Egan: Looks like LRT actually works. But did $2B buy a nickel of excitement?

By Kelly Egan, Ottawa Citizen, April 16, 2018

The first LRT train travelled through the downtown tunnel on the weekend, right to the edge of Tunney’s Pasture.

One would have thought, $2 billion and five-plus years later, this would be cause for celebration. Where was the magnum of champagne being rapturously smashed on the bow (the bumper?) of the train — the ribbon-cutting by Watson-Naqvi-Chiarelli-McKenna Inc., the appearance of the town crier and Dave Smith?

Instead, we had a tweet from the mayor on a Saturday afternoon. Then — hang on — some retweets!

This was a lost opportunity, in other words. But this has been the story with the whole building of the LRT. There has, I think, been a failure to engage the public in pride-building in the biggest project the city has ever undertaken. Mass humility, dearest Ottawa, is overrated.

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/the-lrt-actually-works-but-did-2b-buy-a-nickel-of-excitement

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