By Siraj Asfahani | September 16, 2014
Scott was the keynote speaker at the annual State of Downtown Kenosha this week, where he told the audience of more than 100 people that the city had a unique asset to build on: its streetcar infrastructure. The event was reported in the Kenosha News under the headline “Boosters bullish about state of downtown Kenosha” — and we couldn’t agree more.
As reported in the article, Lakota developed the Kenosha Downtown Strategic Development Plan in 2012 for the Kenosha Area Business Alliance and the City of Kenosha. The Plan calls for an expanded streetcar network to help turn the streetcar system from a tourist attraction into a legitimate transit option, and to connect the Kenosha Medical Center, adjacent residential neighborhoods and commercial uses together. It is an exciting opportunity, and one that other cities, trying to create streetcar systems from scratch, certainly envy.
But the streetcar has another important purpose. As Scott pointed out, “the streetcar is part of the brand and marketing” of Kenosha, which are themselves key elements of the Plan. When transit is this effective and this good-looking, we think that makes perfect sense.