osogato

^ Mann says he is now likely to support the project! Is this news as huge as I think it is?!

Chris Wetterich at the Business Courier is awesome. "What if the I-71 MLK interchange was held to the same standards as streetcar?" http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/blog/2013/12/what-if-the-i-71mlk-interchange-was.html?page=all

From PG's Facebook page: Streetcar Update (mostly to keep folks posted on this week's timetable)... 1) KPMG intends to conclude their cost-benefit analysis/audit by tomorrow (Tuesday) night 2) Council and the Mayor will have the audit in our hands to review by late Tuesday night or Wednesday morning 3) All Public Comment will be held at Wednesday's Council meeting (starting at 1:30PM in Council Chambers) 4) At 9AM on Thursday, the Streetcar Committee will have a working session to go over any questions relating to the results of the audit, and to discuss various scenarios for the impact of cancellation versus going forward 5) Then at 2PM on Thursday there will be a Special Session of Council - which will last somewhere between 1 and 10 hours - where the determining votes will be cast I don't have a crystal ball, but I hope and feel that a sentiment is emerging that it is better to avoid the huge waste and damage that would come with cancellation. Stay tuned.

I would have liked to have been a fly on the wall during that discussion...

Sounds to me like he is trying to save face with the business community that favors completion of the project. Flynn is definitely with him, and Mann said that agrees with Cranley and he would have been in attendance, but had a prior obligation in court. I honestly don't care how this makes Cranley look. We are stuck with him for the next four years. If this "deal" helps complete the project then I am okay with it, even if it makes Cranley look like the savior. I hope that it is not just Cranley trying to make it look like he is willing to compromise, while still fully intending on torpedoing the project down the road. I think it is interesting to note that Cranley said if a deal is struck to fund the operating expenses, he will "try to compromise" to complete construction. It's going to be very difficult to gather enough support to have a plan for funding the operating expenses in the next 7 days. If Cranley is actually going to try to get the Feds to extend their deadline to Dec. 31, it still sounds like a very ambitious and difficult task. We shall see.

^ It's on twitter from City Beat and WVXU.

What's this I hear about Cranley, Flynn, and 4 Union reps holding a press conference tomorrow regarding the streetcar. Any guesses what it's about?

Signed the petition down at Park + Vine this morning.

Anyone have any idea when we might hear from the Feds on their intentions regarding the funding? Or is it more likely they will remain silent until after the audit is done? The silence is killing me...

^ Wouldn't scaling the project back that drastically jeopardize the Federal funds?

Saying what?

^ Where did you hear 3 weeks? I thought it was 14 days.

I'm not ready to give up. Should we call the FTA to beg them not to revoke the grant money until the audit comes back and council officially votes to cancel the streetcar? And who at the FTA should we call?

PG's proposal was not included. The 11 ordinances would stop construction temporarily (I believe) while the independent audit is conducted. 1 ordinance for each company involved (i.e. Duke, Time Warner, CAF, MPD, etc...)

Chris Wetterich ‏@ChrisCinciBiz: 1 thing @jdeatrick said a few minutes ago that should have caught everyone's attention: It might only be $400K more to complete than cancel

All told, the 11 ordinances contain approximately $1.25 million to "pause" construction, while they determine how much it will cost to "continue" construction. However, Deatrick says it would cost $590,000 to suspend work with MPD for one month, and he has no idea where they got their $100,000 per ordinance figure.

^ All Aboard Ohio just tweeted the same thing. Here's hoping...

^ I happily (and hopefully) stand corrected.

First ordinance to come to a vote (from @ChrisCinciBiz): 1. Suspend spending on the streetcar project. Allocate $250,000 for an independent review of the costs of continuing the project. Repeal ordinance 392-2013, which I believe is the ordinance passed by the last council requiring the administration to complete. I thought this was supposed to be about how much it would cost to cancel???

I'm hearing that all 11 ordinances have appropriations attached, meaning they go into effect immediately and cannot be overturned through referendum. Voting to begin soon...

^ You would think so... But, according to Cranley, "There are no rules. It's not that complicated."

^ The City Solicitor said today that it is not a legal issue. The Charter says that Council "may" enact rules, not "must" enact rules.

Apparently the fallout has already begun: Jason Williams tweeted: Fed $ for @CincyStreetcar flows through @cincinnatimetro, which asked FTA to be reimbursed for $1.4M spent in Oct. Feds denied request.

^ They haven't pulled anything yet, but they have frozen the funds, pending the outcome of the Council meeting. I don't know if they would pull them before the 30 days of signature gathering is up... I would hope not. If so, we're sunk.

Apparently there are no rules because the full Council has not yet met to establish them. Cranley was in today's meeting and said that "There are no rules", therefore the chair (Mann) gets to make them up.