LincolnKennedy

^"The turkey's a little dry..."

^If Bruce and Votto take off I and stay strong throughout the season, I think that the offense will be quite potent. Griffey is always a threat when he is in the game, and Dunn is consitent throughout the season, you just don't know when during the season he is going to make his impact. Phillips is always dangerous. I'm still concerned primarily with the relief pitching. I feel like that is what cost us a significant amount of games last year, and I don't think we did much regarding it. I'm concerned we overpaid for Cordero, and I'm quite skeptical of the value of a game closer (at least for one that doesn't have steroids or HGH coursing through his veins). It seems like an excessive dedication of resources for one inning per game.

How long has Fred Shuttlesworth Circle been around? Not as long as Pete Rose Way.

I'm more skeptical of the inherent attractiveness of CVG for other airlines. Even though I am a "Cincinnati traveler" I am far more concerned about the airport being a spur to and catalyst for the local economy. MyTwoSense and AmrapinVA, you both seem to understand the economics of the airline industry pretty well. What do you think CVG can do to maintain and expand as an important port? Do you think it's smart to try and go after a low-cost airline that caters to personal travelers, particularly when Cincinnati isn't a big origin and destination port?

I'm not sure if this is an accurate description. Obviously Hamilton County residents voted for the stadium sales tax increase, and I wouldn't be surprised if a higher percentage of those 'yes' votes came from inside the City rather than outside. It strikes me that most of the opposition to the streetcar project comes from people who live outside the City, and the opposition is therefore moot. And remember this project will proceed based on a vote in Council, not because of a City-wide referendum. I think the majority of City voters support the streetcar project and are generally satisfied with their local government. After all, they did just re-elect every member of Council.

As an enthusiast of Middle Eastern food, I think Andy's leaves much to be desired.

Walnut Hills and SCPA aren't technically magnet schools, even though they draw from the entire district.

Bear in mind that Cincinnati Public has plenty of magnet programs. You don't have to worry about sending your kid to a neighborhood school. Also, from what I've heard you can opt to have your kid go to the magnet school outside of your district if it helps achieve racial balance.

This is really cool. I wish the whole thread would download for me.

Yeah. This isn't going to happen. The only way to get more Ohio people running the airport is to create some sort of joint state authority like the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Also, it is sort of irrelevant. As long as the members of the Kenton County Airport Board have a regionalist vision, it would accomplish the same thing. Someone said that Kentucky law prohibits dedicated taxes for transit, so it seems to me that any rail line from the airport through downtown would have to be done in some manner like the PATH system.

^This is kind of like saying we are the center of bullshit. This idea of marketing being a science, if you look at the evidence, is largely anecdotal. I guess I've just been turned off the whole idea since they got rid of the Bud Bowl.

Farmland certainly isn't a natural state. It's as man made as any suburb. But farms certainly and suburbs certainly aren't interchangeable. I'd like to see a land use policy that discourages suburban sprawl, encourages local produce as well as diversified produce and also encourages reforestation for land that isn't productive. Building new sewers road and power lines for suburbs on farmland isn't adding value when empty lots and brownfield sites exist throughout major metropolitan areas.

While that new development looks better than most, I still find it to be sort of silly. If I were building free standing houses in Atlanta, I would use wood and incorporate some of the vernacular style, representative in the homes of Grant Park.

I'll say it again. The difference in focus and political risk in Cincinnati between the Luken/Lemmie administration that was in place just three years ago and the Mallory/Dohoney administration of today is revolutionary. I don't think I'm overselling it when I say it is better than ten Superbowls, all being played at the same time. Jmeck, how would that Zoo to Jefferson connection work? Isn't there a hollow in between the parking lot and Ruther Ave, or has that been filled in? Also, would there be no parking on Ruther?

Let's not forget that the type of people who live downtown and in OTR and the incomes they command as well are quite different from what was there in the 70s. Can I put in a plug for our seniors? I think dmerkow mentioned this somewhere recently. I know plenty of older and well-involved empty-nesters whose children have moved out of the house. These folks are very involved in the arts and cultural scene, and they have been moving downtown more and more now that high-end condos are available. Forcing people to drive their own automoblie to get anywhere is a terrible burden on our seniors, as well as children and teenagers (and obviously to those of limited means as well). DanB, one of the reasons the anti-streetcar people are so frustrating is because they don't stay on topic. Anyone who says that the funds for the streetcar would be better spent on more police or on the schools is immediately arguing without merit, since the funds available to build the streetcar can not, by law, be spent on either of those two areas. Those who argue for such things (and they seem to be the most popular choices for "better things to spend money on than the streetcar") either don't know the law or they do and are assuming that their audience doesn't. Both alternatives are highly discreditable. I love this idea. Surface lots are the biggest sign of urban decay in my opinion. I am working on creating an existing land-use map for my senior project of this area, and it is embarrassing how many surface lots are surrounding it. The Broadway Commons lot looks like it belongs in front of a walmart. The only good thing about all these surface lots is they offer a ton of design freedom for later development. You'd think the pro-streetcar advocates would hype this point more, or maybe it's getting drowned out. Saying that all the empty lots in OTR exceeds the acreage of Burnet Woods Park is a powerful rhetorical point.

Wow. At first I thought these guys were just hacks. But his deft command of transportation economics and land use policy, not to mention his ability to quote some of the great political and economic thinkers at length and from memory to bolster his argument is impressive. Next time I run out of toilet paper I guess I should just grab my college diploma.

As obnoxious as these guys and their opinion shows are, let's not forget that no one actually creates an opinion, or takes any action whatsoever, from any of the notions expressed on these shows. If they did, the city of Cincinnati would be an abandoned post-apocalyptic shell, while the surrounding suburbs would be an Eden of racial harmony filled with their original residents as well as refugees from the city who were finally able to escape the oppressive liberal governments that had held down the lowly city-dwellers for so long, with the new utopia all sustained by a pure and unadulterated capitalism. That's doesn't exist anywhere. Maybe China.

What are the chances the streetcar could go up to Clifton Road via Marshall and Probasco? Or bringing it through the Central Parkway Frisch's parking lot up one of those streets to Clifton Rd.?

^You know, I officially removed you from my "Problems with Cincinnati" List that day in the summer of '97, I believe, when I bumped into you downtown on 5th Street in front of the Carew Tower and I asked you, "What are you doing down here?" and you said, "Just walking around, hanging out." That's when I thought, "I think this is someone I can do business with." You might remember, they had that Indian cultural thing going on at the Convention Center?

This is the key point. It is unrealistic to assume that there is a form that is perfect and will exist for all eternity in its perfection. I remember Downtown Cincinnati in the 1980s and early 90s to be a happening place. Maybe it was just because I was a kid, but I don't remember Downtown suffering much until the mid-90s up until the present day (about 2006) and even then it was never as bad as the complainers have made it out to be. I think turning Fountain Square from an esplanade into a square was a huge aesthetic improvement (not that I was ever around for the esplanade, but I've seen pictures). It would be nice to think that the plans of individuals have the capacity to be incredibly transformative, that if we just did this, whatever this is, things would be alright, but that's not the way things work.

This is the exact same route for Phase B that I was arguing for privately with other members of this forum (although I would bring the route down Gilbert to Reading crossing at Elsinore, rather than through the Broadway Commons area). The advantage that this route has, I believe, is that if the economic stimulus of the streetcar can work for Over-The-Rhine, then why shouldn't it work for the areas it would pass through in Walnut Hills as well, which are quite similar to OTR in appearance and density. In addition, if it made sense, the circulator could later be easily connected in later phases to the Madison Road business corridor that was suggested in the GO recommendations.

Would you be willing to provide a link to both homes on the county auditor's website, so we can see the difference in assessed value? Because I'm skeptical that similar homes on similar parcels of land, directly across the street from one another but in different school districts vary that much in value. Property values are assessed by the county by a combination of similar sales prices and whatever rubric individual assessors have to guide their inspections. There is no direct correlation between being in a "good" school district or not, though one can assume that if such an influence exerts itself, it does through the purchase price of similar sales. DanB, have you ever noticed how you use lots of cliches and vague words to advance your argument? "Location, location, location", you say, and then you point to how people don't want to live on busy streets. But people do want businesses and apartments on busy streets, which is why those old mansions on Reading Road or Auburn Avenue, or homes near Hyde Park Square get converted into offices and apartments. Successful real estate investment, like any other business, requires that ones projected returns end up being more than ones initial costs, over time. So building a big apartment building in a field would probably be a bad investment, just as build a subdivision complete with cul-de-sacs and swimming pools at Broadway Commons probably wouldn't work either. Also, you keep harping on the idea that "good" city schools (without defining "good") is the factor that makes a city desirable. I don't see any specific evidence anywhere in the county that this is the case, nor have you provide any. Comparisons between Mariemont and Cincinnati (for example, or Green Township, which I am less familiar with) are ridiculous. A village of less than 5,000 residents and a city of over 300,000 residents don't compare on any level. Additionally, the highest property values per square foot in the region are all in the City of Cincinnati- downtown, Mt. Adams, Hyde Park, Clifton- these neighborhoods are consistently in demand and are competitive with any similarly sized areas in the region.

Transportation is a public service. Since Mr. Lahr doesn't mention any public service that he feels needs improvement aside from the public schools, it seems that he has no idea that none of the proposed money for the streetcar can be spent on the public schools. I think the quality of Cincinnati Public Schools has been hashed out on different threads. This guy you are quoting isn't particularly insightful. I don't understand his statement, "The magnet schools; how much is that worth when enrollment is limited? Do you really expect people to move here to gamble on getting their children into those programs?" Aren't the enrollments of private schools limited as well? I don't think that assuming that public schools exist solely as a safety net for the private schools is a correct assumption. And if it were, than it wouldn't be an issue. See, if public education is a default good, like say, public roads, than in order to live and work and comply with the law, one would have to pay the costs that the default good imposes (be it a crappy education or a car and gas and insurance and licenses and fees or the public bus system). I doubt it is people who have to take the bus to work that are complaining about the costs streetcar. It is those who make enough discretionary income to choose between the bus system, which is wholly public, and the public/private public road and automobile system, who for some reason wish to limit the choices of others, and the range of public services the City offers.

I'd say the problem with Cincinnati is the past 50 years of federal transportation and land use policy. And Mike Brown. And Phil Heimlich. And John Cranley, Leslie Ghiz, Alicia Reese, those guys from COAST, Buddy Grey, that president of Summit Country Day that tore down that house, Chris Monzel, Mercer Reynolds & Bill DeWitt Jr., Bill DeWitt Sr., the Luken family, Damon Lynch III, Christopher Smitherman, Pat DeWine, Bob Bedinghaus, Jeff Berding, Reggie Sanders (I'll never forgive that motherfucker for just disappearing during the 1995 postseason. I hate Ray Knight too), Ken Blackwell, Bill Seitz, Steve Chabot...

^I'd like to re-emphasize that we are all assuming that the leadership of Delta and Northwest actually know what they are doing, and what they are doing is for the long-term benefit of their companies. I think there is a very strong possibility that neither of those suppositions is true.