Portland has them. So does Charlotte. But in the nation's capital, streetcar overhead wires are under fire from historic preservationists.
You're probably familiar with Washington D.C.'s ban on tall buildings. Did you know there's an overhead wire ban too? It's now colliding with efforts to return streetcars to the district.
"We happen to think that's what keeps the beautiful character of the monumental core looking as it does," Gene Keller, an urban planner with the Capital Planning Commission, tells the Washington Post.
But top D.C. officials say that aesthetic regulation is getting in the way of the new generation of mass transit. They're ready to repeal the overhead wire ban.
FULL STORY: D.C. streetcar project may get hung up on overhead wires
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