kjbrill

OK let's see how this plays out. Cranley was in Washington on Friday along with a couple dozen of new mayors. Was he there for anything constructive or just to spend some more of Cincinnati's money? He is just looking for any rathional to terminate the streetcar. His latest ploy to say private donations must be in place to guarantee the operating costs is just another flim-flam. I wish I thought a recall had a ghost of prayer to succeed, but I don't.

But THINK PEOPLE! The Feds have given a deadline of Dec 19th to affirm the completion of the streetcar or they will pull the Federal money. Cranley has stated he wants private funds committed for the completion by that date. There is no way in Hell that is going to happen. So what do you expect to happen? Cincinnati voters will confirm the completion of the streetcar without the Federal Grant? That is about as stupid as Cranley stopping it in the first place. Unless two council members change their mind quickly, it is a Dead Horse and Cincinnati is the laughing stock of the nation.

I do like looking at these boards for their entertainment value. But I have a simple question - for those advocating recall of Cranley, now many partitions have you circulated and how many signatures do you have? Talk is cheap, action is best, and time is short. Either a recall or a referendum has a short time frame, says the Feds, or they will pull their grant money. Frankly I think you say a lot, but the production will fall short. Sorry, just my belief.

I believe that is rediculous. The amount of traffic crossing the Brent Spence traveling between Cincinnati and CVG is miniscule. The Brent Spence traffic is a combination of local Cincinnati/NKY job commuters, product deliveries, and long distance tourist and truckers. If it were a significant factor, there is an easy way to solve it, force the airport traffic to take I-275 to the airport. How do you enforce that? Simple, cut some new roads from I-275 to the airport which have lane control only permitting I-275 as the egress vehicle. Can guarantee will not cost Billions. CVG is a world class facility in all regards. It has one of the most sophisticated systems in the world to prevent such items as airplane deicer for inclement weather from contaminating the groundwater. The runway system is superb and can accommodate the largest airliners currently being built. The problem with CVG is how to maintain its facilities through a period of reduced passenber utilization and therefore income. Advocating replacing CVG with some podunk regional airport with backwoods facilities to me is just simply asinine. If you want to be Big Leagues, then step up and act like it.

You made me to go and consult the article and a map to get my bearings straight. I agree this is not going to be a major factor on the Streets of West Chester, which in my mind was never a major development to begin with. I thought it interesting the realty company sold the property to Bass Pro for about what they bought it for 6 years ago. Not exactly the way to make a profit. But this should up more development along Allen Rd out to Cincinnati Dayton. I personally have enjoyed the developments along Union Centre Boulevard and we frequent them as much as anywhere else. The often renamed Forest Fair Village is likely reeling from this. Can't see how they can remain afloat. And you are right, you can just about hear the footsteps of the mechants leaving Tri-County. With the announcement of Dillard's moving to the new Liberty Square Center in Liberty Township, can Macy's be far behind?

I don't think many people are going to pay any attention to that. I have lived in the area for almost 40 years now, drive past the prison frequently, and literally pay no attention to it.

Yeah, well, he's not going to get it. No way would Eastern Corridor rail qualify. If Cincinnati kills the streetcar, you can kiss the other rail projects goodbye for the next couple of decades. If Cincinnati cannot even complete a starter streetcar project, who shoud any surrounding jurisdiction want to get involved in anything even remotely having rail in the name?

Is there really anyone out there who wants to stay behind this train wreck? Anyone who is behind cancellation of the streetcar, you are anti-growth for Cincinnati from any direction you want to measure it.

Saying what? That the costs of going uptown have to be considered. And the benefits of going Uptown. At this point, whether it is or is not extended to uptown to me is a mute point. The here and now is simply complete the downtown loop or cancel it and incur the loss. That is as far as the discussion needs to go. The downtown loop is under construction. Cancel it and become the laughingstock of the country or not - simple decision.

And this is what we have running CVG? Any wonder why it is not resulting in any benefit for Cincinnati? Get your act together Kenton County and decide where you are there to be a Good Old Boys reservation or actually something good for the entire community.

WOW they did it! Actually voted to suspend the streetcar. That is a simple step to STOP IT! Cincinnati, you have voted yourself back into the dark ages. Be proud of yourselves to have the distinction of the only city in the US to have stopped two mass transit projects mid-stream - the subway and the streetcar. Aren't you proud of yourselves?

The Sunday game was a bust in the 1st half. Dalton looked like a college freshman. The 2nd half was much better. I am impressed with the way the defense is playing overall considering the injuries they have had. There must be something to the talk about how good Zimmer is as a defensive coordinator. And Hawkins looks like a definite threat especially on those short crossing routes in the center of the field. Hawkins and Bernard give them the speed threat they have been lacking. Bernard reminds me of Ray Rice - where did he go? I am not saying he is as good as Rice, but he has definitely helped to turn up the running game. Dalton simply needs to recognize he has other good receivers out there and quit trying to force the ball to AJ Green. That one 1st half interception was not even worthy of a college freshman. Marvin Jones needs to get more touches. When a guy gets 4 TDs in one game, you need to get him the ball. That one TD where Gresham and Green crossed and the defense bit on Gresham giving Green probably the easiest TD catch of his career was a thing of beauty. Of course the Bengals had already given SD an absolutely easy TD right down the center of the field on a blown coverage. The end of this season should be exciting. Playing at home should help, but I am not one to count my chickens before they are hatched.

That can also have something to do with it! Avoiding security checks definitely affects boarding time. But my information says a charter is also limited in the number of flights they can operate out of a given airport, otherwise they must declare they are an airline, which to me is just common sense. I also feel Ultimate Air Shuttle has been operating as an airline, NOT a charter. Just see the ads they run in the Cincinnati area, does that sound like a charter to you? So they have been skating around the fringes of the regulations. The move to CVG is a simple expansion as they had exhausted their flight limit at Lunken. So do you really care about FAA regulations, or do you just want the cheapest flight?

I hope it's even more of a circus today than it was yesterday. This is stirring up something. I was amazing by all of the pro-streetcar coverage yesterday, and was especially impressed by Eric Avner's (Haile Foundation) letter. We need to keep the heat turned up. Our best hope right now is that the detractors on council aren't as unified as they let on. We need one of them to recognize the groundswell of support the streetcar is getting and/or that there is no benefit to cancelling the project at this stage. I have to agree with your position. I only have one question, where were all of these supporters on election day? I am reminded of the old saying - A Day Late and a Dollar Short. That may be the case here. The only hope I have here is that Cranley has trained himself to be a career politician. So his sights are obviously beyond the Mayor of Cincinnati. My guess is the next step is the statehouse, possibly as Governor. Then it will either be the US Senate or directly as a Presidential candidate. Obviously he possesses the skills to flimflam people. This is my best guess. After their independent audit, Cranley will come back and state due to the overcommitments by the prior administration. the cost to cancel is prohibitive so we are reluctantly obligied to continue with the streetcar so as to not to waste the citizens money. This does several things: (1) They can claim we are saving a bad investment by the prior administration so it is not a total waste. (2) Everytime a budget problem comes up, they can lay the blame on the excessive costs of the streetcar. (3) If the streetcar proves successful, they can simply state it was the will of the people. How can a politician lose in this environment? He will gauge the public reaction and act accordingly. If his early feedback is negative, he will go ahead with the streetcar. He always has in his back pocket the See I Told You So if the final construction, operating costs, whatever exceed the projections. This is the sign of a professional politician which the public does not seem to understand. They care less about the public good, only their personal gain. But they are smart enough to convince you they give a damn about your situation.

From your analysis, it seems like tunneling to create a bike trail on top is completely rediculous. Of course I would have guessed that. Tunneling techniques have definitely improved, but the cost is still near the stratosphere. But I feel the damaging show currently going on with the new mayor and council in Cincinnati will have a far more negative effect on rail in Greater Cincinnati. I know people contend it is not a city project. But what would the Wasson Rd project do, dump people off at the top of Walnut Hills? Then what do they do? If they could just jump on a streetcar, OK could be workable. But to get those trains downtown requires at least the cooperation of the City and somehow I just do not see that coming in the near future. Perhaps the focus should be shifted to going along the river. At least some existing right-of-way may get to the underused Transit Center. But frankly I feel the damage is currently being done. If Council is successful in stopping the streetcar, which they seem Hell-bent on doing, the public taste for rail in this area is going to drop considerably. OK, we are the ridicule of the nation as the only city to have TWO failed rail transit projects - the Subway AND the Streetcar. Spmehow I just don't see anyone in Cincinnati itself or the Metro willing to gamble on a THIRD one anytime soon. On top of it all, there is NO MONEY out there to do any of it. Of coure this is just my opinion. Feel free to jump in an declare how all of this construction is going to get done.

It is more than unsettling, it is vomit inducing. All of the positive things Cincinnati has been creating in the past 10 years are about to be set back 20. I do not live in the City and do not apologize for that, but you Idiots in Cincy hope you enjoy what you have put in motion. And you have FOUR YEARS of it to endure.

I would say the recent election is a harbinger for Lunken. The new mayor, who cannot even recognize a positive for the City in the streetcar, is not about to support an expansion of Lunken, and neither do I but for different reasons. Lunken supports Cincinnati's business community extremely well. They have a convenient location for takeoffs and landings. The total time cycle is way below the average commercial airport. This pleases both the executives and the lower level employees flying on the corporate jets. So DAMMIT, LEAVE THE SITUATION ALONE! It is working well. For those wanting Cincinnati to reap more out of Lunken, have you ever been there? It has a couple of huge levies to protect it from flooding with the Little Miami and Ohio rivers. And on occasion these are not enough. It is in a river valley surrounded by hills which produce many heavy fog days. Do you like flying in fog, I did not. Give it up people. Recognize Lunken for what it is, a tremendous asset for Cincinnati in its relationship with the business community. Stop trying to make it a destination for family vacation discount airlines. This makes no sense to the future of the City.

Well the death knell has finally rung. The Blue Ash airport is totally shut down and construction is happening on the acreage sold off to Blue Ash for a great new city park. It is just another feather in Blue Ash's bonnet. My question is why Cincinnati is hanging on to the remainder of the airport property? It is not within the City's boundaries and likely never will be. Is Cincinnati hoping for a commercial developer to offer them a better price or just waiting for Blue Ash to get their finances in order and buy the rest?

As I undestand it Ultimate is limited in the number of flights they can operate from a given airport by the FAA due to the fact they state they are a charter rather than a regular airline. I understand operating out of CVG is strictly a maneuver to get more Cincinnati flights. If that is true I don't know why they would not just declare they are a regular airline, though I do not know what ramifications there might be in fees, etc. If anyone knows the whole skinny on this please post it here.

Not only that, but he used to be a BIG supporter. I remember him coming to lots of No on 9 events during that election as he was trying to get elected with the pro-streetcar crowd at that time. In fact, I spoke with him personally on several occasions and he was all for it. I think he switched camps just to get himself elected. Now we can only hope that he will do the thing politicians are best at doing and not stick to his campaign promises. Do you mean what politicians do best, disavow any connection with their former heartfelt statements? It is all about the here and now, anything tzhey may have said before is strictly heresay.

Yes, you will starve on those kinds of numbers. I do hope they keep their heads above water, as the business community needs a less costly airline for the short trips to New York and Chicago. The major airlines like Delta have been relying far too long on their high profit business travel. There is one simple step business could take to hold down their cost of airline travel - declare any frequent flyer miles earned by travel on a business paid ticket belongs to the business. This would be perfectly legal. Combine this with a cash bonus paid on the reduced cost of travel based on airline ticket and hotel cost and I can just about guarantee an immediate reduction in business travel cost.

But the only thing of significance in this thread is that USA3000 once touted as a fair-haired prodegy went Kaput! That is the main message.

I just love the statement the City has little to do with this project. What? The purpose is to connect the eastern suburbs to the City. If the City is not behind it, how far to you think it will get? I will stand by my statement if the streetcar gets cancelled, this project will not see the light of day for another 20 years.

I would say the recent Cincinnati election bring a slate of anti-streetcar people onto City council and mayor does not forebode well for any rail project in the area in the near future.

As long as the City is handing out money, why not put your hand in there early. If you can get $14Mil for the 4th and race project, why not try for more to replace the los of Saks? Can't blame anyone for trying.