Shoemaker's behind-the-scenes campaign for a downtown trolley

At City Council's next meeting on Tuesday, May 21, Ward 3 Coun. Matthew Shoemaker will ask for a downtown trolley similar to those used in Mackinaw City and other North American cities.

"To go from attraction to attraction.... It's basically a bus that's made to look like an old trolley," he says.

Shoemaker is City Council's most prolific author of resolutions, moving or seconding 170 of them so far in his 4-1/2 years in municipal politics.

Most of Shoe's resolutions simply ask city staff to study one or another of his ideas, reporting back to council.

This time, he's acting differently.

This time, Shoemaker's employing old-fashioned political shoe leather, quietly visiting local boards and tourism and cultural organizations to seek support for his trolley scheme.

On Wednesday afternoon, the second-term councillor convinced the city's historic sites board to give him a letter of support.

Wednesday night, he gained the same favour from the Downtown Association.

The idea is not a new one.

The Sault had a tram service for four decades, but it ended a quarter-century ago when the old streetcar barn on Huron Street caught fire.

The city studied reviving the trolley in 2003.

Since then, the idea has been discussed at length at Tourism Sault Ste. Marie and numerous other organizations, but so far it hasn't happened.

Shoemaker's vision involves a trolley carrying people from the west end of downtown – the canal and Machine Shop – to the east end – the Algonquin, the Old Stone House and the Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre.

There would be seven or eight stops along the way, including the Art Gallery of Algoma and the Sault Ste. Marie Museum.

"It would be ideal for when cruise ships come in," he told members of this historic sites board Wednesday afternoon.

Who's paying for this?

Shoemaker points out that the Sault now has a new mandatory four per cent accommodation tax.

"That will give us additional revenue, which can benefit tourism, or if not, they [City Council] could make some other recommendation," he says.