Modern Streetcar Advocates is spreading the word about the benefits a streetcar could bring to Omaha, and their next meeting is tomorrow, January 18th, from 4 to 6 p.m. at Commerce Village.

Jay Lund, Spokesperson for the Advocates, says the economic value of a streetcar has been clearly demonstrated in other cities.

“It’s something that we’ve seen used in a lot of different cities. Kansas City is one of them, where they’ve had over 2 billion dollars’ worth of development on the line that they built, and what that means is new jobs and counteracting the effect of brain drain.”

Lund says they are anticipating the results of the design study being done by the City and its consultants within the next month or so. He says once this study shows the actual costs, the issue of funding will begin in earnest.

Lund says so far nearly 600 people have signed up as “advocates” on their website. He encourages people to attend tomorrow’s event to learn more and make up their own minds about what a streetcar could mean for Omaha.

An RSVP is encouraged – find “events” at the bottom of the website – modernstreetcaradvocates.org