PG letter, no street car folly from Bob O'C, please

Letters to the editor: 3/6/05 Mr. O'Connor, give us practical ideas, not streetcar folly

I don't think Pittsburgh mayoral candidate Bob O'Connor's plan to run streetcars from Downtown to Oakland is such a good idea ("O'Connor Gets Behind Streetcar Idea," March 1). I can see it now -- buses getting stuck behind streetcars and streetcars getting stuck behind buses.

What is the benefit? All that for $11 million per mile paid partly by funding pitched in by the businesses in Uptown and the Hill?

I too believe Pittsburgh needs some new ideas and a new vision for its future, but I also believe in being realistic and practical. We've seen in the last 12 years where ideas lacking those two qualities get us -- almost bankrupt with our Downtown falling apart.

If his streetcar idea is an example of the type of economic development Bob O'Connor hopes to bring to Pittsburgh as mayor, my eyeballs are going to get dizzy from spinning around for four years. Pittsburgh, please don't let my eyeballs get dizzy -- I'll need them to hopefully see Pittsburgh go from being a good place to live to become a great place to live.

JOHN RIEGERT, Lawrenceville