City pulls support for downtown streetcar

Stephen Moody carries a box containing signatures on petitions to the city clerk's office on Tuesday morning, July 8, 2014. Stephen Moody carries a box containing signatures on petitions to the city clerk's office on Tuesday morning, July 8, 2014. Photo: San Antonio Express-News Photo: San Antonio Express-News Image 1 of / 18 Caption Close City pulls support for downtown streetcar 1 / 18 Back to Gallery

SAN ANTONIO — City support for VIA Metropolitan Transit's controversial streetcar collapsed Monday as recently appointed San Antonio Mayor Ivy Taylor called for the $32 million that the city had pledged for it be redirected to other center city development initiatives.

She also said that the streetcar, and any rail plan, should not proceed without a public vote, and she pushed for the creation of a city charter commission to explore transportation and other issues.

“The current proposal is very unpopular,” Taylor said. “We certainly believe there needs to be community consensus on a comprehensive multimodal transportation plan.”

In a stunning reversal, County Judge Nelson Wolff said he would ask Bexar County's appointees on the VIA board to withdraw their support for streetcar, a plan several years in the making. Wolff said officials simply were unable “to gain sufficient public support” for the rail project.

“You win some, you lose some,” Wolff said. “We've lost this one.”

Taylor and Wolff, who has been the chief advocate for the streetcar, spoke at a joint news conference Monday afternoon after the City Council met in executive session to discuss a petition drive to put streetcar on the November ballot.

Sources say Wolff had been in talks with VIA about pulling back from the project and calling for a public vote next May.

Earlier Monday, a source familiar with discussions said “a streetcar compromise was coming,” adding, “I think VIA is open to some kind of reboot or reset.”

Both the city and the county appeared to maneuver in advance of a report from the City Clerk's Office on whether an anti-streetcar coalition had gathered enough signatures to call for a charter amendment.

City officials did not announce the outcome of that petition drive, saying they would address the issue at a City Council B session Aug. 6.

The petition drive seems now to have been superceded by Monday's developments.

If the petition does succeed, there would be a citywide vote in November — on the same ballot as Wolff's reelection. He's facing outspoken streetcar critic and former Councilman Carlton Soules.

If the vote is delayed until May, the ballot would include the mayor and all 10 City Council races.

It wasn't clear from Monday's press conference when the recalibrated transportation plan the city is calling for would actually end up on a ballot.

VIA has scheduled a special board meeting for Thursday to discuss the streetcar.

The transit agency is already in the queue for federal funding of it, and if it stops work on the streetcar, the source said, the federal government will put VIA at the back of the line for all future funding.

Currently, VIA has funding to build part of the 5.9-mile downtown system. Most of the money would come from VIA and the Texas Department of Transportation — both put in $92 million each — and the City Council had voted to give $32 million.

However, opponents of the project started a petition drive earlier this year in the hopes of getting the charter amendment on the ballot that, if passed, would have required a vote on any streetcar or light rail project.

There has been some concern among streetcar opponents that the City Clerk might not validate the petitions, because many of them are missing a circulator affidavit, the signature of a person who passed around the petitions. Opponents have argued they don't need that affidavit.

Councilman Joe Krier, who has long pushed for streetcar to go to a vote, said he spoke to Wolff on Friday.

“My sense is the county judge is trying to be very thoughtful about this,” Krier said. “I think he's very impressed with the number of signatures that were secured.”

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