jacksparrow82

I'll be there! We won't be letting a little rain slow us down. My wife and I and a big group of friends/family will be heading to the parade first, then drinking some homebrew'd bock at our place, then heading over to Bockfest hall for the festivities. Can't wait to get off work!

Yeah, no offense, but I don't think forcing people to wear a sticker is a very practical idea. They just need to have transit workers who periodically walk through the car and check peoples passes for validity. The passes should have the time and expiration date stamped on them anyway right? WHen you pay for a fare at a streetcar stop is it possible to have the machine generate a receipt with that information on it? Regardless, there will be people who are going to try cheating the system no matter what you do.

During the Issue 9 campaign I was personally stopped by Chris Finney in Northside and asked to sign the "streetcar petition." Of course, he got quite a mouthful from me after that, but I didn't know it was illegal for him to do so. I will be keeping my eyes peeled from this point on.

Just a reminder that everyone should be sending emails or letters of support of this project as COA T is telling their people to do on a weekly basis. I just saw this "action alert" today: http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?llr=eoxgoicab&v=001yqHNAgdI3XjCGSVG3QXREddGU_GIY7LJOf8Wg2pbaBaEQKlkrbWsjkvKT0yc_tYtvLrRcJHt7G_vAAhJwVEpYfcjP1HhfqCDcNyUopvX8GLtAY4VE6Zu-w%3D%3D Send a letter of support to the same addresses that they list in the above link! I just sent one today and it takes about 3 minutes to do. Remember to put something like "Support the Cincinnati Streetcar" in the subject line!

That's the way we need to think at this point. Basically this issue is going to come down to who wants it more. It's going to come down to just a few dozen votes. We can do this, but we need to start aggressively campaigning and going door to door very soon (as soon as we get confirmation that it's definitely in the ballot) I can't wait to rub this in their faces when they lose again!!!!

I shouldn't be surprised by this, but I kind of can't help it. I mean, who would of thought they'd be desperate enough to try this again? GOD! I am so SICK of these morons! Well, what can we do to stop them from running OUR city?!

Anyone heard anything new about a ground breaking date? What's the hold up at this point? Are they just waiting for Duke Energy to give their official estimate on relocation costs?

I totally understand everyone's frustration with the delay in getting this project started. I'm also getting very tired of defending this project and I'm getting a little nervous giving COAST and NAACP any extra time to try something sneaky. HOWEVER, we beat them once and we can beat them again. If they want to try to waste everyone's time and money in an effort to stop a fully funded project I say bring it on! We'll rally up support and crush their efforts again. This project is worth fighting for and we all need to be ready to go to war with the morons if we have to.

Thanks for posting, that is an awesome scene to see!

What could CFP be doing at this point to prevent the enquirer and coast from going around slandering the project? I mean, the city is ready to break ground anytime now right? I'm just trying think of things we could be doing to keep this project rolling, but I can't think of anything other than pressuring the city to start construction already! Anyone else have any ideas?

Today, the enquirer had a small article mentioning that the work on Washington Park is scheduled to begin soon. At the bottom of the article they for some reason added this: "Enquirer Publisher and President Margaret Buchanan is a 3CDC board member." I'm assuming that 3CDC is supportive of the streetcar project correct? If so, why would the Enquirer's president, who is obviously in support of 3CDC's mission, allow them to publish so many negative, anti-streetcar stories?

Is this issue with Duke the reason why we haven't heard a groundbreaking date yet?

From the biz journal today... Does anyone think this PAC will have any ability to do anything at this point? Should we be nervous? http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/blog/2010/11/new-pac-seeks-to-defeat-cincinnati.html

Make that 3 anti-streetcar articles online today! Unbelievable! http://cincinnati.com/blogs/letters/2010/11/18/disappointed-in-berdings-support-of-streetcar/

The enquirer has really gotten out of control with its reporting on the streetcar lately. I mean they REALLY HATE this project. They are doing everything they can to get everyone as pissed off about it as possible. Can't something be done about this?

Has anyone else been following all the articles the enquirer has been posting lately about this whole ridiculous $5,000 spent on the streetcar display "issue?" Ghiz and Winburn are actually wasting their time (and taxpayer dollars in the form of their salary) throwing fits about it. The comment section is the worst I've seen it in a long time.

Well, it looks like the Enquirer finally decided to report on the Streetcar display.... http://cincinnati.com/blogs/politics/2010/11/11/streetcar-display-costly-some-overtime-time-of-19-cops/?s=d&page=3 I should be used to this ludacris reporting/complaining by now right?

The problem is most people in this city don't care what the law is. They don't understand that the city has to spend money to make money. As we all understand, the streetcar is a potential fix to our budget problems because of its ability to increase tax revenue for the city in the form of new residents and businesses/jobs. But good luck ever convincing the hardcore conservatives in this city of that. They see it as nothing more than wasteful spending and are too short-sighted to consider it as anything else. I've been living here for almost 3 years now and the entire time I've been here I've been trying to defend this project to everyone I know and people I work with. I'm starting to get worn out and I now understand all the frustrations I've heard from people fighting for change here before me. Regardless, this project just needs to get finished!

Yeah, you'd think that COAST would even have enough sense to realize that Luken is only hurting their cause. I mean after all the senseless ramblings he spewed on local TV and in front of City Council you'd think they would try to find someone else as a spokesperson by now. He's really a complete joke. The sad thing is that there are still tons of Cincinnati/Hamilton county voters who actually buy into the crap that COAST vomits all over the place. Hurry up Cincinnati and get the tracks laid on this project before someone finds a way to throw another wrench in the spokes.

Sorry to start up political arguments, just thought it was interesting to see who the enquirer is batting for. Anyway, with the newly elected, GOP dominant, state and federal governments, does anyone forsee any problems with getting the streetcar started and finished? Could this affect TIGER grants or other state/fed dollars we still need? What power does Monzel now have to complicate things? (Sorry, but I'm ignorant as to what the county com. actually does)

Well, this pretty much explains the Enquirer's constant slant against the streetcar and other progressive projects... This is how they vote: http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20101030/EDIT03/10310345

That's un-freaking-believable! God I hate the enquirer!

I believe they are in the process of, or have already removed that water main. Stop being such a naysayer. Such attitudes are exactly why Cincinnati is in the bind it's in. Do you have any sources to share on that? I'd be quite surprised to hear that they are moving the water main with out a good reason? But, I'll happily stand corrected if you can show some proof. And trust me, I'm not being a naysayer at all, quite the opposite in fact. The reason I'm saying those tunnels will never be used is because we were barely able to get the streetcars approved, lets not mess up the design of our system by saying that someday we'll start using 80 year old subway tunnels. Its just highly unlikely that any project like that would ever fly in Cincinnati. I'm a huge supporter of the streetcar and its impact on downtown and especially OTR. That's why I want to see it run further up into Over the Rhine along 12th street. The area is already prime for streetcar traffic and the increase in pedestrian use it will see as a result. It would be absolutely foolish, IMO, to run it along CP where there are no storefronts and very little residential use. I know it seems like CP doesn't get a lot of traffic, but thats not entirely true. The traffic that does run through there is dangerous, people drive very fast through there. I live a block from there and I can tell you from personal experience that its not friendly to pedestrians at all. Additionally, by having it go down 12th street you're getting it right into the heart of where everything is happening now and will add to that immensely. Main street is changing quickly (Neon's, the new diner, new shops, etc, etc), Vine street is of course changing rapidly too..So, why move the streetcar further south away from all that? That makes no sense. It might seem like its only a block, but in order for this system to be used heavily we have to make it as visable and convienient as possible. Maybe I'm wrong, but CP just seems like a bad idea to me.

If they are painting a mural on the street won't it be gone in a matter of months with traffic and weather anyway? I highly doubt a street mural could last through a single cincinnati winter with all the salt and salt truck scraping our roads see. Not a reason to base a decision on the streetcar.

I certainly hope they use 12th street. I would make no sense at all to skip over the 12&Vine area with all the development going on there and further up on vine and main street also. Central parkway for both directions would be a big mistake IMO. We will never use the subway tunnels for anything. There's a huge water main down there that would cost WAY too much money to relocate. We're talking about Cincinnati here, big dreams (like using our subway tunnels) just don't happen here. We're getting a streetcar, lets make it as useful as possible by having it go through an important neighborhood, not run along a busy 4 lane street that's not at all pedestrian friendly and has virtually no storefront potential.