D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray on Thursday established a Streetcar Financing and Governance Task Force to develop recommendations for funding and oversight for the District’s emerging streetcar system.
The 14-member panel will be chaired by City Administrator Allen Lew and will include six members of the public who have expertise in transportation systems, public-private developments, or project financing.
The task force is expected to provide detailed cost estimates for each portion of the system, estimate annual operation and maintenance costs, identify potential funding, propose construction timelines and recommend guidelines for an independent agency.
| Task force members |
| Chair: Allen Lew, city administrator |
| Vice Chair: Jair Lynch, President and CEO of JAIR LYNCH Development Partners |
| Public members: |
| Richard Bradley, executive director of the Downtown Business Improvement District |
| Charles “Sandy” Wilkes, chairman of The Wilkes Company |
| Matthew Klein, president of Akridge |
| Robert Puentes, senior fellow with the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program |
| Ginger Laytham, senior executive officer to the president, CEO and chairman of Clyde’s Restaurant Group |
| Officials: |
| Terry Bellamy, director of DDOT |
| Victor Hoskins, Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development |
| Harriet Tregoning, Director of the Office of Planning |
| Natwar Gandhi, D.C. Chief Financial Officer |
| Eric Goulet, director of the Mayor’s Office of Budget and Finance |
| Brian Hanlon, director of the Department of General Services |
| Nicholas Majett, director of the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs |
“The District has the most ambitious streetcar plan in the nation,” Gray said. “We are the only city talking about putting down 37 miles of tracks.”
The task force is slated to wrap up by the end of 2013.
