Letter: Troubled About Southwest Light Rail

To the Editor:

I watched the SD48 candidate debate the other night and am troubled about the proposed Southwest Light Rail.

I fully support infrastructure investment (I’m a fan of the new I-494/169 interchange) and also appreciate the need for multi-modal transportation alternatives.  However, the arguments put forward by candidates who support the project raise some concerns.

First, they mentioned several times the “60,000 jobs” that will be generated by SWLRT.  I find this figure very hard to accept. I did a little digging and found the source of the “60,000” figure.  It comes from the Met Council and it’s a forecast of growth for the region by 2030, not jobs resulting from the project. Those jobs are 3,500 temporary construction jobs and 175 permanent jobs once built.

Second, the candidates advocating for the expenditure of $1.2 billion of tax funds argue the business community’s strongly behind the project.  While the Minneapolis and Twin West Chambers support it, the EP Chamber has urged the City Council to resolve some very important issues before granting consent to the project.

For example, the impact of the at-grade crossings haven’t been fully analyzed or addressed.  Many major employers will see access to their businesses severely limited and safety and traffic mitigation hasn’t been adequately spelled out to the community.  Because of these concerns, the city has been looking at alternative routes. They warrant time and consideration. We don’t have enough information yet and our elected officials shouldn’t blindly endorse this huge
expenditure of our tax dollars.

I encourage our City Council and state officials to continue working through these issues before giving a blank check to this project.

Moreover, I commend Rep. Stensrud and Senator Hann for their honest
handling of this matter during the debate and encourage them to continue asking the tough questions of this project before committing any state tax dollars.

Tom Schwieters
Eden Prairie resident and business owner