The most divisive municipal issue of 2012? Easy: the proposed two-mile downtown streetcar. In August, downtown residents voted in favor of a special taxing district to pay for the line that Mayor Sly James had been pushing hard to get. Naysayers were abundant, calling it another downtown gimmick. Jase Wilson, founder of crowd-sourcing website Neighbor.ly, sidestepped the debate. His idea was simple: Let streetcar supporters pony up for the train. Sort of a Kickstarter for civic causes. Wilson's Crossroads-based company began collecting donations and offered (with the city's permission) spaces to contributors for personal messages on the outside of the cars. Ultimately, the idea proved impractical. Fifty people kicked in a total of $3,775 of the ballsy $10 million goal. Neighbor.ly declared the campaign a success. Even if we disagree with that assessment, Wilson's creativity in seeing a business opportunity and potential solution to a hole in the city's budget is admirable.
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