Light Rail is for the 2002 Olympics To the Editor Normally when I look at the Horizon I head for the To The Editor section first I always get a kick out of the complete lack of facts and narrow-minded narrow attitudes blowing blowing blowing blow blow- ing off steam This time wasn't the first nor Im I'm sure will it be the last that the Editor showed her narrow-minded narrow attitude and total disregard for the facts Im I'm referring to the piece in the August 1st issue of the Horizon by Dena Gatherum concerning UTA's Light Rail Project The first thing Id I'd like to point out is there has never been an election n to vote on whether or not wed we'd have light rail in the valley the election was to vote on taxes to fund light rail and yes that was voted down Unfortunately most people didn't bother to find out the facts about light rail before deciding that it was new and different so therefore obviously bad Typical for Utah The other side of this coin is that in light of the fast growth of the area and the newly awarded Olympics the federal government intends to fund approximately 80 percent of the light rail project The other essential thing Id I'd like to point out is that without light rail the 2002 Olympics arent aren't viable for this valley If you really want to bag the light rail system youve you've got to forfeit the Olympics Ive I've been in this valley for seven years and traffic has literally almost doubled in that time The freeways cant can't handle it even with the new plans now in the works by the year 2002 we are going to need some alternatives to buses The average commuter on the new light rail system will be able to togo togo togo go from downtown to South in approximately 45 30 minutes and the average speed is not 18 miles per hour but 45 mph Light Rail is not a glorified trolley trolley trolley ley but an actual train Try driving that stretch on Friday evening about currently it takes about 60 30 minutes providing theres there's no wrecks but most people know it can also take closer to 90 minutes In another five years with the growth the Salt Lake valley is experiencing experiencing experiencing that same trip is going to average average average aver aver- age 90 minutes Besides with all the wining and bitching about light rail no one has come up with any altema- altema tives I agree most people in Salt Lake dont don't want light rail I didn't when I first heard of it But I took the time to find out about it before I 1 started spouting off and I also took the time timeto to get the facts which is something I strongly recommend your editorial staff try before they write editorials you'd be amazed at how well it improves your papers paper's credibility Pant Pam Computer Science Major