Streetcar Publicity (and Politics)

The Idaho Statesman is reporting that Cronin & Associates has been selected by the City of Boise to conduct a publicity campaign for the city’s streetcar plan.

The campaign is budgeted at $90,000 and is expected to be approved at the City Council’s regularly scheduled meeting, according to the paper.

Interestingly, although not surprisingly, the Idaho Statesman is also quick to take a political slant with this news, noting that founder Brian Cronin is a State Representative (D), and has been involved in Democratic politics, working on campaign staffs for Mayor Bieter and Jerry Brady.

4 Replies to “Streetcar Publicity (and Politics)”

  1. this entire streetcar program is a waste of time and money. there are no valid reasons to spend $40M (minimum) on a program that is going to go nowhere fast and literally isolate downtown retailers. read sarah palin and the bridge to nowhere.

  2. We all know Mr. Cronin, and we know he’s smart enough to realize two things:

    1) His political affiliations notwithstanding, paying his firm $90,000 in taxpayer funds to promote one side of an issue that clearly does not benefit the city as a whole is a blatant misuse of public money. He should refuse the contract.

    2) The streetcar program is an incredible waste of money when compared to a more pragmatic solution such as simply increasing reliability and ridership of the existing bus system. It’s a catch-22: no one rides the bus because the routes and hours are inadequte, and Valleyride can’t modernize the bus schedule until more riders start riding. Mr. Cronin should advocate for a more sensible, citywide bus-based solution, and refuse the streetcar PR contract.

  3. I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that few, if any, Republican-led agencies wanted this account.

  4. He’ll take the contract and the money. The public has a short memory. They’ll soon forget all about this and be enraged about something else.

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