

Orange County is about 25 years behind LA County when it comes to public transportation but damn it they're trying to catch up: there's the huge ARTIC train station being built in Anaheim, a proposed streetcar near Disneyland, and now a possible streetcar in downtown Santa Ana. But this wouldn't be Orange County (or LA for that matter) if people weren't bitching about the train's effect on traffic and parking. More than 150 people signed a petition against a streetcar route along Fourth Street, ABC7 reports, mainly citing the horrors of reduced street parking.

Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido wisely calls that poppycock, pointing out that there are "thousands of spaces within downtown," including many parking structures. The city will choose a route on August 5, deciding between the $220 million Fourth Street connection that would travel between the Metrolink/Amtrak station near downtown and a station in Garden Grove, and a more circuitous, $240-million version that would travel less-busy Fifth Street.

· Santa Ana Streetcar Proposal Sparks Uproar [ABC7]