Re: EDA

John - Thanks for the info about Economic Development Adminsitration, and congratulations on your grant from them.
I'm involved in a project called Petaluma Trolley, a non-profit modeled after Western Railway Museum at Rio Vista. Our project would create a trolley museum by rebuilding some three miles of the old Petaluma & Santa Rosa interurban line in Petaluma, CA.
It's a capital intensive project, requiring resurfacing street trackage, reconstructing a 500 foot trestle on the tidal Petaluma River, four road crossings that need electronic signals, replacing two miles of track torn up by P&SR, installing a truss bridge in a flood control area, and building electric overhead. Plus the cars, modeled on P&SR interurbans. We've rebuilt one, PSR No.8.
We hope to secure TEA-21 federal Transportation Dept.grants for transportation projects. It is comforting that EDA provides grants for projects that are also receiving other federal funds. The warehouse district on the south end of our line may qualify for economic assistance such as EDA looks for. We have developed close ties with the City of Petaluma for our project and will be discussing with them the possibility of applying for an EDA grant.
Thanks for the idea.
Allen