Miami-Dade officials take a trip to Denver, learn about public transportation

Brian Bandell at the South Florida Business Journal has this interesting news about a trip to Denver by the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce. What stands out is this quote by Mitchell Bierman, the chair of that chamber’s transportation committee:

“We are ripe for these kinds of improvements but in the last few years we haven’t gotten them off the ground,” Bierman said. “We are at a point where our traffic problems will have a negative impact on our ability to grow and attract new business and talent to our community because people don’t feel like the can thrive in a community where you have to have a car, and where a trip between home and work can take 90 minutes to two hours."

The article states that Denver used the model of public-private partnerships with "private developers" to create transit-oriented development (TOD) in that city.

That got me thinking. There's been discussion in Lake Worth of ways to link Palm Beach State College (in suburban Lake Worth), with the Tri-Rail Station, our City's downtown, and the Casino complex/municipal pool. Discussion focuses on what the City can do and most everyone knows Lake Worth is strapped for money right now. Thinking out of the box here: a public/private partnership to operate a trolley system in the City? If you recall this year's Street Painting Festival the shuttles that ran from the college and the Tri-Rail station were highly popular and very effective.