<\/a>One of the challenges that progressives frequently face is that they like to be sticklers for facts, at least wherever possible. And since a basic tenet of progressive beliefs is that many societal problems can best be solved through pro-active engagement by the federal government, it becomes frustrating when then federal government does not acquit itself well.<\/p>\n In our local community of St. Louis, Missouri, there seem to be three public works projects with considerable federal funding that seem to involve potentially unwise expenditures of those federal bucks. These local projects are often where citizens get to meet the federal government \u201cup close and personal,\u201d so when they are lemons, it can definitely color the confidence that citizens have in the feds to address large-scale problems. Most public works programs start off in the \u201caggravation lane\u201d because they often cause disruption and inconvenience well before the first presumed benefit of the work ever appears.<\/p>\n Example 1 — Delmar Trolley<\/strong><\/p>\n A $51 million project (behind schedule) in St. Louis is the Loop Trolley running 2.2 miles from the University City Loop near Washington University to the Missouri History Museum. With a transportation project, a good initial question is \u201cdoes anyone travel from Point \u2018A\u2019 to Point \u2018B?\u2019 In the case of the U. City trolley, the answer is that people do indeed convene at either end of the route, but rarely do they traverse the exact route. There will be intermediate stops along the route, but none will be high capacity venues. The trolley is the brainchild of University City entrepreneur Joe Edwards who has committed most of his life to make the area in which he grew up into both a livable and exciting place to live.<\/p>\n A trolley is quaint, clever, and unique. Running along a major corridor, it can be very helpful to a region\u2019s transportation needs, particularly if it has an exclusive right-of-way. But with the U. City trolley, it is designed to go down existing roadway, streets that coincidentally used to be home to streetcars. The tracks were pulled up fifty years ago because the streetcars and automobiles could not conveniently co-exist. At this point, there is no reason to believe that the new trolley will have some new magical feature that will allow automobiles to comfortably move, especially since this route has always been nothing but stop and go.<\/p>\n Over the course of the two years of construction, once vital businesses have bitten the dust because construction made it difficult for consumers to get to entry points. The bottom line seems to be that this idea may have been considered an asset to gentrification of an area that was struggling to rebound, but collateral damage has already been significant and it\u2019s unlikely that when completed it will come close to meeting its intended goal. This will not look good for either the local governments or the federal government.<\/p>\n Example 2 — Kiener Plaza<\/strong><\/p>\n A second project is revamping downtown\u2019s Kiener Plaza. The $19 million project is designed<\/a> to \u201cbetter connect to downtown\u2019s urban fabric, be flexible for events year-round, and offer new urban park amenities.\u201d The problem is that the current plaza does exactly that. The photos below show how it was effectively used in 2011 in the Occupy St. Louis movement.<\/p>\n