I’ll listen to your economic and performance-related arguments, but not to your emotional arguments.  Your write, "The rail would mortally disfigure our city and ruin our waterfront." I don't agree - I like the look of elevated rail, I think it looks sleek and modern, and would improve the look of the landscape. ”The overhead noise of trains passing in each direction would be really annoying." Based on what experience? I lived in Vancouver, where they have a similar system, and it was virtually silent - I loved taking it, and was not annoying to hear it pass by at all. Stick to hashing numbers, but leave your imaginative predictions out of it, if you want to stop broadcasting your bias.