If you walk on Congress Street in downtown Tucson near the historic Hotel Congress, you can see tracks being installed in every direction: far down Toole Avenue, up and down numbered avenues, eventually running to the University of Arizona. The following article sheds light on mass transit's rise and fall in Tucson and other American cities.

For a planned route, visit the following website:

http://dot.tucsonaz.gov/hottopics/pdfs/StreetcarBrochure.pdf
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We are truly headed forward, full-speed, to the past. As you can see from the accompanying photo, back in this Arizona Historical Society photo circa 1901, workmen were laying tracks for Tucson's trolley cars on Congress Street. Donovan Durband, of Downtown Tucson Partnership, writes: "This shot looks east from the middle of Congress, from in front of where Enoteca is today . . . The onion-domed building was called the Ivancovich Building, and it was located in the middle of the block between Stone and Scott, by where the Old Pueblo Garage is today."


(Courtesy of the Arizona Historical Society/Tucson)

We are passing Peak Oil, and as rising fuel prices threaten to radically alter the lifestyle to which we are accustomed, mass transit is the wave of the future. But as a study of available information makes abundantly clear, it was also the wave of the past-until intense lobbying of our government succeeded in destroying much of the trolley/streetcar systems already in place, in order to make way for planned streets, highways, and individually-driven motorized vehicles.



An article in the online encyclopedia, "Wikipedia," states:

Electric streetcars began operating in Tucson on June 1, 1906 and replaced the horse and mule drawn cars as a mark of Tucson's "modernity." The event drew quite a crowd including the mayor, L.H. Manning and C.K Durbin, owner of the new line. The Tucson Citizen ran an article "Electric Cars Running in Old Pueblo" in their Friday June 1, 1906 edition.

It reported that two new electric cars left the corner of Stone Avenue and Congress Street at 2:00 P.M. for the University Of Arizona filled with dignitaries and invited guests while an orchestra played a few tunes at the corner. The return trip was to Elysian Grove via Seventeenth where Emanu[e]l Drachman provided seats and refreshments for the banquet that followed. One car wore the banner "The Goods Are Delivered L. H. M.," demonstrating that Mayor Manning had come through on his campaign platform to "promote and establish an electric streetcar system." Hence, Tucson was brought up to date into the electric era.

The streetcars were replaced by buses on December 31, 1930. Revival of the line began as the dream of Ruth Cross, director for the University of Arizona's Centennial Celebration in 1983, to see the historic streetcars returned to the Old Pueblo for the University's centennial. The dedication of a core of enthusiasts made that dream a reality, with the grand opening of today's Old Pueblo Trolley on April 13, 1993."



A historical analysis by former U of A adjunct professor Mary Beth Callie, from October, 2003 in The Tucson Citizen, exposes the intentional destruction of mass transit in America:

"This substitution of buses for streetcars can also be explained by a less known story. Although commonly referred to as the "child" of Tucson Gas, Electric Light and Power Company, TRT [Tucson Rapid Transit Company] was controlled by Cities Service Company of New York (now Citgo). Throughout the 1920s, this holding company acquired countless oil fields and filling stations, and become one of the most consolidated American corporations. . . .

What happened in Tucson foreshadowed a subsequent national pattern. In the 1930s to 1950s, General Motors, along with leading oil and tire companies, bought out and dismantled successful streetcar systems throughout the country, and lobbied for National Highway legislation (see www.newday.com/guides/takenforarideSG.html). [Access Tucson (Channel 74/ Cox and Comcast) aired the film documentary, "Taken for a Ride," which chronicles this story, shortly after Ms. Callie's article was published.]

[In Phoenix, p]ublic policy favored private automobile and other motor vehicles and led to destruction of electric rail mass transit systems in Tucson, Phoenix, and other American cities.

This history reminds us that our automobile-centered culture is not the inevitable result of a natural evolutionary process. Tucson Rapid Transit, Cities Service, and GM depended on public investment. It was government intervention that allowed automobiles to flourish at the expense of other transportation modes."

In the late 1970's, President Jimmy Carter warned of the dire consequences of our dependence on foreign oil. And now, despite the scoffing of some, every scientific study on global warming confirms mankind's profound influence in hastening climate change.

There is no better time to support the development of mass transit to bring Tucson into the 21st century and up to speed!



Justin Cohen
Peach Properties HM, Inc.
justin@peachprops.com
520.791.2008 (cell)
520.798.3331 (office)