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Re: Ex-San Jose LRVs at Sac depot--and Diridon's trolley
Author: Carol L. Voss
Date: 05-24-2012 - 10:46
DCMcGill Wrote:
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> Back in the 80's when Rod Diridon sold the public
> this 19 mile system the original price tag was a
> mere $382 million. Shortly after ground breaking,
> it went to $482 million and soon, and last I
> heard, was into $800 millionish range. It didn't
> connect with the SJ Depot, so they constructed the
> Tamien Station. And yes, they forgot to route it
> through SJC while opting to route it down the
> sidewalks of downtown San Jose and 1st Street.
>
> And now Diridon has his name permanently
> emblazoned on the SJ Depot.
One of the more memorable and costly issues that arose was when the SP (most notably Mad Dog Ongerth) discovered that Mr. D planned to run his trolley cars at grade over the SP tracks on North First St. Say what?? 'scuse me, Mr. D but you ain't gonna do that!! And so an underpass was dug which upped the ante and delayed the completion. OF course the reason for the slow cruising through downtown San Jose was so the merchants----what merchants??---would have customers. About the only customers these days are the people from the city and county offices in north San Jose who ride the trolleys to have lunch in downtown. Very sad. As a native San Josean who used to walk down First street from Notre Dame high to Santa Clara to catch the bus, the street was lined with local businesses in which to shop. THe shopping malls decimated them and what was left was ruined when they tore the place up to put the light rail lines in. Sigh.
C.
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> Back in the 80's when Rod Diridon sold the public
> this 19 mile system the original price tag was a
> mere $382 million. Shortly after ground breaking,
> it went to $482 million and soon, and last I
> heard, was into $800 millionish range. It didn't
> connect with the SJ Depot, so they constructed the
> Tamien Station. And yes, they forgot to route it
> through SJC while opting to route it down the
> sidewalks of downtown San Jose and 1st Street.
>
> And now Diridon has his name permanently
> emblazoned on the SJ Depot.
One of the more memorable and costly issues that arose was when the SP (most notably Mad Dog Ongerth) discovered that Mr. D planned to run his trolley cars at grade over the SP tracks on North First St. Say what?? 'scuse me, Mr. D but you ain't gonna do that!! And so an underpass was dug which upped the ante and delayed the completion. OF course the reason for the slow cruising through downtown San Jose was so the merchants----what merchants??---would have customers. About the only customers these days are the people from the city and county offices in north San Jose who ride the trolleys to have lunch in downtown. Very sad. As a native San Josean who used to walk down First street from Notre Dame high to Santa Clara to catch the bus, the street was lined with local businesses in which to shop. THe shopping malls decimated them and what was left was ruined when they tore the place up to put the light rail lines in. Sigh.
C.
