hohum

I set up my mountain/hybrid frames with road tires, singlespeed, etc. I like the mountain frames a bit better than most of my street frames because I have had a few street frames get seriously torqued in spills... That said, if I had to ride on wide knobbys all the time, a streetbike would be my immediate choice, except, for the notable lack of curb hopping ability of really skinny road tires.

I've had a few in about 50,000 total miles since I've been tracking my miles (started tracking about 8 years ago). Unfortunately, one was 48 miles from the nearest town, with no spare tube. edit - I just checked my bike log, and indeed, I've had 2 flat tires in slightly more than 50,000 miles.

^ The only thing I disagree with is the fenders... I don't find them to be essential. Riding in the rain or wet, you will get wet, period. Keeping road splatter off your clothes? Well, I find I need to wear rain pants anyhow to be dry enough at work, so why lug the extra weight?

I'll be going to Decal Impressions tomorrow to pick up the streetcar bumper stickers. I can ask him about pricing then if you would like...

^ I think you will start to see buy in from the hotels once its up and running (they already send folks around town via recommendations now, but you can bet they aren't recommending OTR right now. With the streetcar, I think this could change.

IMO, here is the best urban bike money can buy right now <a href="http://bicycleworldandfitness.com/itemdetails.cfm?catalogId=39&ID=2563">Felt Racing - X CIty</a>. This is way out of the $200 price range, but its worth every dime. Keep in mind, I may be biased here due to Cincinnati's hills, but the really nice advantage of this bike is the rear internal gear hub. What does this mean? NO DERRAILEURS. One of my biggest pains running my bike as a daily commuter was the fact that about every 100 - 200 miles I had to spend an hour or two messing around with the derraileurs getting out of adjustment. This is less of an issue with higher quality components, but still, not cool. Also, really cranking uphill with a bike with derlrs. it was far to easy to get gear skip, and this totally kills your uphill momentum. The X-City solves all those problems. I do not own one now (I ride a Specialized mountain bike converted to single speed), but my good friend has this bike, and we trade off from time to time. Were I buying new today, this is what I would get.

I can go "mostly" car free here, with the one caveat being sometimes its just too much of a PITA to go completely car free. The taxi service here is worthless (and it would be so easy to improve, but alas, *sigh*). And its not the trips to Kenwood (which I only do when I absolutely have to hit the mac store for a piece of hardware to complete a project or something) but the trips to work when the weather is less than accomodating, or late at night. Like I said above, I could take the bus, and at most times of the day, there is relatively frequent service, but honestly, I can bike here much faster than the bus, and I can almost walk it back faster than the bus (I often get from 4th and Vine to the bottom of Clifton before a bus passes me). A streetcar to Uptown would completely change that picture for me. I can count on the frequency of service with minimum wait times, and even later in the evening, depending on what schedule they run for the Uptown connection, it would likely be very much more convenient.

Neglecting the innacuracies in virtually every detractors comments, the Enquirer has published a fairly balanced summary of the opionions expressed in their online comments section. Of note, the header to the comments was talking about the debate between John (of course, they mispelled John's last name) and Chris. You can find it <a href="http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080428/EDIT01/804280313/1090">here</a> (I would cut and paste due to the Enq's outdated linking policy, but frankly, I didn't see fit to repost all of the detractors factually false commentary here)

Also, for many, the hills of Cincinnati serve as a natural "barrier to entry" into the truly walkable urban lifestyle, in the neighborhood to neighborhood sense. Its a bit easier to walk from Downtown to the University area up in Columbus. I do the Uptown/Downtown walk fairly frequently (to work and back), but its no small hike for many folks from my house up near UC (Near where Ravine dead ends onto Straight) down to say CBD (3 miles, 250 ft change in elevation on my usual route). A streetcar system can easily help to bridge that walking gap, especially because of its "choice" status as compared to buses. It would be within the "choice urban lifestyle" of many more if they could, for example, go from UC to Findlay on the Streetcar. Are there bus routes that go this route, many. Its just not the most convenient form of transportation at times.

You can add UC Law to that list as well... its really sad!

Don't worry, it will fix lots of potholes, because we have such big problems with potholes!

Pessimist! ;)

^ I really hate that. Every time I try to comment on Enquirer blogs with links to pictures of modern streetcars, guess what, my comment gets moderated to the trash bin. *sigh*

Manatee statues, heh, Jacksonville ;) My grandparents used to take us down there, I remember em well. I would not at all be opposed to a giant pig water fountain, it would be unique!

doh, i'm an idiot (see below)

That logo was the best... Sucks that rumors and inuendo killed it. I love my coasters with that logo!

May 8 is a pretty tight deadline for those applications. I'd certainly be willing to work with someone to put together an application for the streetcar project if there is buy in from the adminstration (the letter we'd want to support the project almost certainly would be from the mayor)... Seems doable to put together a proposal, but it would need to get started quickly. (Also, it seems a focus of that progam is brownfield development, and this line surely doesn't qualify, but EPA assistance on environmental planning/assessment woud be a big plus) edit - come on brad, you know you wanna put off studying for finals with me to write this ;) On a serious note, I am curious if the adminstration is aware of this program...

On a slightly related note, sounds like everyone had a grand time at the City Cellars celebration. I should have just come given the fact that I got home to do my work, but then later in the evening my neighbor's house caught on fire/closed the street/killed the power/forced the evacuation of my house.... SO, that work didn't happen anyhow. It would have been more fun enjoying some wine with everyone! edit - although, now that I think about it, it is a bit weird that I have been somewhat involved in both of the Enquirers top stories today...

Yes, the construction is contingent on several things, the funds being the really big question right now. The city manager will begin working to secure those funds as soon as he can, and it will take some effort but it is imminently possible. Everyone is still working towards an ambitious 2011 construction completion date.

Yeah, talk about a rollercoaster. I should have just come to the party, I couldn't get back into my house for 4 hours so all that schoolwork I was going home to do? Well yeah, not so much. Today is going to suck.

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080423/NEWS01/304230115 Wow, that was scary. House next to mine burnt down, had to help a neighbor off the roof of her burning house. Luckily, another of my neighbors had a tall enough ladder since the one I threw over the fence to try to get her down wasn't tall enough. Still haven't been able to assess the damage (if any) to my house... All I can see is smoke damage, but damn, the fire dept was here in force. And yeah, her dog did die in the fire, but three others escaped safely. Those dogs were so scared... Kept in my yard for a bit, but I don't think I've ever seen more freaked out dogs = wet and sooty. UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS – Neighbors helped save a homeowner trapped on her roof after her house caught fire Wednesday night. The two-alarm fire broke out just before 10 p.m. in the 600 block of Straight Street. Flames were seen coming from the windows. Paul Wallpe, who lives next door, didn’t notice the fire until his wife alerted him. Those outside also saw the fire and spotted the homeowner, Deborah Brown, on the roof...

^ Yup, thats the one. I had their Pancetta, Lettuce and Tomato sandwich on prohibition resistance weekend, and it was pretty sweet.

OK, there you'll need to qualify a bit. Cincinnati has the "famous" chili of course, but thats not really a "gourmet" thing (but, it is cheap) Skyline (my personal fav) for two, under $12 (for takeout). There's a sky line downtown. As far as what I consider fairly representative of the Cincinnati restaurant scene, a great choice would be Lavomatic in OTR. Its at 12th and Vine. Its a Jean Robert restaurant, a chef who is rapidly redefining quality downtown. I've done a nice meal (the sandwich of the day (don't let the simple name fool you), and a beer for $13). Its really quite nice. Other options - Cincinnati has some fairly decent BBQ if you are willing to explore a bit (but it also will depend on what day of the week) If you really want to do the "cheap" but quality route, if you happen to be in town on the weekend, Findlay Market is a great stop for all kinds of food. Theres a really good little sandwich shop as you walk in from the parking lot area (sorry, forget the name now)

Just to be sure everyone is on the same page, there is still *a lot* of political work to be done. This is just step one. Getting 60+ million in private funding is going to be no small feat. Getting uptown buy in isn't going to be easy given that this is just a connector (hard sell to tall to the hospitals for support when the connector alone will likely end a little more than a mile from their facilities) Its time to celebrate getting this far, but IMO we have yet to crest the hill. That said, I'm having a beer and steeling myself for round 2!

Third vote unanimous as well. All passed overall... It is on to the next phase.