Battle of the Boondoggles!

Sometime next month, there will be a private workshop on the CenterLine, the controversial $1 billion light-rail project that shrinks every year like a grape in the sun. You can bet at some point during the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) Board of Trustees meeting, CenterLine supporters such as Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle, Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido and Buena Park City Councilman Art Brown will invoke the name Hiawatha—as in the Hiawatha Line, the recently completed light-rail system serving the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area.

Much like the CenterLine, the Hiawatha Line was also mired in controversy until the appearance of Art Leahy, the current OCTA CEO who occupied a similar position in Minnesota as head of Metro Transit from 1997 to late 2000. Minnesota political observers credit Leahy for pushing the Hiawatha Line toward construction, and many OCTA board members have insisted for years that Leahy will do the same for CenterLine. Since Orange County and the Twin Cities share much in common, goes the argument, it's inevitable we'll also need light rail.

This argument is what logicians call a piece of shit. So before CenterLine backers begin drawing further parallels between Hiawatha and our proposed trolley, they should review this tale of the tracks.

To launch a pdf file comparing the Twin Cities' Hiawatha Line to OC's Centerline, click the small table below.