Ram23

I couldn't find a good thread to put this story in, but it is a "future rail plan" of sorts: Passenger train linking Madeira, Loveland, Oakley? It's possible. Maybe even likely. https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2018/03/22/passenger-train-linking-madeira-loveland-oakley-its-possible-maybe-even-likely/447666002/ The Cincinnati Railway Co. may institute passenger train service between Oakley, Madeira and Loveland on Friday and Saturday nights. The company already operates the Cincinnati Dinner Train, which travels from its base in Bond Hill to the downtown Cincinnati riverfront and back every Saturday evening in March through December.

^ I wonder how much the car relies upon input from the camera versus input from other types of sensors. The video makes it look like the woman came out of nowhere, but in reality the naked eye has a much higher dynamic range than the type of cameras used as dash cams. If the driver wouldn't have been looking down at her cell phone, she should have been able to see the woman crossing the street. If the car were using the same types of sensors park-assist technology has been using for over a decade now, it should have detected the pedestrian. But of course, people will see this video and say "wow she came out of nowhere" and there probably won't even be a debate about these types of details. People assume video evidence tells the whole story when half the time it's completely misleading.

^ I've taken Uber from destinations on the streetcar route when in groups of ~4 because a the cost of the Uber ride is comparable to streetcar tickets. If we followed KC's model and just made it free, people would have no excuse not to take the streetcar instead, and most would. I'd normally take the streetcar and bring everyone along, but that's just because I actively want to ride the streetcar because it's more comfortable and enjoyable than being in some random person's car.

^ I made the argument somewhere on this website that the old Kroger building had to have looked much better than the current avreage-looking facade (I'm not old enough to have seen the original). I think it was John Schneider that shot me down and said in person, it was really, really ugly. In pictures, it reminds me a lot of Lever House, which is considered one of the best examples of its kind.

I think the council majority looks just as bad, if not worse than Cranley and Black. They're acting under the guise of saving the taxpayer's money, but that's a thin veil - it's clear this is just a power struggle. If this were truly about money, council would just fire black and give him the contractually obligated amount (8 months pay). Ultimately, the city will continue to be dysfunctional if it has a mayor and manager that have animosity for one another and do not want to cooperate. Council is forcing them to work together, against their will, which will cost the city far more long term than the amount Black walks away with in a severance package.

They really need to lost the top band altogether. The verticals terminating at the sky made the building look great in older photos. The top horizontal band ruins the entire aesthetic of the building.

This article has some detail. The Sheriff's opinion based on the video is that the Uber was not at fault: https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Exclusive-Tempe-police-chief-says-early-probe-12765481.php Pushing a bicycle laden with plastic shopping bags, a woman abruptly walked from a center median into a lane of traffic and was struck by a self-driving Uber operating in autonomous mode. “The driver said it was like a flash, the person walked out in front of them,” said Sylvia Moir, police chief in Tempe, Ariz., the location for the first pedestrian fatality involving a self-driving car. “His first alert to the collision was the sound of the collision.” ... From viewing the videos, “it’s very clear it would have been difficult to avoid this collision in any kind of mode (autonomous or human-driven) based on how she came from the shadows right into the roadway,” Moir said. The police have not released the videos.

Whatever the truth may be, it's pretty easy to see this as the council majority (led by PG) perpetuating the dysfunction. No one looks good here, and the city looks like a hot mess. Talk radio had a field day today intertwining this, the FC Cincinnati/CPS debacle, and our city's two historical college basketball collapses up as one big sign of Cincinnati's perpetual malaise.

I looked into this a bit because my land value in CUF jumped up about $5,000 and is just shy of $70,000 now (for a 25x100' lot). I compared to neighbors, and it seems like the country sets a unit cost and applies it to your acreage. Everyone in the immediate area has the same land value per acre. That said, that could be a quick way to spot check and see if something is up with this particular property. Divide the land value by the acreage to get the unit cost (per acre). Do the same thing for all nearby properties and compare. If you're value is $2 million an acre and your neighbors is $1 million, something's up.

Couldn't FCC just pay to have police operate the traffic signals and keep traffic flowing, as they do around UC during games? For the cost of infrastructure upgrades to that interchange, they could probably afford to do that for a century or so.

FC Cincinnati shuts down West End stadium plans, moving to Oakley or Newport https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2018/03/16/school-board-reengages-fc-cincinnati-offers-small-concession-stadium-deal/433295002/ This was a once in a lifetime development opportunity for a neighborhood that wants and needs new investment, and the jobs and business opportunities that would have come with it. FC Cincinnati regrets that it will be unable to construct a stadium in the West End community and have moved our focus to Oakley and Newport. While we are disappointed we will not be neighbors with our new friends in the West End, we are committed to remaining partners working to improve the quality of life in the neighborhood. After turning down millions of dollars, I'm sure it won't be long before CPS comes to the Average Joe homeowner, again, asking for another few hundred dollars a year to continue under-performing.

^ I mean the overtime abuse was blessed by Isaac and Black. Releasing the memo is what pissed them off. Their decision to force him out was disproportionate, when the people they should have been angry at were the ones abusing taxpayer dollars.

^ Don't forget that this ordeal all started because Bailey leaked a document highlighting extreme misuse of overtime funds, apparently with the blessing of Isaac and Black. They then paid Bailey handsomely to get rid of him. This is known, whereas the claims of a "good old boys network" is a bit of a conspiracy theory started by Black. IMO it's more about control - Black wants Yes Men and is willing to bully anyone else around to get that. Cranley was fine with that when he was doing it in Cranley's good graces, but now that he's gone rogue it's complete chaos on Plum Street.

I think the question is will the streetcar be running during the actual opening day, Thursday 3/29. It should be operating at full service that day. The parade is the next Monday, on the fourth game of the season, and the streetcar will be out of service then (when it's most needed). Not to get off topic, but knowing the Reds, they'll probably be 0-3 and it will be 25 degrees and snow that Monday. The whole thing is a travesty, IMO. Findlay Market didn't want to have the parade on Thursday because they didn't want to hurt their Easter weekend sales. I go to the market every weekend, but I'll skip that weekend out of spite.

The smear campaign is underway. Hopefully there's more interesting stuff than this still coming: Harry Black visited a strip club in Denver with top police officials. John Cranley says that 'sends a bad message.' https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/2018/03/15/harry-black-strip-club-denver/428150002/ Cincinnati City Manager Harry Black, the chief of police and two assistant police chiefs went to a strip club two years ago during a work trip. And Black asked the city's female city solicitor, Paula Boggs Muething, to go with them. She declined... "My concern, which I shared with him at the time, is he's the boss. He should not be subjecting subordinates to those kinds of behaviors," Cranley said. "He can do this on his own private time, but it sends a bad message."

I'm sure most remember this story (at least down in southwest Ohio), but Solid Rock's "touchdown Jesus" is no more, after a fatal lighting strike years ago: https://www.csmonitor.com/From-the-news-wires/2010/0615/Gigantic-62-foot-Jesus-statue-struck-by-lightning-destroyed-VIDEO That said, another mega-church in Cincinnati that happens to be headquartered in a renovated former big box store (though all things considered it's a pretty decent (and expensive) arena compared to most mega churches) as a secondary location in a historic church that also suffered a fire (this one due to some dirty old curtains and a construction lamp): St. George just over 10 years ago: ... and today:

^ I perused the city charter looking for ways a mayor could capitalize on this situation, but I don't see many good options. The mayor's ability to "pocket veto" legislation seems like it might be the primary potential point of dysfunction.

Kenton Street got really bad press last year when Jamie Urton was pulled out of his car and murdered in the street in broad daylight. No surprise they can't give houses away there. One event like that can have a pretty big impact.

^ It seems more likely to me that Black was implicated in one way or another in the dirt uncovered by this audit. You had people at CPD billing for ~40 hours of overtime every single week of the year, yet the person who got forced out was the person who called that out. The chief also "forced" him out by paying him nearly half a million dollars. No matter what the outcome, you know something weird is going on when Cranley, Seelbach, the GOP, and the FOP are all in agreement on something.

Co-op and a part time job go a long way in college. I was able to pay all of my living expenses including things like books, supplies (more expensive than books as an architecture major), etc. as I went by saving money from co-op and working 20 to 30 hours a week at a car dealership. That was pretty hectic, though - when I graduated and got a full time job it was a pretty big relief knowing I'd only have to work about 45 hours or so a week. Between work and school I was probably tied up 80-90 hours a week. For me, that was proof that it's basically impossible for anyone to pay their way through school. Unless I omitted sleeping or lived in my car, there just weren't enough hours in the day to make that kind of money.

The (pictured) house next door to that lot is now listed for an insane $355,000: https://www.coldwellbankerhomes.com/oh/cincinnati/105-w-clifton-avenue/pid_23361686/ I remember it being listed, briefly, by Roxanne Qualls a couple of years ago. It's now owned by an LLC registered to Ryan Messer's husband. I'm curious how they arrived at this price point.

^ Terrace Plaza is probably the only skyscraper in Cincinnati in danger of demolition, and was interestingly designed by the same architect at SOM who designed Union Carbide, Natalie de Blois. Though Terrace Plaza is nowhere near as tall as Union Carbide and, if demolished, would only be the second tallest building demolished in Cincinnati's history (I think) - after Sander Hall.

Good insight and all the more reason to FOIA. There is also a traffic count strip on Main Street near 13th right now, but I'm not sure if it's related to the streetcar traffic study. It may be related to the potential conversion of Main Street to two-way north of 12th. Several traffic counters were placed on Central Parkway, both north and south of Liberty, over the last few days.

No league is going to touch Ohio until the this legal issue is figured out. I think the MLS has been blindsided by this, and it's put both the Crew relocation and Cincinnati expansion plans on hold. The commentary I've seen makes it sound like the 1996 law is on shakey ground constitutionally, but it might be upheld. Some are even speculating its a case the US Supreme Court would be interested in. Either way, the hearing isn't until next year, which creates a lot of uncertainty. The other Big 4 leagues will probably help MLS and Crew Ownership defend this case, since if the law is upheld it affects teams in each of their leagues. It could also set a precedent for other states to enact similar laws. MLS could avoid this concern altogether by convincing FC Cincinnati to locate their stadium in Newport.

^ There's some speculation going on in the West End, but this particularly house looks like it's had the same owners for 30 years. I doubt they sat on it for 3 decades waiting to cash out. Until now it probably wasn't worth the effort to try and sell. It actually doesn't look like it's in all that bad of shape so I'm surprised they have it listed as a tear down.