PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
On Tuesday, October 21, 2014, the Fullerton City Council will hear a presentation from Thomas A. Rubin, regarding the feasibility of Fullerton’s College Connector urban circulator plan, also known as Fullerton’s proposed trolley/ streetcar system.
Thomas A. Rubin has more than four decades of transit industry experience, including as chief financial officer of the Southern California Rapid Transit District and has served over 100 transit operators of all types and sizes as a consultant and auditory, and has extensive experience in the kind of expenses involved in bringing a fixed rail streetcar/ trolley system online, including expenses not initially considered when conducting feasibility studies.
Mr. Rubin’s presentation is intended as a supplement to the College Connector Study report which was presented to the Fullerton City Council in advance of the February 18, 2014 meeting. This report recommended the installation of a fixed rail streetcar/ trolley system from Cal State Fullerton to the Fullerton Transportation Center at Pomona and Santa Fe Avenue in Downtown Fullerton. Per the City Council presentation on February 18, the cost of this system was estimated at $140 million. Mr. Rubin has identified several factual errors and other incomplete information from this initial report.
Based on the recommendation of the report, the City Council on February 18, 2014 voted 3-1 (Ayes: Chaffee, Fitzgerald, Flory, No: Whitaker) to include this proposed streetcar/ trolley system as an unconstrained project and to conduct additional planning and environmental studies. Pursuant to this vote, the City Council later approved a total of $3.5 million in funding for the Environmental Impact Report.
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