facts.

Proposition 105 throws this planning out the window and permanently prohibits Phoenix from investing in any kind of rail project – including light rail, commuter rail, or other potential train connections. It turns away billions of dollars in proposed federal money dedicated to transit that is slated to come to Phoenix. Not only would tens of millions of tax dollars already invested in these approved extensions be wasted, but hundreds of millions of dollars in federal investment could skip Phoenix and go to other cities, such as Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, and Salt Lake City.

https://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2019...d-for-phoenix/

[Bondurant]

I'll be voting to curtail light rail funding but to say it brings blight is a bit of a stumble.

[phetaroi]

Originally Posted by kytoaz

This problem is exploding nation wide, in every city, regardless of public transportation. There are many, many causes to the spike in homeless population in this country but blaming it on the light rail just isn't accurate in my opinion.

I agree. Let's see. I see homeless people standing on street corners. Solution: Eliminate all steets so there won't be street corners!

[Magnum Mike]

Originally Posted by AZSunDevil83

I hear this argument all the time but sounds like public just isn't too educated on the subject. With the Phoenix City Council delaying the extensions to PV Mall and to GCU, these funds have already been reappropriated to accelerate street repairs that was already scheduled to happen w/ the voter approved Transporation 2050 Plan back in 2015. The premise that streets are not being repaired or improved is simply false, perhaps it isn't at the speed that some would like but either way, there was a plan and funding mechanism for it. (source: https://www.phoenix.gov/T2050/Elements)

Furthermore, you say that you support Commuter Express System but you realize voting yes on Prop 105 will virtually kill any type of rail investment. Sounds like you need to educate yourself a little bit more and maybe you need to vote no on Prop 105 after learning all the facts.


https://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2019...d-for-phoenix/

First of all there are no plans for a commuter rail system, at least they're not included in the current light rail plans.

Secondly, as I mentioned before, light rail is not suitable for Phoenix mainly because it serves a limited number of areas and that will continue to be the case with the south central expansion. Ridership on the light rail isn't anywhere near what they expected because nobody wants to ride it for many reasons. Here's a picture that I took recently at the Park & Ride parking lot at the 19th Ave & Dunlap station, this was around 3 PM on Tuesday afternoon. The parking lot was only about 25-30% full.


I am aware of the funds that were already allocated for the street improvements, 105 will reallocate more funds for the street improvements, instead of using them on expansion projects for this costly and poorly designed light rail system that we have.

[cjseliga]

This would have undoubtedly added billions to the cost of the original 20-mile "starter line", but maybe if they elevated the line between stations and up and over the lighted intersections, then brought it back down to ground level for each station, the trains would have ended up going a lot faster than they do now. Obviously, if you did a totally underground or elevated line the cost would have been crazy high.