Amtrak in Elk Grove? Strike while the iron is hot

Recession and new Obama administration presents an opportunity for Elk Grove City Council, Chamber of Commerce to lobby for funds

The old saying about every cloud having a sliver lining might be true.

While Elk Grove suffers through a double whammy of being hard-hit by foreclosures and the recession, therein lies opportunity.

With the election of Barrack Obama, the credit crunch and the recession we as a nation have been laboring under for the last year, there has been a lot of talk of stimulus packages. A good portion of the talk has focused on infrastructure.

One thing the Elk Grove City Council might consider doing is revisiting plans for an Amtrak station. While there has been talk of building a station for a few years now, money has been the biggest obstacle. The city council might even seek to work with the SACOG or the Saramento Railyard development people and, gasp, take a mutually beneficial regional approach to this opportunity.

Building an Amtrak station in Elk Grove would be a great shot in the arm for the city on many different levels. Aside from being a great convenience and service for residents, it would be a great recruiting tool for the city council and chamber of commerce to attract employers with meaningful jobs to the city.

If President-elect Obama and the Congress do as they promise to address the recession with a giant infrastructure plan, now is the time for our city council to put together a strategy to get some of these funds.

It won't be easy considering everybody who will go to their congress person or senator hat in hand and success is far from certain, but if there was ever a time to get money from the feds, now is the time.