After more than two years of construction delays, Joe Edwards’ pet project, the Loop Trolley, was supposed to begin service today in University City (its debut was cancelled by the snow storm). I should say limited service, as it will only run four days a week until next year, with convenient stops at all of Joe’s buildings on Delmar. Convenient, that is, unless you’re in a car that gets caught behind one of the trolleys — or parked along the street, where two vehicles have already had their side mirrors knocked off by passing trolleys. I’ve never understood the economics of, or the need for, the trolley, but I’ll be happy if I’m proven wrong. And it doesn’t make me late for a movie screening at the Tivoli.
Speaking of public transportation, my daughter lives in Manhattan and regularly complains about subway delays, which often leave her waiting for a train for over 20 minutes while going to or from work. New York city and state need to devote around a billion dollars to modernize the century-old system, but keep claiming they don’t have the funds. Yet somehow, they’re able to come up with hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks for Amazon’s new headquarters in Queens. So, instead of repairing a public transit system that serves tens of thousands of New Yorkers every day, they’ll provide corporate welfare for the world’s richest man (Jeff Bezos) and his billion-dollar company. Talk about redistributing the wealth in the wrong direction. I just hope the slew of workers being hired to work at Amazon’s new facility — who will contribute to higher rents for everyone in the area — never need to go anywhere else in that city.