hohum

^ Agreed The political angle is interesting, but for that political angle to succeed we really need to see a new progressive administration. Amtrak is good at some things, but their budget has been less than adequate lately. Further, the current administration has been less than supportive. I am hopeful, but this will still require some serious advocacy.

I guess it would be "canyon" like, but the sightlines down calhoun aren't that great to begin with. I don' t think more 5 - 10 stories on the other side would really bother me... In fact, it may help to "frame" the area as a place all its own.

From citykin blog: Public transportation use is up 32% since 1995, a figure that is more than double the growth rate of the population (15%) and up substantially over the growth rate for the vehicle miles traveled (VMT) on US highways (24%) for that same period. Light rail (modern streetcars, trolleys, and heritage trolleys) had the highest percentage of ridership increase among all modes, with a 6.1% increase in 2007. Light rail systems showed double digit increases in the following areas: New Orleans (128.6%); Denver (66.2 %); Saint Louis (27.0%); Philadelphia (26.2%); Kenosha (18.5 %); the state of New Jersey (14.7%); and Memphis (11.3%). Not sure where he got the info from since the link at the top doesn't work, but thats impressive growth.

^ Agreed. Financing is the biggest hurdle, then the water flows downhill.

JC Currently, there is a proposed funding plan. The finance committee has yet to approve that plan. After finance committee approval, the finance plan will go to the full council, where it would also need to be approved. After the full council approval, there is still much more to happen before building begins. The current plan calls for a large chunk of money from private sources (individuals, businesses, etc). That money will need to be worked out before we build. But, to begin getting that money in place, the council needs to approve the finance plan, indicating the city's commitment to build. The private dollars won't come until the city is committed. The last bit is building (which will come with its own hurdles, with many more things to approve). In short, there are many many many more steps, but getting financing approved is the next big hurdle, and maybe the biggest hurdle.

Yeah, sad to see it go, but its a damn fine location. I will be interested to see who, if anyone, buys it up once the demo is done.

I think you may actually be overly optimistic for on the amount of time needed to do the work. But who knows, with enough dollars behind the effort, anything can happen. Personally, I think we need a new president before we can even talk about the expenditure on large scale rail that would be required to actually build all of the links. I'd love to see this happen. Then when I fly out of Columbus or Dayton because they are universally cheaper than CVG with Delta monopoly, I can just ride the rail up to Columbus or Dayton instead of driving.

Got a link to that? Nevermind - here is the link to that post from John - http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/gov/2008/03/council-to-talk-streetcars-gambling.asp#comments Its basically the speech he made at council on Monday.

I would vote him in as well, even though he did give me a B for not being agressive enough ;) *bitter about second lowest grade in law school*

Heh, yup...

Lets hope she runs against Mallory next election, then we can shoehorn Brad into her spot :), then she loses against Mallory, and that little mistake is done with!

True, so long as she is running against someone who can make this point. Mallory is one who could, but if its post Mallory's next term (fingers crossed), that opportunity goes away.

I don't think her mayoral (or other higher office) hopes are dashed if the streetcar does happen. Its just as easy for her to say to her constituents "I was just trying to be prudent, I was for the line all along, but only if we did our due diligence" Its much easier politically to be an opposer and then justify after the fact if what you oppose turns out to be a success.

I tend to agree. I think it is an important statement -- noone can deny that uptown is part of the plan.

Does anyone else find this statement as utterly ridiculous as I do? Premise - Qualls wants to insure the streetcar goes uptown Requirement for Streetcar to go Uptown - A full study of how it could be done Requirement for study - funding Result - evidence council wants the line to go uptown But Qualls voted against the motion, thereby refusing to present tangible evidence that council wants the line to go uptown. Conclusion - premise is flawed That is riduculous, to the extreme. That is exactly what the latest funding for the uptown study does.

^ (oops, Jimmy James got in before me) True, but if the fiction that you need it to do business (even when your products are by the far the best) continues, why not leverage that into the private dollars required to build the streetcar line... Its fairly rare that an ad actually influences me directly to buy something (saving of course Apple ads), but whatever, you can continue to make your sales pitch so long as it offloads some financial burden from me :) I tune it out automatically at this stage.

So who is making these? I need one :)

Personally, I can't write off the advertising angle as a way to develop the private funds needed to build the cars. As much as I would rather not see such giant moving billboards, its one thing companies can invest in easily. Its a no brainer compared to some other forms of advertising. Easy money.

Honestly, tax wise, such naming deals can be a good deal for large corporations. Spending on good will, and strenghtening branding, talk about a mechanism to further ingrain local brands in the public eye! And this is why we need City Council to move forward with financing so that we can start looking into these types of deals. With the concentration of fortune 500 companies, we should be able to get some of these deals, but even these things take time to negotiate. Its a marathon indeed.

I do believe the main council vote on the funding for the uptown study will be today.

Good article Brad, definitely on point :)

Certainly worth thought... But to me, one of the things that has to be on the table for private partnership dollars (a big part of the funding) is something akin to naming rights, or at least have it available as a possible carrot. I like "Findlay Market Streetcar" better than the "Pampers Express", but if P&G wants to cough up 30 mil to call it the Pampers Express, have at it ;) Just my two cents anyhow :)

Thanks Councilman, That was my general impression of the referendum issue, it seemed thoroughly out of place. The movement on getting the funding for studying the Uptown link is certainly good evidence that things are moving forward and hopefully is sufficient to prove to the detractors insisting on uptown immediately that progress is being made. What I fear is that the vote on that motion illustrates that the real concern (of at least a few detractors on council) is not really that the uptown was guaranteed. If that was truly Councilwoman Qualls intention, I would have thought she would have been onboard for that funding motion. Anyhow, it will prove to be interesting and you can count on plenty of support as needed. Thanks for all of your hard work on this. It takes vision to get things started, and some serious intestinal fortitude to keep pressing in the face of the naysayers -- both of which you have more than demonstrated on this issue.

Even if can't be binding (a nonbinding advisory referendum), it puts supporters in a tough place because it would be hard for council to not wait for the "will of the people." To my view, the referendum is the "Hail Mary" of the stall and delay crowd. Frankly, to my eyes, there is enough support on council to push the streetcar through, but this flies in the face of the mayor's desire to have unanimous council decisions... Anyhow, interesting times ahead. In short, "the good fight" continues, and progress is being made slowly but surely.

Worst case is that either council committee approves the referendum (I see that as fairly unlikely), or enough signatures are gathered to put it on the ballot. In that case, the politicking really starts. I'll gladly go knock on doors if that is what it takes. Edit - I think the committee the motion will eventually end up in is the "Rules and Government Operations Committee" At Monday's meeting Berding did say that he was opposed to sending the motion to the administration since his committee is the committee that hears such matters (he felt it should be sent directly to his committee). The only committee that Berding chairs is the "Rules and Government Operations Committee". The other members of that committee are Chris Bortz, and Laketa Cole. I think that should answer how that committee will likely vote on the issue.