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Good to hear John. Excellent job in the interview also!

^ The thing that stuck out to me in the article is how little the public actually knows about rail transit. In the article, the City Manager from Covington thinks that what Cincinnati is building is a cable car or trolley system. This is coming from a possible advocate for rail transit! This illustrates just how much the general public needs to be educated about mass transit. The knowledge gap is the size of a canyon.

Yeah this is not a problem, unless the operator is incompetent. I operate heavy equipment for a living and work under all kinds of overhead wires, at many different heights, on a daily basis. Also, the wires would be insulated to prevent accidents when working near them.

^I can't believe he is advocating for the destruction of the city fabric. I guess all that money for his election came from people who want to tear down the old so they can build crap with vinyl siding and turn a bigger profit.

I know they are finalizing bids on this renovation as we speak. So It looks like the Inn is ready to move forward.

Looks like Fields Ertel

^ Thanks for the link. There's a lot of good info there. Sounds like we can expect a few tenants to be announced in the near future and there is a chance that there could be some local establishments. Also, interesting that they are considering a movie theater for one of the next phases. Sounds like all the announced places will be open in September.

^ Brutal, just absolutely brutal John...

I know Toby Keith's bar wants to be open on the first of August...not gonna happen. Not sure about the others.

Voted.... lets try to keep bumping this so we can get some votes!

So his defense is that he is only a racist or says inappropriate things in private? So he is justifying being racist because it's okay as long as it's done out of the public eye? He just dug a bigger hole with his quotes in the article.

Huge donation to be announced. Riverfront Park gets $21M gift Anonymous donation brings fundraising nearly to halfway An anonymous donation of almost $21 million has brought funding for Cincinnati's $120 million Riverfront Park to nearly the halfway point - a sign of encouraging progress, but also of the considerable work that lies ahead. Of that donation, $17.75 million will be available immediately, Cincinnati parks officials said. The remaining $3 million is to be used as an incentive to raise another $12 million in private funding for the 45-acre park, being developed adjacent to The Banks, http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20110525/NEWS01/105260343/

So true. They are usually asked to expand their infrastructure.

Yeah the valve boxes in your picture are used for solely for keys. The top of the valve is a square that a key slides down and fits on instead of using a wheel and stem valve. This picture shows where a "T" is placed with valves at each end so that each leg can be shut down independently. The water main valves in manholes can be worked on and replaced easily unlike the types of valves you have in the picture. And you are correct that some of the manholes do have CWW on them. Water mains are much easier to move out of the way than sewers due to a shallower depth, usually smaller size, and the fact that it does not need gravity to work. Water operations require less shoring and trench boxes, less aggregate, less equipment, less man hours, less street reconstruction, fewer utility interference, and far fewer complications. Sewer replacement is a major operation and would make the Oakley operation look minuscule. Many more factors. I can possibly see a few valves that could need to be moved slightly because of the tracks, but there is no way I can see a sewer main being moved in downtown. No way. I'm also sure this has been evaluated by Parsons Brinkerhoff. The safety concerns with Duke will eventually go away. They will probably add some safety practices when working around the streetcar line, and will continue to insulate lines they are working around.

Are you positive they are MSD manholes? Like I stated before, there are water main valve manholes, telephone manholes, and sewer manholes. There are also smaller valve boxes for water and gas. I have installed underground utilities, water mains, and sewers for a decade and can give you some insight. MSD manholes will either have the MSD marking on it, have SEWER written across it, and they will always have holes in them. Water main valves look very similar to the sewer manholes only the will not have holes in them and will not have anything written on them. Telephone manholes have a picture of a bell on them. I simply can't see MSD moving an entire sewer main to lay tracks in the street. If one manhole is in the way, then several will be in the way because sewers will run run in a pretty straight line down the middle of the street. If a sewer is in the way, the will figure out some way to negotiate the tracks so that the manholes are not directly in the way of the tracks. Also, MSD may be able to offset the manhole slightly to get it out of the way of the tracks. An entire sewer main will not be moved, it would be very costly. This would require closing entire streets and possibly the reinstalling several utilities depending on the sewer size and sewer depth. This would also push back the opening of a streetcar line by at least a year. If a sewer main is in the way they will figure something out. Water main valve manholes and telephone manholes can be moved much easier than sewers. Water and gas valve boxes can be moved fairly easily.

I'm just passing along the information. Are the local utilities misinformed or overly cautious because they have no experince with streetcar wires? Maybe. But the fact is that they are asking for 10' horizontal clearances from the centerline of track. They are making it a big deal because of safety concerns when accessing the manholes. Ladders, tripod winches, tools all have the potential to come into contact with the wires when working in the manhole. However, I am at a loss to know why they think the lines couldn't be insulated as the standard operating procedure currently dictates when working within a certain distance of power lines. Furthermore, these manholes would likely be accessed at night when the streetcar is not in operation and the traffic can be easily redirected.

I had to do a double check when reading the Enquirer article to make sure I wasn't reading The Onion.

It also depends on what manholes they are. They could be sewer, water, electric, or telephone. Electric and telephone would be the easiest to move. I would venture to say that those manholes closest to the edges of the streets are telephone, electric, and water. However, Eighth and State is correct that moving sewer manholes would require moving a decent amount of the main. Water main valves can be moved with less extensive construction. I'm guessing Duke is trying to say they need a buffer between the manholes and the track because of the overhead wires. Potentially this could cause safety problems when accessing the manholes, but I'm sure they can make exceptions. Doesn't seem like a major problem to me. If it comes down to having a few manholes close to the tracks or moving an entire sewer main, I think they will figure out a way to make it work.

^ There are no recall elections in Ohio. Looks like Kasich wants to allow a third party to get money from the casinos. Gaming expert gets take of higher casino tax COLUMBUS, Ohio — One of Gov. John Kasich's two new gambling consultants struck a deal with the state to receive a percentage of every dollar in new casino revenue it helps generate for the state. Amid the negotiations, Los Angeles-based Moelis & Company advised the governor he could raise taxes and fees on the casinos, according to state documents obtained Thursday by The Associated Press. http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20110512/NEWS0108/305130044/Gaming-expert-gets-take-higher-casino-tax?odyssey=tab Even if this third party could get the casino operators to pony up more tax money, wouldn't the constitution have to be changed because it reflects the tax rate? Also, it looks like they would have to agree to more than a 37% tax rate to make more money because the third parties cut would be more than 3%. Furthermore, if this was pulled off somehow, who would get the increase in revenues? Would it all go to the state? Or would it be split between the state, counties, and host cities like the current deal? Either way I can't say I am thrilled about the possibility of a third party receiving any amount of yearly tax revenue from the casinos. A one time payment seems more appropriate. Kasich is going to upset even more people with this proposal.

At least I can appreciate the man's humor. Kinda makes me wonder how much influence from above comes down on him to write skewed articles.

I'm very interested to see how the Enquirer reports on this, and if all the childish and unruly behavior from opponents will be noted in the article.

I think that may be a fallacy. While liberals support rail in general and are against SB5, I think many of hte people who will vote against SB5 are people who voted for Kaisch. The cops and firefighters and their families who are fiscally conservative and really do not care about rail. Ihave some fire fighter friends that rally against SB5 but they are just as vehemently against rail and the streetcar. They look at the streetcar as funding that should be going to help them keep their jobs or not have to take a paycut. A large amount of the police and firefighters who are so vehemently opposed to the streetcar no longer live in the city (which is absurd), so their votes won't really affect the vote in November. Another interesting thing is that I know a lot of staunchly conservative police and firefighters who are now questioning their allegiance to the republican party and realizing they don't represent them after all. For those select few who still reside in the city, I guess it could influence them to support the streetcar. However, I also would think those who have not given up on the city they serve, and still choose to reside in the city, are those who are more rational and choose to make informed and educated decisions anyway.

^It's obviously not the first time this has happened in the new general assembly. I'm not sure how the judicial review process works in Ohio. A citizen or the attorney general may have to challenge the amendment. Anyone out there with a law background care to comment?

The one legality question I am most interested in is the fact that it could violate the law passed in 1997 that formed a TRAC board and project ranking system. You can't make a law that violates a standing law.

Jerry Wray- [email protected] I can't find the new member. The list on the TRAC website still has one position vacant, and I can't find any mention in their news releases. If anyone knows the new members name and background (or email) please list it and maybe we can find an email contact for him/her.