In city after city where light rail has been installed, neighborhood integrity has been preserved while urban livability has increased. They fear light rail will spur increased development in these corridors. Some Wooten and Crestview neighborhood residents not only share these concerns, but are fearful of what impact light rail trains might have on sound levels, on cross-street traffic, and in other ways. Many of these issues were addressed by 'San Antonio Express-News' columnist Mike Greenberg. But, he argues, density doesn't have to mean highrises and crowded streets.
Neighborhoods grow denser because folks want to live there.
But that also doesn't have to mean trampling on the well-being of current neighborhood residents, says Greenberg. The best evidence that LRT bolsters neighborhoods, rather than threatens them, is the example of existing LRT systems. In cities like Sacramento, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Portland, and Boston, LRT lines run right through neighborhoods and past people's homes. Portland, Oregon is cited as the most livable city in the US, partly for its MAX LRT system, whose ridership has skyrocketed to over 62,000 a day. Along the route, existing neighborhoods have been preserved and reinforced, while new development has clustered at some stations and run- down areas have been revitalized.