JC

This Facebook post from Mike McConnell was brought to my attention: "Hey Likers, the weekend is here and for my Cinci friends, Gary Burbank's in town and we're going to rip this place up tonight. I'll tell him you said "hi". Now, speaking of Cincinnati and ripping things up I want to address a Cinci argument that started long before I left town and that's the "Streetcar" project. You just elected a new mayor who says he plans to rip up the tracks that have already been laid in the name of "progress" or "moving forward". He actually said that. And people actually voted for him. Here's my point. The purpose of the project is to create "transit based development" and it WORKS. I don't know why this is - but an awful lot of people will ride a train of whatever kind who would never ride a bus. I don't know why, but it's TRUE. I can look at my own habits. If I go to New York, I ride the subway. Never a bus. In D.C. I go Metro. Never a bus. traveling abroad - Train. Never Bus. I've lived in Chicago three - plus years and have taken the "L" hundreds of times and have never seen the inside of a CTA bus and if you look at your own habits, 90% of you are probably like me as much as you might hate to admit it. Younger people are becoming less and less likely to drive. You want them to move in. You want them to pay taxes. You want them to spend money. You want them to start businesses. You want them to revitalize rundown parts of the city. The numbers have been run then double checked by UC and they show a return of 15 to 1 on investing in the rails. What happened? Massive braincramp? I grew up in the town of Media Pa. (nice place. - google it) The streetcar runs right down the middle of the main street and it is an economic engine. The worry there now is that transit cuts could cut the line and they're not happy. Replace it with a bus and people won't ride it. Again, I don't know why but it's certainly true. Maybe I'll go ask a shrink. Man - that was a lot of typing. Mike"

I disagree with the sticker idea. I think it's probably a little tacky and the majority of people I feel would not get excited about it. For one, it's probably slightly more expensive than a printed receipt with an expiration time. Also, once in a city, I've always known about the streetcar without having seen someone with a sticker. I'm not sure that it really needs to be advertised by riders? I appreciate the brainstorming though. Whenever I've used transit in other cities I've normally used unlimited passes (day/week/month) or bought a book of a certain number of trips. For that reason, I don't have a ton of experience with single trip tickets. With Cincinnati not connecting to a great network that a ton of people are going to use, needing to collect fare for specifically the streetcar becomes a bit more important but tricky none-the-less. Has Portland's fare-less square always been that way or did they try to charge at first?

"The other $14.9 million for 3C preliminary engineering is under a grant agreement with ODOT and cannot simply be taken away.” So is this study definitely going to be completed or can we assume that Kasich will shut this down before we can see favorable results from it? When is the estimated completion date for the study?

Now that they have chosen Vine, that would leave opportunity for a future East/West line that could potentially go up Gilbert and connect to Queensgate...after the initial line proves successful, of course.

How/when is the capital budget set? Is that an annual occurence?

Can we get the casino investors to finance extending the subway tunnel? :-P

5/3 Arena is a tricky situation and I'm interested to see what they'll finally come up with as a solution. From what I remember, Mike Thomas has said he isn't too keen on building an arena off-campus, or at least not very far. That said, there really isn't any room to put a separate arena (BK and the football team won the corner spot for their practice fields by performing)? US Bank could be used while a new arena is under construction and if the team is decent again they wouldn't have too much trouble selling out US Bank - it's only 1 or 2,000 more seats than 5/3rd, right? I might be in favor of a larger arena that stands out over all of our smaller ones in the area but another losing team. Casinos- is there a certain demographic that casinos appeal to the most? I personally don't know a lot of younger people that gamble much and wonder where the trend is going. I personally barely gamble (b/c I lose all of my money?) and the few casinos I've been to in the last couple years seem to be full of the older crowd (emotionless at the slot machines). Just a thought.

How does the size of the proposed BC casino compare to the expanded Hollywood Casino?

Fun project!

I was in Vancouver, BC a couple of weekends ago but just before their skytrain line from the airport to the city center opened. Ended up taking the 40 or so minute bus ride and all of the buses were packed to and from the airport. That line is going to be incredibly popular when it opens soon. I just so happened to be in Seattle for the opening of their light rail line. I only rode it for a stop or two just to check it out but there were a lot of people riding. It was also fareless for the weekend with fares beginning today. Plenty of people were out there for the MLS Seattle Sounders FC playing English Premier League Chelsea. Pretty sure they set an attendance record for an MLS game as they sold out Qwest Field. The Bite of Seattle (like the Taste of Cincinnati) was also going on at Seattle Center where the Space Needle is. Had a good view of the terrible auto traffic trying to get in town for the event. I'm sure all of those people wished the northern extension of the line was finished too. They also have an old-timey monorail from the city center to the space needle which many were riding for a couple dollars. Couple miles in length with no stops. Cincinnati could certainly benefit!

If I remember correctly, cities like Vienna and Prague run old style streetcars on the same track as modern streetcars. If I had a choice I would definitely choose the modern streetcar but I would always take the first one that came anyway. Obvious differences are the smoother rides, more space, and ease of entry/exit in a modern streetcar. The older ones always had steep stairs to climb up, narrow aisles to stand and walk in, and an obtrusive seating style (forwarding facing seating two across rather than most of the seats with their backs up against the walls).

Curious...From the word "Go", how long could we say it typically takes to rehab one of the many vacant buildings in OTR? So when funding is secured and the streetcar is a go, could we assume that much of the lots along the route would be finished before the loop is even complete?

The only people the LA Fitness will attract are non UC faculty/students. From what I remember the rec is pretty expensive for the public and I think the fee while on co-op was getting to be a little high. But even so I doubt there is enough demand.

Not sure if it's been mentioned...The Segway store is now open at the Corner of Central Parkway and Vine in the Gateway Condos building Directly across the street from Park + Vine. Go check it out!

The Last Word What's a streetcar that runs in downtown and uptown going to do for me? http://www.cinweekly.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090310/COL03/903110314/1068/ENT0104 For starters, it will help to convey a new image of our city. Downtown has already come a long way from the stereotypes most Cincinnatians cling to, and the streetcar can complete the process. Crime is already way down (the central business district has the lowest stats in the city), and new establishments and activities abound around Fountain Square and the Gateway Quarter, where we have prudently invested in a revamp. The streetcar can bring that type of revitalization to the entire downtown basin. It will give professionals who will be increasingly taking jobs on Pill Hill an option to live near where they work, removing commuting from many a hectic life. It will give people the option of living a vibrant and multicultural urban lifestyle that many individuals leave the city to seek. The streetcar will spur development in an area that has enormous potential. It will help to save the largest collection of Italianate architecture in the country. There are a very large number of vacant and underutilized buildings in Over-the-Rhine that can be rehabbed to provide nice housing for folks of all economic strata. This gives us the opportunity to invest the money we currently have stuffed in mattresses or low-rate CDs. The streetcar will lessen the need for parking on and near the route, making investing in higher-density housing more feasible. It can remove the need for people to own a car at all. Residents of Cincinnati can choose to live in an environment that does not require an automobile. Everything one needs is already in downtown and uptown - except convenient, well-thought-out public transportation. We can save thousands of dollars a year by not having the expense of an auto. It will give the entire city a new reason to be proud of where we live. Not only will we have an excellent symphony, opera, modern dramatic venues, arts institutes, examples of modern and classic architecture, standard and unique shopping establishments and everything else downtown and uptown have to offer, we'll also have a way to conveniently connect all those locations. We can boast of how we spend entire weekends without ever starting a petroleum-spewing automobile. We will be at the leading edge of the growing movement to re-populate our cities for environmental reasons as well as social ones. Living in more dense population centers decreases the overall amount of energy it takes to run our daily lives. We'll travel shorter distances because the things we need will be near at hand. We'll be able to brag about knowing our neighbors and how we know so many people on our streets, unlike the typical suburban neighborhood. It will increase the tax base of the city, making more funds available to upgrade our hundred-year-old sewers, parks, streets and other infrastructure. In conclusion, the streetcar project will help make our city a better place for everyone in it. Chris Wiedeman is the owner of UtiliKris, LLC, a kilt wearing downtown resident and booster.