Hallelujah! Wait. Wtf?
Yeah, these are the feelings I went through as I read this article in the Times-Picayune about the “return of the St. Charles Streecar”. I use quotations because the streetcar is operating from Canal Street to Lee Circle. And they are charging $1.25 for it! WTF? Who is going to ride this thing for 10 blocks? Who!?! Even the tourists want to get a little further than that! Meanwhile all the politicians are high-fiving and chest-bumping each other over this “major step in the recovery process”. I mean, they promised it would be up and running by the end of the year. I suppose this is the way the politicians can put a check mark next to ‘another promise fulfilled’.
Personally, I love the St. Charles streetcar and I truly look forward to the return of it - the real return of it, that is - I just hope this doesn’t mean the powers that be will stop working on the entire line uptown along St. Charles now that they have a little widdy bit of it operating.
Picture by Ellis Lucia / Times-Picayune
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Seriously. I’d be willing to bet that 9 out of 10 times, you could walk to Lee Circle from Canal in less time than you would sit waiting for a streetcar to pick you up. What a bunch of baloney. This was national news, too.
They should have waited until the whole thing was fixed. That way, Harry Connick Jr. and Sean Penn could ride down St Charles with the Governor and the Mayor and make a giant press op out of it. They could throw moon pies at unsuspecting dog walkers and joggers. I think I heard someone say they were going to paint the cars tangerine orange. “We’re Back! Everything is okay here!”
if only all the busses went down to 75 cents like when i was little ..lol
you’ve GOT to be kidding me. are you actually complaining that progress has been made and something has reopened???? even if it’s only a portion of the line, it’s symbloic, and encouraging that the line is on it’s way back.
if i were tired of walking after a long day of shopping or drinking in the quarter i would be more than happy to cough up a buck twenty five take the streetcar to go back to my hotel at lee circle.
i really don’t understand how you can be suprised that they are charging to ride the streetcar. guess what, the RTA is broke. if you want to see the streetcars back up and running the money has to come from somewhere, public transportation costs money. it was offered for free when FEMA was footing the bill to help us get back on our feet. they literally were not allowed to charge riders as long as the operational costs were covered by FEMA, as this would be considered “double dipping.”
personally, i find it heartwarming to see streetcars back on the st. charles line. merry christmakwanzakha to me!
Progress is great. From the outside researching in, any rebuilding is great. I worked in Manhattan for years, including 2001. At first the finding people was good, the removing of wreckage was better, finding the corpses of the beloved left behind, wow, even better, but that all f%#in all sucks (as it does for you whom grew up in New Orleans). Seeing corpses on TV everyday for long periods of time is going to suck, where we will see both good and bad in every little improvement. The NYC disaster was planned by “terrorists” or “extremists” or whatever name you want to give people who take a book that was written (or created) for peace and use it for death of thousands. … and of course Katrina was nature.
Point being, sometimes was just have to get the hell out. I escaped within NYC for a year, got a little better and moved on because mentally, no matter what train lines reopened or what mayor was elected, the city I once knew, grew up and loved no longer existed. Sometimes, you just have to take a step back and look at it through the eyes of another.
Heather may experience the pressure and pain in a different way then you (or I would).
Peace and Happy New Year. Good luck to all of you affected by the Gulf of Mexico.
Thanks KJR. I also lived in NYC during that time. I worked with some victims of the WTC disaster for a year and that burned me out on the city I had lived in for 5 years. Pretty much I am looking forward to a time when my home is disaster free.
Happy New Year!
I had a feeling your statement had a bit more emotion or pain then what $1.25 can cause ;-0. You deserve to have your city back the way it was, and I wish you (and everyone) the best of luck.
As for me, I will take comfort in my home here in Maryland and visit New York on occasion, (for example, I will be there with my wife to see my Mom, Dad, Aunts and Uncles in 2 weeks) for I do not have the strength (mentally) to live back in Brooklyn. As you stated, I just want my city to be disaster free, and I need the media to stop scaring everyone and making anniversery coins for one of the worst days in American history. The pain the destruction caused practically turned me into an addict back in 2001 - 2002.
Take care Heather and all! Happy New Year and great things to come…
KJR