jacksparrow82

Its my understanding that we needed about 50-60 million in grants or private contributions to get the project off the ground. We now have 15 million in grants so that leaves a good 35-45 million more needed. Assuming we get the 25 million urban circulators grant that will put us within about 10 million needed to get the project off the ground. My hope is that when the funding gap is that close we'll start to see private contributors kick in, but who knows?

I sure do hope you're right! This is so exciting for Cincinnati. Any idea when we'd here about the Fed. Circulator grants? If we get word of those funds say in the next few months, could we possibly start seeing track laid by the end of the year or is that too optimistic?

Streetcar report on chan 5 news coming up now...

Did anyone catch John Schneider's interview on WLW last night? I was hoping to listen in, but I missed it...

Well, I've had a chance to cool down and think about things a little since this mornings announcement and I can say that I am still optimistic for the Cincinnati Streetcar project. Though we didn't get what we were hoping for from the TIGER funds we weren't the only ones who missed out. The funds were a lot more competitive then I originally thought. There's still a chance at 75 million worth of grants out there and any portion of that would at least keep the project alive. So, until we are denied those grants I'm not going to give up on the idea. Does anyone have any idea when the other grants are expected to be announced?

I believe Detroit's Woodward line will also bring the commuters from the Ann Arbor line to downtown. Maybe the People Mover will actually be used as it was intended. Well, I personally doubt the people mover will ever be truly useful. It was done completely wrong in many ways, but one of the worst things about it is that first, its elevated off the street and difficult to even figure out where to get on. But, mostly because of its route. Its simply a large loop around the city with many, many blocks in between the lines. So, it really has a lot of design flaws that prevent it from ever functioning as a useable transportation system.

So, as it currently stands, Detroit got $25 million for a light rail line along Woodward Ave. (which by the way is going to do wonders for that city, I've lived there and I can see that project making a huge impact on the city as a whole, Woodward Ave. is a major artery that starts downtown and goes directly through the center of detroit all the way up to its richest, most prosperous suburbs) So, now that Detroit is getting a modern day rail system, doesn't that make Cincinnati the largest metropolitan area in the country without any form of rail transit? I remember hearing that we were #2 just behind Detroit during the whole Issue 9 campaign? Boy, won't that be a pathetic statistic to throw around!

No kidding. I had to stop reading them I was getting so infuriated I thought my head was going to explode. One guy actually said "the only thing we should be connecting OtR to is a jail"

There's got to be a lot more political BS going on that's influencing these choices. How else could you explain them fully funding a project in a city that already has a functioning streetcar line and completely ignoring Cincinnati that has an excellent plan in place that fits the Obama administration's agenda to the T. I'm sorry to be so cynical, but the feds really screwed us on this one. I guess we need to figure out how New Orleans and Tuscon pulled it off and try to do the same for this next round of funding. Hopefully we'll get some love from other sources before the city gives up on this plan or delays it so long it fizzles out?

What kills me about the list of recipients is that many of those cities already have fairly nice and extensive streetcar systems...portland, dallas (well, light rail, but close), new orleans And 20.5 million for bike and ped improvements in Indy? Really!? There must have been something critically wrong with our application if we got beat out by stuff like that.

Very Dissappointing! Man, what the he** happened!?

http://dc.streetsblog.org/

I'm starting to see Tweets about various places receiving word on TIGER money today....I have no idea how these people know this, but one even mentioned Cincinnati! Any official reports yet?? http://twitter.com/streetsblog http://twitter.com/DSmith_Tucson

Agreed, discuss funding! We are supposed to find out this week! Okay, so assume we get all the money we requested...Whats the next step? Are there any additional hurdles to worry about or will it be a go? What kind of time frame would we be looking at before the first tracks are being laid?

Of course, but its the first one we'll be hearing news about soon

Okay, its 300 pages! What's the announcement? And yes, the deadline for the TIGER announcement is wednesday the 17th. In fact, it could be today or tomorrow according to this little blurb: http://sf.streetsblog.org/2010/02/05/tiger-grant-winners-to-be-announced-by-february-17/

Those are nice! Where will they be available?

Has anyone heard any news regarding grant announcements for the streetcar coming anytime soon?? I've been obsessively checking these forums and all kinds of local news outlets for word about the TIGER grants and so forth! I can't wait to find out if we get any funding or not!

The reason CUT seems so cut off from the rest of the city is because of the highway that went right through the neighborhood in the 1950s. When the terminal was built in the 30s, I75 wasn't there and a lot of people still lived there, so it wasn't such a bad location at all. Now that we've cut the neighborhoods in half with I 75, the location kind of sucks, I have to agree with you there. Connecting it with the streetcar could really help though. I think you're right that the 3 C service should be first focused on downtown and connecting it with phase 1 of the streetcar. However, I just don't see that happening. I think it would be cost prohibitive in these early stages (there's currently no passenger rail lines actually there.)

UrbanCincy.com is reporting today that Cincinnati City Council has officially approved 775K for continuing its plans for the Streetcar Project. This is good news to see they are still serious about making this happen, even without official word on fed/state grants. Lets keep our fingers crossed for grant/stimulus money!

Darn, I'm getting impatient! I want to know!

So, has Cincinnati already sent in their applications for TIGER funds and other sources? Has anything been heard regarding when the funding will be announced?

Chris Eilerman said that "news about the city receiving government grants to cover a significant part of the $128 million project is just days away." He did not say that he expects to receive a grant in the next few days. He will simply find out a "yes or no" about our application. Hopefully its good news, but its not certain yet.

Has anyone heard any further news regarding federal funding for this project? Any other word on funding in general. It seems that funding is the only barrier we currently have to break through to make this system a reality..

I want the federal govt. to award Cincinnati with all the money it applied for the Cincinnati Streetcar! That will make my entire year! Though, I'm told we'll have to wait until early february to find out if we got the funds, oh well I can be patient a little longer.