Blue Line

That or you can order a CD of the hour-long topic for $15, you know, for all those production costs...

The Diane Rehm Show - Thursday, June 12th, 2008 (Hour 1) 10:00U.S Transportation Infrastructure Record breaking gas prices are prompting new questions about our nation’s transportation infrastructure. A look at the state of mass transit, our highway systems, and the role of the federal government Guests Congressman Earl Blumenauer, Oregon, 3rd District, Democrat Robert F. Puentes, Fellow, Metropolitan Policy Program, The Brookings Institution Randal O'Toole, senior fellow, Cato Institute Mayor Greg Nickels, Mayor of Seattle, Washington Tyler Duvall, Acting Under Secretary, Department of Transportation WMV: http://wamu.org/audio/dr/08/06/r1080612-20828.asx Real: http://wamu.org/audio/dr/08/06/r1080612-20828.ram I'll try to get a stream rip of this after I get home, and put it on Mediafire for a few souls.

Any movement or rumblings regarding the building? I'd assume that when it does get rehabbed, it'd host housing units.

I do think that CRC maintains that park. I've played a pickup game or two there. I didn't feel threatened. About the design: I'm not really digging the plaza-type intersections that are in the plan. I'd like to just see a proper realignment of Vine, re-densified urban space, and not make it so obvious that this is all the work of one supreme developer/architecture firm. It needs to *feel* like a neighborhood, not like an urban lifestyle center.

Has anyone here shot WLWT an e-mail (or a phone call) to get those guys to stop showing ridiculous file photos or video of old trolleys? This has got to be the fifth or sixth time that I've heard local media painting them to be a throwback model. Aside from that, I am glad that the issue is getting positive news coverage now. I would like the approach of those viewer polls to be tweaked though, so as to get a more educated response.

Heck, we owe China a billion milkshakes. I'd say we're sipping from their frappe.

Don't show your staggering ignorance *too* much.

Propaganda. I couldn't really care less if gas goes up to $100 per gallon. Just as long as we figure out a way to get around more efficiently and to ensure that we're all fed.

Well, look how barren the east side of downtown is (Broadway Commons), how much is taken by Interstate interchanges, how underdeveloped it is in the West End, and how detached our main post office and former transit (rail) hub are from the rest of the city. There's your extra 300K. Not quite but I get your point. The issue with the population projections is that they probably didn't factor in smaller household sizes and larger dwelling units as a part of the evolving US culture. That has had a major impact on population "decline" for older cities that saw massive overcrowding (by today's standards) in their heydays. For the 1950 census, Cincinnati was shown as having 504,000 people. All the underdeveloped or claimed land from the Urban Renewal days accounts for space that could easily accommodate another 100,000 now. I'd say many of our city's neighborhoods have become more populous since then, but our center city and areas to the west and east have become wastelands. I could see potential for Cincinnati to achieve one of those estimate figures down the road.

Well, look how barren the east side of downtown is (Broadway Commons), how much is taken by Interstate interchanges, how underdeveloped it is in the West End, and how detached our main post office and former transit (rail) hub are from the rest of the city. There's your extra 300K.

I like this one. Consider me slain.

Hah, fair enough.

I have no idea what this area used to look like before it became a sea of surface parking. I've never heard anyone make reference to the history of that area either. (I know that back when the Mt. Adams Incline was still functional, the neighborhood extended to the bottom of the hill.) Anyone?

I'm just talking about the natural flux of people in any city.

People will move out of the city, and design industry professionals will move in. I see it as a good thing. Designers are forward thinkers, at least the ones I've come across. The more will for progress in Cincinnati, the better.

You could scream that about many businesses in the suburbs too.

And the future growth of Cincinnati, in terms of entertainment as well as business, helps drive this perceived demand for hotels on the south shores. So, if Cincinnati suffers, they surely will too. The same goes with a successful future.

I was going to say that too. I'm going to sound like an urban snob, but that's too much green...and surface parking.

Well, I'd say that short distance air travel has already lost. It's no longer profitable for them to run short flights between regional destinations. So I don't really see national passenger rail's opportunity as stepping on the toes of the airline industry. Simply, it's a chance to fill the void for reliable and affordable passenger service.

Oh, and I like how he said that a light rail vehicle pumps as much greenhouse gas into the air as a standard SUV. Whether that's true or not, you don't have 100 passengers riding in one SUV, and you also don't have more than a million light rail vehicles on the tracks everyday...and that random number is *very* generous.

Well, it was to clue anyone and everyone that the show was streaming live. You can move it wherever you feel it's appropriate.

Oh, that sounds good. I'll have to look for that later today.

Broadcasting now on NPR. Hopefully it'll be available as a downloadable file. Good stuff. It's nice to hear this sort of discussion on a national news outlet.

Excellent comparison. What I'd like to see is that whole see of parking eventually see high density again. It's a damn shame the whole way through.

Notice that not a single Democrat voted against in in Ohio or Kentucky.