When you run a story, please make sure you have your facts correct FIRST.

Your comment:

"Republican governors in Florida, Ohio and Wisconsin earlier in the year sent back to the Department of Transportation seed money for light-rail projects that required state taxpayer participation".

Response:

These were not light-rail urban projects which run at low speed with lots of stops in short distances. All three states' governors rejected long distance HIGH SPEED RAIL funding to link major cities. The proposed San Antonio streetcar is for local service only. The Florida project would have been the incubator for Intercity rail service with the overwhelming funding coming from the U.S.D.O.T. By the way, Texas received some of the money that was turned back from Wisconsin, Ohio and Florida so that the engineering and environmental work could be done on 150 mile per hour Core Express passenger rail service between Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston. We're a bit smarter here.

Your comment:

"The state of Texas made little effort to seek out stimulus funding for light-rail research, concerned that state taxpayers would bear the burden of operational costs when federal funding went away."

Response:

The city of Dallas has received federal funding, coupled with other sources, for a starter streetcar line to link Union Station in Dallas (a big transit interchange) with the Oak Cliff area to rejuvenate an urban area and link with a major hospital. The McKinney Avenue trolley, which has been operating in Dallas for years, after exhausting studies, applied for and received funding to extend the line into downtown Dallas. Future operational funding will come from fares and a sales tax already dedicated for mass transit.

You can continue to spend funds to lay more concrete and asphalt and drive people further out in the country to drive on congested roads back into the cities, or you can do something to help reverse urban blight and allow citizens to return to urban areas to live and play by offering amenities such as a good transportation network of buses and, yes, rail service.

How about getting your facts correct before publishing them? Austin's CapMetroRail line is 32 miles in length, around twice the 16.5 miles you wrote. And the costs were around $120 Million, ten times less than the $1.3 Billion you wrote. Did you check CapMetro's website for some basic facts? An educated, professional reporter would have.