Buchanan writes, "At the last council meeting, when the vote to hire HDR came up, it got delayed until April 6th. This latest in a string of delays has caused strong frustration within the city, within the business and development communities, and within the citizens who are eager for progress on the streetcar project. It now appears to us that this delay is due to a variety of forces attempting to kill the project before the study is even underway.
There appears to be an effort underway now to stop the study from happening, and to raid the NCTCOG grant money and turn it over to at-grade improvements for the infamous Tower 55 project. Put another way, various influential bodies and council members would like to take the streetcar study money and instead turn it over to helping BNSF and Union Pacific, the two railroad companies impacted by the Tower 55 situation."
