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This could be a moronic question but I am completely ignorant to how this works. Is it possible to take tax revenue from development along the line to ensure that the streetcar will not run a deficit? I understand how much tax revenue it will generate, but by not generating a operational deficit in the books it won't give COAST and the naysayers ammunition to attack the streetcar.

I really can't see anything disingenuous about it. A supporter of the funding was absent and they are allowing the vote to be cast. If he was postponing it to a day when he was sure Ghiz and Monzel could not be present, that would be disingenuous.

Funny how the enquirer tries to pat itself on the back and make it seem that this postponement was in response to its article about Bortz, while Mallory states that the reason the vote was postponed was so he can have 6 yes votes to show to the federal government. So now they are not only printing biased and ignorant articles about development and downtown, but are actively trying to sway the reader from the truth. This is journalism?

Absolutely ludicrous. I was completely dumbfounded when I read it.

I must say those are some amazing pictures sherman Its always interesting being there on a saturday afternoon and seeing a bunch of limos and buses with wedding parties getting pictures. Last august we were one of three wedding parties getting pictures near Mahketeweh lake on one particular saturday. Such a beautiful place.

Wow I never knew there were that many alternatives, can you tell us what they were? Im guessing gilbert and maybe West Clifton but what were the others?

I was thinking the same thing. I understand that it would be tough to get a streetcar to Price Hill, and the differences between the streetcars of then and now, but if something unique has to be built to get the line up the hill it will gain more support from the westside. Westsiders love to claim things as their own and it would add to the westside pride.

I would venture to say that unless you get a route (streetcars) into and through East Price Hill, West Price Hill, and probably Westwood, you will never get the support of the west side for rail, and even then it would be tough. To tell the truth I never liked the I-74 Metro Moves plan, it was too park and drive oriented and I-74 isn't the most accessible way to get downtown from the westside. Most people will use River Road, Glenway, Warsaw, and Queen City to get downtown or to Uptown. If westsiders feel like they are getting left out of a project they will come out in full force against it. The commuter line down River Road I think would do well, but Price Hill needs a streetcar line. Every time I go to Price Hill Chili, I see a picture of a streetcar on the wall going by the restaurant on Glenway. Price Hill was built along a streetcar line and I believe it would make it thrive again. I think if the streetcar shows how much it can develop OTR, then westsiders would support one in Price Hill. I always hear from people back home how cool Findlay Market is or how fun Bockfest was. OTR is already changing some people's minds, and I bet when they drive through Price Hill on their way home they wonder if the same can happen in their neighborhood. Even if they no longer live in Price Hill westsiders have pride in the area and they want to see it succeed. I think this would be a great catalyst project that could not only win the support of the residents, but make the history and tradition of the westside more accessible to the rest of the city.

Growing up and spending 23 years of my life on the west side I would say this is generally true. Westsiders tend to be very comfortable because they are surrounded by people they have known all their lives. If you don't like the way they do things great, but they're going to continue living the way the generations of westsiders have lived before them, regardless of what you think. Family, friends, and loved ones are what come first to them without exception and they will always look out for each other. Many don't know how things are outside of the westside and they don't care to, because they have the ideal world they choose to live in. Pride of the past generations is one reason why I see a strong desire to protect price hill and keep people from fleeing to Indiana. I don't live there anymore, but I may return one day and I know that I will find the same people and institutions that were there when I left.

Hey! Easy on the bleeding purple comments, a graduate is trolling on here daily! Its one of the core institutions helping to hold Price Hill together. I reside in Columbus for now but I may return one day. I would love to see a line through the west side, but I would like to see it serve the incline district and around Holy Family Church. This area is still very dense with many beautiful old buildings and houses. A stop right at Iliff and Glenway would be great to service a football game!

"The Cap" over I-670 in the Short North Area of Columbus cost 8.5 million. Restaurants, coffee shops, and bars fill this area of High St. over I-670. It is a great example of how to remove the obstruction of a highway through an urban area to continue the urban fabric. It is however significantly smaller than putting decking over all of Fort Washington Way. Also, in Cincy it will become a park instead of retail.

Well he had the choice to be different and build something special, but instead he chose to follow the herd of past sellout coaches. I feel horrible for the players. For some of them this is the second time they were told by a coach that they were staying only to see them leave within a week of making that promise. I hope they take their anger out on Florida. Go Bearcats!!

It always breaks my heart to see old churches demolished, the architecture in them is amazing. I was very dissapointed when St. Bonaventure was torn down on Queen City abut 10 years ago. My grandmother used to play the organ there and it was massive and very beautiful.

I was referring to the fact that cities like DC always have plenty of funds to do whatever they want to do in the district while other cities beg for the scraps to build their infrastructure.

It has to be utilities. Red-electric, Yellow-gas, Blue-water, Green-sewer, Orange-communications, white- future excavation. I'm sure they will be digging in the area to fix a problem.

It must be nice to have tax dollars at the ready all the time to do these things.

^ That is absolutely ridiculous. Stealing other cities history because you choose to live somewhere that has none. Something definitely has to be done about this.

Does anyone know how the streetcar would operate with events closing down main and walnut at 5th? Would it just run the northern loop, or will cross-connect tracks be laid on 6th and 7th from walnut to main to use in these situations? I know these streets are closed for six or seven days throughout the year with oktoberfest, the taste, heart mini marathon, etc.

I have mixed feelings on the casinos. I think casinos will be good for the Ohio economy. It will bring jobs and much needed tax revenue into the state, counties and cities. However, I do think it needs to be competitive so that the state gets a better deal out of it. Other states are getting 400 -500 million per casino license, where ohio will only get 50 million. Also, the tax kick back is low at 33%, where other states are getting upwards to 67%. I do like that each city will get one casino. I think this will make it more of a destination that will add to a city. If more than one were built per city I feel it would be detrimental to the city image. The city would become a gambling destination first, instead of a great city with gambling used as another form of attraction. I want people to visit a city because of the city, not because it has a casino. I also like that the Cincinnati casino will not have a hotel. I don't know if every casino is planned to be like this, but it will make people get out into the city more instead of staying exclusively inside the walls of the casino. I agree that these casinos will do a lot of good for Ohio, but I just think the casino owners are getting the better part of the deal. I don't know if I will vote for it or against it as of right now, I just think Ohio can do better and make more money off of it.

Can someone post a link or post a list that shows exactly how the funding for the streetcar is broken down. I have tracked down the information once, but I'm having a hard time finding it again.

I really like your plan compared to the Metro Moves plan because of how much you incorporate the more dense and walkable areas of the city. The Metro Moves plan seems to play to the suburbs and seems more like a park and ride system. By including the older and more dense areas in your plan(Price Hill, Hyde Park, Mt. Adams, Clifton, St. Bernard, Northside, Avondale, Evanston, Newport, Covington) it would cause the population to come back to the city and keep all the great and distinctive neighborhoods we have. We have so many city neighborhoods that still are very walkable and we need to exploit that. I really think all first developments of transit in Cincinnati should feed the neighborhoods in the city first and leave the suburbs out. I think commuter lines would be great in the future (down Rt 50& I-74, up I-71& I-75) to give people another option to get downtown. I just think it makes a lot more sense to feed the city than the burbs, and it would help reverse the trend of suburban sprawl.

I figured I would add my two cents on the utilities question. I used to install underground utilities for a living. All utilities in the right of way have a minimum depth. The shallowest is at 18 inches. This should not be a problem for the streetcar since it has been said they will only need to excavate 12 inches for the rails. However, with that being said utilities have the distinct ability to show up exactly where they're not supposed to be. This is very true in the downtown area, it gets pretty crazy down there! As far as installing future utilities perpendicularly under the streetcar, it is a minor operation. Utilities have to constantly be ran under existing infrastructure. While the streetcar is in operation you can either use a boring mahine or a mole machine to go under the tracks. When the streetcar is not operating overnight you can tunnel under the tracks as someone mentioned previously. All the aforementioned operations will then be filled in with CDF(Controlled Density Fill) which sets up like concrete very quickly and prevents settling. This is how every right of way excavation has to be filled in the city of Cincinnati currently.

It seems that CVG is on the fast track to becoming just another airport, with service only to hubs to pick up connecting flights. With major hubs in Detroit and Atlanta it doesn't make sense for them to keep CVG in the middle of those two. Hopefully CVG can attract another hub from another airline. However, I read that many airlines(e.g. jet blue, southwest) already have enough hubs to cover the area so it looks bleak for CVG. How much this will affect companies decisions that we want to bring to Cincinnati? I would have to think that not having an airline hub that offers direct national and international flights is a major concern for large companies.

Yes, the site has been running very slow for me as well.

When would we know something on the federal funds for the streetcar? I'm sure it's down the road a bit, but I was wondering if anyone knew when congress will tackle a bill that these funds would be included in?