Jeffery

^ Sort of like a "zoo for historic buildings". That approach to historic preservation is historic itself, as it was an early concept of saving and interpreting things. They have a small but very nice collection of railroad equipment, too.

^ Are you sure you don't live in Dayton? Because what you describe is exactley the mentality here.

Here's a German DMU with a bike storage area in front...so you can use your bike after getting to your station: pix Would these be "street legal" in the US? (meet US crash standard?). I could easily see these being used for commuter or "local" service in Ohio

Now the pressure is on to hang a bunch of ornaments on the Christmas tree. Maybe the have a train set for express service and a train set for local, so all these stops wont make the thing too slow.

Policinski said the bigger “region” is growing at historically high rates, but “governments’ absolute inability to grasp partnerships with the private sector” is inhibiting economic development. “We have been beating on this drum for five years,” Policinski said. “You would think you are asking them to do the impossible.” Meanwhile, around the country, private-public partnerships are flourishing and leaving southwest Ohio at an economic disadvantage, he said. Does anyone have an example by what he means by these partnerships, or where theyve had problems making them happen? He identifies an issue but doesnt give examples to illustrate it.

Whats really incredible is the use of the Buffalo LR line, since that city is sometimes characterized as a small Detroit. But there has to be some issues around Cincys relatively low use of bus transit compared to Pittsburgh and Portand.

If you want to locate a streetcar manufacturing facitliy the empty GM Moraine Assembly should be high on the list.

The deal is that these are victims of the Dayton disease known as "doing things half-ass".

Im wondering if the prison acts as sort of a pyschological barrier to land development in the immediate vicinity. @@@@ Took a drive out to the Middletown exit today, and its impressive seeing those Nyer signs up and the roadwork east of I-75. it seems Nyer has some big plans for that interchange considering the extend of the holdings (if the signs are any indication). Has anyone seen any site plans?

There is a duplicate of the courthouse in nearby Vevay. An Ohio connection to Madison: One of the founders or first settlers, John Paul, also was one of the founders of Xenia, Ohio and was an early official of Greene County. Supposedly some of his Greene County neighbors followed him to the Madison townsite.

I think the 401 around Toronto has express lanes, too. But, yes the extra-wide medians on I-75 are noticeable. One place where this is the case is the climb up the hill from the Miami Valley between Moraine and the Dayton Mall (OH 725 interchange. I used to think there might have been engineering or aesthetic considerations on that segment.

I've done quite a bit of research on Dayton highway development but would like to dig into the pre-interstate proposals for highways between Dayton & Cincy...do you (or anyone else) have sources for that? Things are happening, just not very fast. Probably the most impressive bit of growth is at the Tylersville interchange, with that new hospital and office development.

There is a concious effort to position Austin Road as the northern counterpart to Union Centre. It's sort of exciting to see this linear city develop, but I kind of wish it would have some height, too, with some high rises adding verticle accents at the interchanges (like Schaumburg outside of Chicago or Watterson City and Plainview outside of Louisville).

^ ...and, I think, the point of the thread header. Public sector unions are like old school attitudes in private sector unions from the 1970s or so.

I think it's a cheap shot to blame our country's economic downturn on 12.4% of the workers. I

It seems if trucks and cars go the same speed you'd have a smoother flow of traffic, rather than having to pass trucks all the time?

We are talking about public sector unions ...particularly public safety (fire and police) iin Unusualfires examples, and I think the situation is different vs private sector. The reason is that public sector unions have a claim on tax money, which adds to the tax burden of a community. The more raises & benefits there are more the claim on tax revenue, resulting in unionzed workers claim on the local budgets crowding out other expenditures, eventually leading to budget deficits or...in Ohio... tax increases, creating the high-tax environment in Ohio. The issue is really excaberated if these unions are in a local government with declining or static population, or is poorer, or is being hit hard by the economic downturn. This is an issue right now in Dayton city, and I've lost a lot of respect for the police union due to their unwillingness to accept a wage freeze. Now the city is laying off police and you can read the howls of protest on the Dayton Daily News website comments. The FOP is being really unreasonable on this, IMO. The reality is if the money isn't there to pay them they either accept a wage freeze or suffer layoffs, just like workers in the private sector. The FOP and their supporters can't seem to get their head around this concept.

Excellent, thank you!! This explains the wording on the ballot...I thought "passenger rail" (of whatever form) was just collateral damage, but it sounds like a broader agenda in play here. Im just suprised there is such opposition. I had the questions about paying the operating costs, but some of this is just knee-jerk reaction.

People on this thread seem to revel in pessimism. But yeah I see this as akin to the '74 and the early 80s double dip recession as signaling some sort of phase shift in the economy. The full employment unemployment number is a good question. In the 1980s this was seen as 6%-7%, so maybe the "good times" of the 1990s, were unemployment dipped to the 4% range, was the anomaly. I think Dmerkow was sepculating about 8% as the new "full employment unemployment" number.

You might be talking about that cottage style that was popular in the 1940s, but also starting in the very late 1930s, coming out of the Depression. The sources were english cottages and the US cape cod style.

I must not have gotten the memo. This initiative isn't directed at the streetcar? Am I missing something?

Do you all think this anti-streetcar initiative has a chance?

If Cleveland has one of the best urban affairs schools in the US why is Cleveland itself in such dire straits? Is the work this college does for naught if it hasn't had an impact on the city that it's in? Is the work it does effective?

Happy Belated Birthday!

Are you all working to include the Dayton area into this? It seems logical if the census does end up defining a combined metro area?