[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 60 (Tuesday, April 9, 2024)]
[House]
[Page H2147]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        STREETCARS: THE FOUNDATION OF CITIES AND SUBURBAN AREAS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, streetcars are still the foundation of 
cities and suburban areas across the country, establishing a pattern 
that guided development for over a century.
  By 1910, you could travel from Boston to Chicago entirely on 
streetcar lines, just transferring from one to another. Sadly, 60 years 
later, the streetcar had largely disappeared. Only the St. Charles 
Streetcar Line in New Orleans remained of this vast network.
  We had a different vision in the city of Portland. In 1987, I called 
for the development of a circulator system in the central city that 
built around the streetcar.
  I worked with the late Bill Naito, a visionary Portland businessman 
and developer, who bought old streetcars from Portugal. He brought them 
to town, thinking that if people actually saw them, it would help 
promote his concept of their reintroduction.
  I worked with a gentleman named Rick Gustafson to bring this to 
fruition. We had a 10-member citizen steering committee, who worked 
with the city to fashion an approach going forward, and it worked. 
Within a decade, we had a loop in downtown Portland connecting it.
  That loop of streetcars was the focus for much of our affordable 
housing. It changed the dimensions of downtown, where people used the 
streetcar for short trips rather than vehicles. It guided development 
in modern Portland.
  This is part of a national movement reintroducing streetcars. I am 
proud to have helped lead that with the Portland model. We now have 
streetcars in over two dozen cities across the country, with more on 
the way. There is hard work in Omaha, Nebraska, which might be the next 
major development.
  This is human-scale technology. It is proven. It is cost effective. 
People love streetcars. They are energy efficient and help promote a 
development pattern that is human oriented.
  We have an opportunity, Mr. Speaker, to be able to continue this 
effort at mobilizing efforts to promote livable communities, another 
transportation alternative, and guide development.
  I was pleased to, 10 years ago, be in Tucson, Arizona, for the 
opening of their streetcar. Before it even opened, the streetcar 
redefined its downtown development, relationship to the university, and 
promoted additional housing opportunities.
  The streetcar is a chance for us to be able to use this proven 
technology and mobilize patterns of growth and development in a low-
cost, high-energy initiative. The modern streetcar has the opportunity 
to help communities across the country.
  I was pleased to be at the Streetcar Summit in Charlotte, North 
Carolina, this last week. People from around the country gathered to 
share their stories of streetcar development. This is a new wave of 
urban development, proven transportation technology, and an opportunity 
to reshape our central cities.
  Mr. Speaker, I strongly urge my colleagues to look at these examples 
in so many of our communities. The streetcar is making a difference in 
a way that saves money, saves time, improves the planet, and makes 
people feel good about their urban environment.

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