Editorials : Trolley Plan on Track But Timing May Be Off

The proposal for the San Diego Unified Port District to finance up to $10 million of a San Diego Trolley line to pass by the new convention center and accompanying hotels has real merit if the timing proves to be right.

The Metropolitan Transit Development Board has suggested that the port pay about half of the $20 million cost of running the line from 13th and Commercial streets (where it would connect with the southern trolley route) to Broadway and Harbor Drive.

Port commissioners last week agreed to finance a study of the proposal, and there seems to be some enthusiasm for it.

The idea for the planned route is an excellent one. It would help workers living in the South Bay get to the jobs that will be created by the convention center and hotels; it would make the convention center accessible by public transportation from downtown hotels such as the Westgate and U.S. Grant, and it would help tourists move easily about the downtown area.

This is not a case of looking at the port’s $100-million surplus and thinking of it as the good fairy to be tapped for any worthwhile public project. The proposed route runs almost entirely on port-owned land, and the trolley would directly benefit port tenants.

The only real question is whether the port, which is about to spend $125 million to build the convention center, will have the money to finance the trolley in the near future without jeopardizing other projects in the works.

South Bay port commissioners, who constitute a four-member majority on the commission, went along with the convention center proposal with the clear understanding that projects in their areas would then rise to the top of the agenda. They are not likely--nor should they be asked--to delay plans for such projects as the widening and deepening of Sweetwater Channel in Chula Vista or the development of a 20-acre park in Coronado in favor of the trolley.

With this in mind, it may not be possible for the Port District to help finance the trolley in the immediate future. If it can’t, it should agree to do so as soon as it reasonably can.