Would you agree to a property tax assessment to bring a streetcar to your neighborhood?

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Originally uploaded by jdong

(Flickr photo of the South Lake Union Streetcar in Seattle by jdong.)

From "Some getting serious about adding streetcars" in the Seattle Times:

Ted Choi Lam, a property owner near South Jackson Street and senior adviser to the Seattle Chinese Chamber of Commerce, said he thinks there is neighborhood interest in using property taxes to fund a streetcar. He hopes to see a streetcar circling through his neighborhood and Capitol Hill. "It just takes time to educate, orient and figure out what the costs are," he said.
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In the Brookland Small Area Planning process, I kept suggesting that development of the McMillan Reservoir and on the campus of the Armed Forces Retirement Home should trigger developer contributions to the creation of a streetcar network along North Capitol, with service also to the Washington Hospital Center, connecting to the Brookland Metro Station and perhaps to the Georgia Avenue/Petworth Station as well.

Now, I can see developers paying, but I don't know about special assessments on residential properties. (This has been suggested in Baltimore too, with regard to proposals for a streetcar line on Charles Street.)