Smart Growth Summit

[Antrell Williams]

Again, you're missing the point. WHY do businesses and families choose to live in the suburbs? WHY?

There is a fundamental problem with Baton Rouge and it's got nothing to do with planning.

Of course they move to the burbs because the QOL is better. Although, that's not my point. History will repeat itself as those suburban communities will succumb to the same fate as the city has. No doubt it is safer, and gives better opportunities for students. I was one of those students. When the transportation costs soar to $4.50 a gallon, suburban growth with slow to a crawl and begin to retreat back to the city. It will soon cost more to drive to work, school, or entertainment attractions than it will to pay your mortgage, insurance, and other necessary expenses. For example, we moved to Prairieville about a decade ago. The Walmart was not there, Dutchtown High was not there, and the traffic was wonders better. Going home on Hwy 42 from Highland is a complete nightmare. The lanes on I-10 are grid locked, Highland Rd, Airline, Old Perkins Rd and Hwy 42 are as well during rush hour. All of this and the area isn't finished growing.

[dan326]

Again, you're missing the point. WHY do businesses and families choose to live in the suburbs? WHY?

There is a fundamental problem with Baton Rouge and it's got nothing to do with planning.

Because birds of a feather flock together.

[itsjustme3]

Of course they move to the burbs because the QOL is better. Although, that's not my point. History will repeat itself as those suburban communities will succumb to the same fate as the city has. No doubt it is safer, and gives better opportunities for students. I was one of those students. When the transportation costs soar to $4.50 a gallon, suburban growth with slow to a crawl and begin to retreat back to the city. It will soon cost more to drive to work, school, or entertainment attractions than it will to pay your mortgage, insurance, and other necessary expenses. For example, we moved to Prairieville about a decade ago. The Walmart was not there, Dutchtown High was not there, and the traffic was wonders better. Going home on Hwy 42 from Highland is a complete nightmare. The lanes on I-10 are grid locked, Highland Rd, Airline, Old Perkins Rd and Hwy 42 are as well during rush hour. All of this and the area isn't finished growing.

You're kind of all over the place with your response.

1) QOL should be important because it is. That's why people don't want to live in BR.

2) People have moved to the suburbs and so now it's crowded. Gotcha. So you're saying there's no more traffic or people in Baton Rouge? Right?

You're dreaming of a urban utopia for Baton Rouge. That's not going to happen, no matter how much gas goes up, until you address the cancer that's eating away at the city.

[Antrell Williams]

QOl is important, I never doubted that.

You don't get my point. As the population increases, the inadequate infrastructure cannot support the rate at which they are growing. The city could handle it much better, and as sprawl continues east and south east, it will cost more and more to travel. The city needs to take care of this cancer you mention, absolutely. But that comes with investment as well.

[Antrell Williams]

QOl is important, I never doubted that.

You don't get my point. As the population increases, the inadequate infrastructure cannot support the rate at which they are growing. The city could handle it much better, and as sprawl continues east and south east, it will cost more and more to travel. The city needs to take care of this cancer you mention, absolutely. But that comes with investment as well.

[Antrell Williams]

QOl is important, I never doubted that.

You don't get my point. As the population increases, the inadequate infrastructure cannot support the rate at which they are growing. The city could handle it much better, and as sprawl continues east and south east, it will cost more and more to travel. The city needs to take care of this cancer you mention, absolutely. But that comes with investment as well.

[steve3n8]

Planners look to make progress on community improvement plans

It could take 10 to 15 years to fully implement community improvement plans to revitalize five north Baton Rouge neighborhoods, so developers are looking to take the first small steps on some projects. Susannah Bing of the East Baton Rouge Redevelopment Authority, which crafted the plans for Scotlandville, Northdale, the Choctaw Drive corridor, Zion City and Melrose East, says the agency is working on projects such as bringing in a farmers’ market to pave the way for eventually attracting a grocery store. Planners are also looking at transforming rights of ways and green spaces along canals into bike paths and walkways so as to better link the areas in north Baton Rouge to downtown and other parts of the city. Bing made her comments last week during a session at the annual Smart Growth conference, which looked at the work that went into developing the community improvement plans. The plans came out of a year-long process that involved extensive meetings with residents in the neighborhoods, to learn what in their view are the needs of the community. These plans tie into the larger FuturEBR land-use plan, now under consideration as the land-use blueprint for the entire parish. Read this and more news in Real Estate Weekly here.

Businessreport.com

[Antrell Williams]

Scotlandville could be a nice "ethnic" neighborhood, especially since HBCU's are attracting many international and colorful students. It has an interesting feel, its just plagued with blight and crime. Similar to Mid-City.

[richyb83]

^{2012 Louisiana Smart Growth Summit, November 26 - 28}

^{Greenways: Changing the Face of Cities}

^{The Louisiana Smart Growth Summit is an annual conference held at the Shaw Center for the Arts by the Center for Planning Excellence. This year's summit will focus on the economic benefit of Smart Growth with a variety of other complementing sessions that feature elected officials, engaged citizens and local, national, and international community planning and growth experts.}

^{On Tuesday, November 27 at 3PM, Greenways: Green It and They Will Come, is a session held in the Manship Theatre that will examine the role greenways, trails, and linear parks play in our communities. Attendees will hear about catalytic projects in Texas, Louisiana, and others across the U.S that are providing alternative modes of transportation within a built community. These green infrastructure elements are changing the face of cities by promoting healthier lifestyles, spurring economic development initiatives, and creating a more sustainable environment. . DDD Executive Director Davis Rhorer will give an overview of the upcoming Downtown Greenway in Baton Rouge as well as moderate the discussion. You won't want to miss this informative, progressive session. Registration for the summit is available online at}

^{www.summit.cpex.org.}

^{Greenways: Green It and They Will Come}

^{Session Speakers include:}

^{Scott McCready: Buffalo Bayou}

^{Mark Venczel: Friends of Lafitte Corridor}

^{Kelly Pack: Rails to Trails Conservancy}

^Moderator:

^{Davis Rhorer: Downtown Development District}

^{The summit will offer self-reporting continuing education credits for planners, architects, landscape architects, engineers, and realtors. Seven CLE credit hours will be available for attorneys, including two professionalism hours}

[steve3n8]

'225': Smart Growth Summit makes the case for smarter business development

After a false start in August, thanks to Hurricane Isaac, the Smart Growth Summit is gearing up for three days of panels and discussions Monday through Wednesday on everything from greenways to redeveloping vacant land to transportation—even how to reduce crime. But the bigger message for this year's event? Smart growth is smart business. "A lot of the sessions talk about the role smart business can play in growing a community," says Phillip LaFargue, director of communications for the event's organizer, CPEX. He points to the stark revenue difference between a typical strip mall and a multistory mixed-use development. Many cities are doing away with the old model—which misuses space and pushes storefronts to the back of vast, uninviting parking lots—in favor of walkable destinations with street visibility and dense commercial and residential opportunities. Though the hurricane delayed the event, its impact on Baton Rouge's road infrastructure (as well as the citywide gridlock from an accident on Interstate 10 just the week before) will likely be up for discussion at the summit. "Transportation is always going to be one of the main topics," LaFargue says. "As miserable as it was, the 'place' that people went when that [accident] happened was that we need a loop or we need to widen the roads. That isn't going to serve people living in the city. Connectivity is the long-term solution." Get the complete story by Benjamin Leger in the current issue of 225 magazine here.

Businessreport.com

[steve3n8]

Eradicate blight, revitalize old buildings to improve the city

The revitalization of the Broadmoor Shopping Center on Florida Boulevard— and the success of its tenants, particularly its anchor, Planet Fitness—over the course of this year is a prime example of how older buildings in Baton Rouge can be resurrected into successful development projects, says Mark Goodson, vice president of the East Baton Rouge Redevelopment Authority. Goodson was joined today by Jeffrey Hebert, executive director of the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority, to talk about the project and other recent successful rehabilitation projects in the area at a 2012 Louisiana Smart Growth Summit seminar called "Redevelopment in Action." Meanwhile, the RDA and Mayor Kip Holden's office are working toward implementing a new enforcement code that is designed to eradicate blight throughout Baton Rouge. In egregious cases, Goodson says, property owners can be persuaded to sell their property to the city by creative use of code enforcement. Some of those spaces could be returned to their natural state, or so-called green spaces. But it would be necessary to find an agency or organization, rather than the city, to maintain them, Goodson says. "Government can't cut grass into perpetuity," Hebert says, noting many municipalities have trouble financially maintaining parks and spaces they already have. Goodson notes the RDA in the future will help bring mobile farmers' markets to parts of the city that have few grocery shopping options and says it's currently working with the school board to improve lighting and sidewalks around schools. "That's paramount to making communities sustainable," he says. The complete schedule of events associated with the 2012 Louisiana Smart Growth Summit, which concludes on Wednesday, is available here. —Adam Pearson

Businessreport.com

[richyb83]

A new 8-story building would be cool...could have happened a few years ago at Louisiana Technology Park...

ROI on new urban development said to far exceed that of suburban sprawl

In tax collections alone, the development of an eight-story building in Mid City or downtown Baton Rouge is as beneficial to the city-parish as a new 125-acre suburban neighborhood, says CPEX President/CEO Elizabeth "Boo" Thomas. And there's a major investment advantage a new or remodeled building has that a new subdivision doesn't: infrastructure already on site. New subdivisions require drainage, sewerage and roads. And that construction comes out of taxpayers' pockets, Thomas says. A new building "has a huge return on investment, and it benefits the entire parish," she says. That was one of the takeaway messages from the 2012 Louisiana Smart Growth Summit recently held in Baton Rouge.

 

Mitchell Silver, chief planning and economic development officer for the city of Raleigh—and a featured speaker at this year's summit—says the North Carolina city found that it takes the development of 600 homes built over 150 acres to get the same return on investment that one downtown high-rise produces, in terms of taxes generated. "We told those folks in the subdivisions [that] if you do not support downtown development—or downtown, more compact development—what you're really saying is: Raise my taxes," says Silver, adding that one downtown building in Raleigh was found to have 90-times the tax value of a single subdivision. Downtown Baton Rouge has already seen a substantial return on its investment in the new North Boulevard Town Square, as well as the remodeling of the Baton Rouge River Center, says Phillip LaFargue, CPEX communications director. He says these downtown developments and others have spurred $1.3 billion in private investment in the area, including new hotels, restaurants, housing, retail and office space

 http://www.businessreport.com/section/businessreport0113#ixzz2FNF2sh4k

[Antrell Williams]

Those types of returns are in a perfect economy, right? I mean, surely if River Place was built, and half empty, it would be a burden.

[cajun]

From a public service standpoint?

300 residences on one block will be a burden in other ways. Everything from fire protection to traffic patterns would need to be altered even if the street grid could support similar development.

In the case of something like river place in a neighborhood with no nearby commercial zones, you are essentially building a 300 home single entrance subdivision vertically. Makes more sense in a place like downtown than mid city.

I'm not saying that suburban housing is any less "painful", but this CPEX guy has a flawed argument....and considering the source he may be a bit biased.

For every single family development I've been involved with, the developer paid to install that infrastructure to the standards provided by the local government and planning body. The costs were built into the price of the homes. The burden comes when there is a lack of control or planning and the developer overburdens an existing system. That does happen, but it isn't commonplace in functional cities. Developers and local government should share that blame.

In-fill developments places new demand on infrastructure as well.....which is something the taxpayers are going to be responsible for too.

I'd like to see more residents downtown and hope river place gets built. I've outlined my concern with the level or commercial property in that district and how it couldn't possibly be supported by the lack of residential options downtown in this changing economy. On the othet hand, I'm not going to lie to you and say that such a development will be all rainbows and unicorns from the taxpayer's perspective. Hundreds of new homes means hundreds of new kitchens, hundreds of new fire hazards, hundreds of new toilets, hundreds of new cars....all that is is going to place a demand for public services that doesn't currently exist. In fact, for that block, nothing of that density has ever existed- and that is downtown. Mid city is probably even more challenging.

[richyb83]

[richyb83]

http://www.wafb.com/story/27349451/smart-growth-summit-begins-in-baton-rouge

[richyb83]

Planners say look to the past for future growth in Baton Rouge

Smart Growth Summit looks at traditional cities....Planners at the Smart Growth Summit said Tuesday that cities like Baton Rouge should continue strengthening downtown and urban areas, making life easier on residents, rather continually building new roads and extending utility services further away from the city core.

 

http://theadvocate.com/news/13875529-123/planners-say-look-to-the

[greg225]

Leaders say better transportation options can connect communities, people to jobs              

The head of the U.S. Department of Transportation said that urban planners and engineers have a chance to build transit systems that create opportunities for more people.

 

“We have an opportunity to make this generation of American transportation planning the most restorative in our history,” Anthony Foxx, secretary of the federal transportation department said Wednesday during his closing keynote address to the Louisiana Smart Growth Summit. The 10th annual summit was held Tuesday and Wednesday at the Shaw Center for the Arts in downtown Baton Rouge.

Foxx said there have been problems with highways, airports and rail lines “carving up neighborhoods” and leaving a bitter taste in the mouth of residents. “Instead of a lifeline, transportation became a wall,” he said.

The new thinking is building transportation networks that bring opportunities for jobs and a better life to people, instead of cutting them off. One technical assistance program launched by the agency is LadderSTEP, which seeks to connect people to jobs, build transportation infrastructure and revitalize distressed neighborhoods.

In April, Baton Rouge was one of seven cities selected by the Federal Transit Authority to participate in LadderSTEP and get technical assistance for developing a streetcar line connecting LSU and downtown. The first meeting with federal officials was held Wednesday.

Michael Townes, a rail and transit market sector leader for HNTB, a Virginia-based engineering firm working on several projects in Baton Rouge, said officials with the FTA see the LSU to downtown streetcar line as a “showcase project.”

“This could be a national template for implementing a streetcar line and the economic development benefits in a medium-sized community,” Townes said.

Chris Leinberger, a professor at George Washington University and president of LOCUS, a coalition of developers who advocate for walkable communities, said the proposed streetcar could be done relatively cheaply and would lead to an “explosion of growth” on the two blocks on either side of the line. The cost of a 7.38-mile streetcar line running from the State Capitol to Tiger Stadium has been pegged at about $100 million.

Much of the discussion during the summit dealt with the change toward creating walkable communities, something that has lagged in Baton Rouge, where development is still largely dominated by unconnected subdivisions of single-family homes.

Leinberger said LSU could be a catalyst in changing the Baton Rouge landscape.

“LSU has a lot of land and millennials want to live in high-density walking spaces,” he said. “There’s no reason that your university couldn’t build an academic village with housing for faculty, staff and students.” The University of California, Irvine, which is located in an area with high housing prices did a similar program, partnering with a nonprofit agency to build affordable units for students and faculty, Leinberger said.

Another public transportation project discussed at the summit was the passenger rail line linking Baton Rouge and New Orleans.

Knox Ross, secretary-treasurer of the Southern Rail Commission, an agency set up to promote rail service, said the cities that are succeeding and growing have made tremendous commitments to rail. That includes places across the political spectrum from Austin, Texas, to Salt Lake City, Utah.

“These are amenities young people want,” Ross said.

Efforts to bring passenger rail to the region are gaining momentum. Both state Rep. John Bel Edwards and U.S. Sen. David Vitter, the two candidates for governor, have said they would support a rail line connecting Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Ross said there’s a study about extending Amtrak service from New Orleans to Orlando, Florida, and talk about creating a line along the Interstate 20 corridor linking Dallas-Fort Worth with Meridian, Mississippi.

“So many of our cities are losing air service, they’re at a competitive disadvantage,” Ross said. Rail service allows communities to tie themselves to a larger metro area like New Orleans, Dallas or Orlando.

John Spain, executive vice president of the Baton Rouge Area Foundation, said a play book has been developed to help Edwards or Vitter establish rail service between Baton Rouge and New Orleans during their first term as governor.

“We have an opportunity,” he said.    http://theadvocate.com/news/13890160-148/leaders-say-better-transportation-options

[greg225]

"1" streetcar going from LSU to Downtown will not fix the transit issues in Baton Rouge they should have listen to what the head of the U.S. Department of Transportation said. Thinking about the train from Baton Rouge to New Orleans if our transit system sucks how would a rail system be any good?

[greg225]

‘Daily Report’ Week in Review: Smart Growth Summit brings big ideas, Baton Rouge Metro Airport unveils plan to stop ‘leakage’ of travelers and much more       

Planners, engineers, architects and business leaders from across the region and state descended on Baton Rouge this week for the 10th Annual Louisiana Smart Growth Summit where speakers talked, among other things, about green space being the key to getting and retaining people in cities; a five-step plan to bring the long-proposed passenger rail line between Baton Rouge and New Orleans to fruition; and the benefits of building green.

Ron Sims, former executive of King County, Washington, and former deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, started the two-day event Tuesday morning with a passionate speech about smart growth strategies being the key to solving ills across the country.

Then four architects, researchers and housing managers from New Orleans extolled the virtue of building green because the country is experiencing a generational shift in which millennials are eschewing vehicles in favoring of walking and biking everywhere.

On Wednesday, about 70 people listened as Baton Rouge Area Foundation Executive Vice President John Spain moderated discussion with representatives from the Southern Rail Commission and Louisiana Super Region Rail Authority on the passenger rail line between the state’s two largest cities. The consensus is that the ball is now in the court for Louisiana’s next governor to make the idea happen.

“We have given a playbook to the next governor to put the rail line into service during his first term in office,” said Kristin Gisleson Palmer, chair of the Louisiana Super Region Rail Authority, “and we believe it’s possible.”

Also this week, the Baton Rouge Metro Airport unveiled a plan to grow the airport and bring more direct flights to Baton Rouge. A major finding in the report is that 63% of Baton Rouge-based travelers use airports outside of the Capital City.

“The bad news is we have leakage,” says consultant John Snow, whose firm, Emergent Method, prepared the strategic plan. “The good news is we have leakage because that’s where our potential market is.”

That news came out the same day as some not-so-good news for airports in the area. Baton Rouge business officials had helped their counterparts in New Orleans work to secure nonstop British Airways travel from London’s Heathrow Airport and Louis Armstrong International Airport, but the bid came up short. The new route would have helped the entire region, not just New Orleans, but leaders say this is merely a setback and not a crippling blow.

“We were disappointed because we would have liked to have had that flight as early as 2016,” says GNO Inc. President Michael Hecht. “But we are still very much in the running for a future flight, and we continue to be in regular contact with BA.”

In other news, since Uber entered the Baton Rouge market 15 months ago, DWI arrests have decreased nearly 18% in the city of Baton Rouge, according to Metro Councilman Ryan Heck, who gathered the data from the Baton Rouge Police Department.

Here’s a rundown of some of the top stories making headlines in Daily Report this week:

• The Metro Council will hold a public hearing and vote Tuesday whether to follow other cities like New Orleans and New York and remove the box on city-parish job applications that asks about an applicant’s criminal history.

• Downtown will get its first Starbucks in 2017, when the Courtyard Marriott opens at the corner of Third and Florida streets. The hotel’s developers confirm that a Starbucks will anchor the hotel’s 1,425-square-foot ground-floor retail space, which will have an outdoor seating area and access from both streets.

• Capital Area Transit System Board President Donna Collins-Lewis says she is “very disappointed” with a lawsuit filed against the agency Tuesday by Secretary of State Tom Schedler, who is trying to force CATS to move its downtown hub away from outside the Old State Capitol on North Boulevard because of safety concerns and added congestion.

• Boosted by a 15.4% surge in sales during September, home sales in the eight-parish region tracked by the Greater Baton Rouge Association of Realtors are up 9% through the first nine months of this year, compared to the same period last year.

• The Santa Fe Cattle Co. has closed its Coursey Boulevard restaurant just one year after opening. The restaurant, which was located at 11575 Coursey Blvd. in the space previously occupied by Walk-Ons, opened in late October 2014.

• The infrastructure, drainage and parking areas are nearly completed for the new Crawfish Aquatics complex on Siegen Lane and construction on the two indoor pools could begin around Jan. 1, says Mark Ripple, brother of Crawfish Aquatics owner Steven Ripple.     https://www.businessreport.com/article/daily-report-week-review-smart-growth-summit-brings-big-ideas-baton-rouge-metro-airport-unveils-plan-stop-leakage-travelers-much

[Antrell Williams]

"1" streetcar going from LSU to Downtown will not fix the transit issues in Baton Rouge they should have listen to what the head of the U.S. Department of Transportation said. Thinking about the train from Baton Rouge to New Orleans if our transit system sucks how would a rail system be any good?

New Orleans doesn't have to worry about that, so it's fine on one half of the line. Baton Rouge would have to quadruple the budget. 

[greg225]

New Orleans doesn't have to worry about that, so it's fine on one half of the line. Baton Rouge would have to quadruple the budget. 

I was only talking about Baton Rouge how they think one streetcar will solve all our transit problems that will only go from LSU to Downtown. Shouldn't have to quadruple the budget CATS is getting taxes from the people of Baton Rouge and Baker that money need to be used for upgrades. Train will come to Baton Rouge without sidewalks on main roads and without reliable transit system. Train ain't going to happen no time soon, but we keep talking about the train, but not focus on the upgrades needed.

[Antrell Williams]

I was only talking about Baton Rouge how they think one streetcar will solve all our transit problems that will only go from LSU to Downtown. Shouldn't have to quadruple the budget CATS is getting taxes from the people of Baton Rouge and Baker that money need to be used for upgrades. Train will come to Baton Rouge without sidewalks on main roads and without reliable transit system. Train ain't going to happen no time soon, but we keep talking about the train, but not focus on the upgrades needed.

They need to divert a few hundred million from the tax breaks some of these companies receive. 

CATS spends about 24m this year (http://www.brcats.com/sites/default/files/CATS - Budget 2015 Final.pdf) while RTA spends about 91m if I read that correctly (http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/01/the_new_orleans_rta_presents_a.html). The UTA in Utah is a regional system that provides service to the entire Wasatch Front, at around 2.1m people; that's nearly the same exact population for NOLA/BR/Northshore. In 2015 they will spend a whopping $347m in the region. In contrast, CATS and RTA will spend $115m, a difference of $232m. I wouldn't expect much from a budget that small for CATS. 

I don't think anyone here suggests that one light-rail will fix everything, it's a start as far as inner-city rail goes. People unfamiliar with rail and urbanity might suggest something like that but we know better. Do I think we need more sidewalks, a completed grid, more bike lanes, a culture that's used to other modes of transit, etc? Yes! Do I think it should come at the expense of rail infrastructure? Absolutely not. 

[greg225]

They need to divert a few hundred million from the tax breaks some of these companies receive. 

CATS spends about 24m this year (http://www.brcats.com/sites/default/files/CATS - Budget 2015 Final.pdf) while RTA spends about 91m if I read that correctly (http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/01/the_new_orleans_rta_presents_a.html). The UTA in Utah is a regional system that provides service to the entire Wasatch Front, at around 2.1m people; that's nearly the same exact population for NOLA/BR/Northshore. In 2015 they will spend a whopping $347m in the region. In contrast, CATS and RTA will spend $115m, a difference of $232m. I wouldn't expect much from a budget that small for CATS. 

I don't think anyone here suggests that one light-rail will fix everything, it's a start as far as inner-city rail goes. People unfamiliar with rail and urbanity might suggest something like that but we know better. Do I think we need more sidewalks, a completed grid, more bike lanes, a culture that's used to other modes of transit, etc? Yes! Do I think it should come at the expense of rail infrastructure? Absolutely not. 

One the bad thing is the streetcar is not being done by CATS Baton Rouge and Federal government is paying for it. CATS tax was about making the system better and to making the improvements that was need, but they chose to give their CEO a pay raise with the money after only one year on the job. They done no improvement to the system so far that make the service better for the customers. Plus its different grant CATS could have applied for from the state and federal government that would have allow them to add light rail and new buses.  I was saying update infrastructure so it benefit the train whenever it is approve to happen.

 

[greg225]

They need to divert a few hundred million from the tax breaks some of these companies receive. 

CATS spends about 24m this year (http://www.brcats.com/sites/default/files/CATS - Budget 2015 Final.pdf) while RTA spends about 91m if I read that correctly (http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/01/the_new_orleans_rta_presents_a.html). The UTA in Utah is a regional system that provides service to the entire Wasatch Front, at around 2.1m people; that's nearly the same exact population for NOLA/BR/Northshore. In 2015 they will spend a whopping $347m in the region. In contrast, CATS and RTA will spend $115m, a difference of $232m. I wouldn't expect much from a budget that small for CATS. 

I don't think anyone here suggests that one light-rail will fix everything, it's a start as far as inner-city rail goes. People unfamiliar with rail and urbanity might suggest something like that but we know better. Do I think we need more sidewalks, a completed grid, more bike lanes, a culture that's used to other modes of transit, etc? Yes! Do I think it should come at the expense of rail infrastructure? Absolutely not. 

Most of Wasatch Front population sit in Salt Lake City that's difference and Utah invest in transit in their state Louisiana don't.