Tetra Constantino talks LRT in St. Paul

I am in full agreement with Mr. Constantino and his comments about the transportation issues he discusses. I have lived in other major cities- New York City and San Francisco. The transportation here is atrocious. Mr. Constantino talks about the lack of connections. I have talked about this with people and compared it to other cities and their transportation systems. My own personal issue that he discusses is the utter lack of ability to connect with other buses for another leg of your trip. I take the 67- which has been butchered over the last few years, and the 16. On the way home from work- I leave at 6 p.m.- I walk from Concordia and Chatsworth to University and Chatsworth. I can catch the 16, but barely can ever make the connection to the 67 at University and Fairview. This means a 12 block walk to get home- and it is brutally cold. To compare this with a car- when I get a ride to or from work, it takes 13 minutes. Tonight, I got the 6:33, got to Univ and Fairview at around 7:00 pm, walked home and was in the door at 7:25. The idea of the train down University does not seem to meet the needs of what people need for local transportation. The discussion of the lack of stops between Dale and Lexington reinforces how out of touch this system would be for people depending on this system to get to their own neighborhood without either walking a tremendous amount or trying to find a nonexistent transfer bus. In the last ten years, as bus lines have been cut back and curtailed, I wonder how this is planned. I truly think that someone who does the planning has no idea what it is like to walk 8- 10 blocks when a bus is cut back, or the Saturday route is gone, or you wait more than 20 minutes for the next bus to come when it is 10 below zero. Like most transit systems, I am trying to figure out like Mr. Constantino, who this is being planned for. Thank you for letting me post this.

I googled Elsa's House of Sleep because I was planning on going there this weekend to buy a mattress. Now Mr. Constantino can count me as a customer lost because of his ill-defended opposition to light rail on University Ave. In this interview I did not hear him give one single reason why LRT should not be implemented on University, or how it would negatively affect his business. I only heard him bashing the existing bus system, with nothing but general statements and no facts to back himself up. The Twin Cities needs a better transit system, and LRT on University is a step in that direction. Not only is it better for our environment and our community, but I believe that the increase in foot traffic along University will benefit small businesses in the corridor as well. Great job on reporting this story Lisa!

I presume that Elsa's House of Sleep and other businesses along University Av will have more lost customers - not because of their views on light rail, as Anonymous wrote above - but because of Light Rail itself. Tetra knows that Light Rail will take away all the parking along the Avenue, and make it difficult for patrons to cross the street. As a bus rider who resides near the University Av bus routes, I can attest that bus options remain unexplored, such as real-time gps of busses on to the cell phones of those waiting. Rail seems to be another waste of the tax-payers' money.

I am disappointed at the nature of your comment. Only because you disagree to the comment of Mr. Constantino, you decide to use this forum to announce your intent to boycott his business. Well, in fact, if you have would have visited the store, you would know, as most saint paul residents do, that Elsa's House of Sleep provides the best services, great furniture and excellent prices. With that in mind, I would say that it would be a lost of your behalf. Who am I you may ask...I am a frequent customer of Elsa's House of Sleep who is disabled. Parking on the main street is dangerous and not accessible. So, what will happen to individuals like myself who cannot walk blocks to this location. For future reference, I would suggest you consider your intentions before presenting such trash to the public. To the rest of you, if you have never been to Elsa's House of Sleep and are in the market for some good ole' customer service...give it a try. They will not let you walk away disappointed. Signed, Customer for life