Ram23

Carson Palmer came up 3 touchdowns shy it seems. wait..

On this forum, we have "trolls." In the real world, we have Smithermans...

Running used, non compliant streetcars is not illegal because it's done elsewhere. I can read what you're writing, I just don't understand how it could be completely impossible to preserve and re-use older cars when it's being done elsewhere. There are dozens of reasons why it's a bad idea, I just don't see the legal reason you're stating.

I'm an architect and fully aware of the ADA guidelines. The last house UC and Habitat for Humanity partnered up on was fully ADA compliant, and I designed the thing. If the cars were built prior to the ADA, and all new construction met the standards, I don't see how any law would be broken. Although it could end up being something a court has to decide. Again, I don't think it is a good idea, but could be presented as an alternate item, something to give us a price range rather than the current high-estimate-so-we-can-come-in-under-budget price. I just want to see a dollar value that could be saved. I have no problem letting the pros debate the fine points of reducing cost, they just haven't done it yet, and the cost per mile as is is one of the things that's hurting our case.

^ I have always thought those notices were a bit "cruel and/or unusual." The guy probably served his time, let him be.

My only comment is that legally no infrastructure would be built that is out of compliance so there wouldn’t be anything out of accordance with the ADA. I don't think it's a good idea, but I don't think there are any legal ramifications. If it were to come to it and the price had to be stripped down somewhere, I wouldn’t be opposed to this. I've lived in NYC the past two years half of the time while on co-op through UC, so I'm fairly familiar with the system. There are some stations that are seemingly impossible to bring to ADA standards.. anything with the curved platforms that were mentioned. The cost of the new South Ferry station to overcome that barrier is a good example of what you two are talking about. This is a parallel to how difficult it would be to retrofit used streetcars; it would be better to start new…

^ They're being used in other places, so I'd have to say yes. The actual physical construction wouldn't be out of compliance with the ADA (since it's only rails and infrastructure) and I don't see how the act would reach into the realm of legislating the usage of used vehicles. Purchasing older cars will be an option. I don't want to come off wrong, I personally thing the Skoda cars are worth the cost and believe both the OTR and uptown segments should be built from the get go. I'm just open to any ideas that would shave the cost down a bit.

Don't forget that most older transit systems in the US aren't ADA compliant and really haven't ever come under any fire for it... New York City's MTA being the primary example. I'm not picky about the cars, if we can just get tracks in the ground. I also believe the uptown route is integral to the success of the streetcar; I'm optimistic that OTR route would be a success, but I'm basically positive that the uptown route would be.. and that is no matter what type of train is running.

^ It requires any spending of public funds on rail transit to be subject to a city wide vote.

^ says a lot about UrbanOhioans...

:-o ... :?

^No, I like the proposal, I just think it's presented very poorly; despite the bad graphics it should be an improvement when built, and the idea to do it is a good one. As for the summer streets, I found them to be less interesting and exciting than a nomal summer day, so I don't really see a point in causing so much traffic mayhem when not much is gained. But, I guess some people like them.

^ It was constructed during the Great Depression by the government, with the intention being relocating people from urban slums to rural, small town like communities that were close enough to major cities to take advantage of them. An early example of suburbanization, really. While it isn't very mixed use today, it was designed to be a modernist small town, and be mostly self sufficient. The current tenants in the shopping center aren't varied enough to fill the purpose, though, and close proximity of large scale retail is ther reason for that; when the town was built there weren't any shopping centers around. Greenhills "town center" is also a very early example of a strip mall. The modernist designers of the town thought it would be a nice alternative to the main streets of older rural towns.

^ This looks shopped. I can tell from some of the pixels, and from seeing quite a few shops in my time. Although it does look like some of the SimCities I used to build. I was the king of sprawl.

^ I wouldn't be against cheaper rolling stock up front. If the line were longer, the full sized modern trams would be better, but so long as the initial Downtown/OTR loop is the only phase built at startup, I don't see why people couldn't settle for cheaper cars. Is the infrastructure any different, or could switching from older cars to modern system be done without any construction needed (when later phases are added in)?

^ I never was a fan of the summer streets thing, but I guess it's just personal preference. I walk on the sidewalk all the time, why do I need the street shut down? As for the Brooklyn Bridge approach... I'm glad they could fork over the money to have a team of 12 year olds put their graphics together.

Glad to see these guys caught. All it took was a $10,000 reward: 2 teens blamed in rock throwing http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090701/NEWS01/307010052/2+teens+blamed+in+rock+throwing One teen has been arrested and another is being sought by police in a rock-throwing incident along Columbia Parkway that seriously injured a woman in a taxi.

I like what I hear. Between this space and The Banks a block away, I hope to see lots of local/regional flagship locations.

The Kahn's building is huge, and has lots of potential. The thing is literally a maze of additions and renovations spanning 100 years, though, and a lot of the space could prove tough to utilize. Glad to hear the estimates are so high in terms of re-usable space. I was never really a fan of tearing it down and building the jail there. It should be used for industrial purposes of some sort, in my opinion..

Geotechnical report. Learn to get those before building 13 story towers on top of mud pits. You can tell by the way the soil is al turned up, and the footings lifted right out of the ground. I'd be surprised if the rest of the buildings around don't start to lean over Pisa-style, or at least have significant cracking and foundation damage within a year or two.

If you have patiance: Koyaanisqatsi, Powaqqatsi, and Naqoyqatsi. More so about humanity in general, but our cities are often a focal point of that. The first one (Koyaanisqatsi) is the best of the series.

I will have to start using that when I browse on my 1000W PSU Desktop, on my 52" LCD screen... Honestly, I can't imagine that would have any benefit on an LCD screen (which most monitors are now) because screen black and true black are different things, and there's not really a difference in the way the screen is powered based upon color displayed. If you have an older monitor it might help a bit, though.

"The $400 million plan would be covered by federal stimulus spending -- meaning taxpayers like us." Guess what? We all let the federal stimulus happen, like it or not, by either voting for, or not convincing enough people to vote against Obama. The way I see it, it's a sunk cost. Our money is going to be spent somewhere, why not make it on something for Ohio, rather than some big coastal or southern city that are already stealing jobs and popoulation from our state? "Upgrading the 450 miles of Ohio tracks in the FRAplan to run trains at 110 mph would cost taxpayers close to $1.6 billion, or nearly $140 for every Ohio resident. Subsidizing passenger trains over those routes will cost more than $30 million per year. Yet the average Ohioan will take a round trip on such trains only once every 17 years." What is the figure for the amount of initial investment in our highways? How much are the subsidized each year in terms of maintanence and repair? That figure will surprise most everyone.

I have a feeling this is going to end badly.

Great post. There is an older post about Greenhills floating around here that I seem to remember.. It's always great to see it. Most of the buildings in Greenhills are one of a kind (well, there are 3 "greenbelt towns" but, almost one of a kind..). It's a shame some of the houses/apartment blocks are being torn down and replaced with modular homes...