kjbrill

One politician pledging something to another is not a conspiracy. It is simply politics as usual.

Apparently this project just fell off the face of a cliff. After 4 years nothing has happened. When the Kennedy connector is completed that may rejuvenate something. It better rejuvenate something at a price tag of $35 million.

I found it very difficult to view the Phase I actual layout on a small screen. Looked like a bunch of ants walking over my screen. But once I zoomed in enough to actual read the printing, I saw parking garage after parking lots everywhere. I did not take the time of count them all, but there are many. That should thrill the urbanists, parking everywhere you look. Hard to decipher the actual traffic flow, but with all of those garages and lots there has to be some conjestion somewhere. But I have to admit it looks like a more coordinated plan than the mish-mash of what already exists around the I-75/Tylersville interchange area. But why would anyone in their right mind want to actually live there? The Banks downtown is a totally different proposition in my view. First of all it is downtown. Second of all it is close to the river and the new parks. Third it is right next to the CBD. But this is going to just be some apartments crammed into a suburban shopping area, no matter how many restaurants or other attractions they claim are there. Just two miles to the east off Butler-Warren Rd are some very large and nice apartment complexes with all of the amenities, exercise rooms, pools, outdoor walking areas, etc. I guess my complaint concerns the so-called mix-used claims. Just because you mix things up doesn't mean to me they are either attractive or desirable. Why in the world would I want to live in the middle of a suburban retail shopping complex? For that matter, why would I want to work in an office on top of a suburban retail complex? Any especially one there is nowhere else I can go except to get in my car and drive, after I find my car. I have no doubt this will be a successful enterprise, except for the residential portion. Still cannot understand the logic behind that. I will continue to go to the Deerfield Towne Center for much of my shopping for one specific reason, I can usually identify the store I want to visit, find a parking space close by, park visit the store and get my objective, and then leave. You can call it sprawl or whatever you want, I simply call it convenience. But I am pretty sure I will not call it urban.

Just another comment. If this tech company is successful they should go to ODOT and ask for the cfhance to do the same think at the I-71/Fields Ertel interchange area, before they start building ODOT's latest brainstorm for the area.

At least they admitted there is a problem. Now let's see if they can effectively solve it just via traffic light control. I would think that would require some sophisticated measurements of traffic volume, where backups are, etc.

Every time I read something about Liberty Center it gets bigger. It started out being talked about as a 64 acre development. It is now up to over 100 acres. Steiner & Associates, Butler County, and Liberty Twp signed the master development agreement just 6 days ago. What has been announced is if Steiner fails to complete their part of the development ownership with revert to the county. That is unique. It is described as a contained development of an open air design and lots of pedestrian traffic. 100 acres is a quite large containment. The artist renderings show up to 3 story free-standing buildings with brick and concrete streets and sidewalks surrounding, complete with on street parking. Will be interesting to see what is actually built. Artist renderings are nice to sell a concept, but you need actual architectural drawings to build. I still can't find much on the traffic layout and how they plan on getting the cars in and out of the contained area plus park them.

Everybody get ready to pay that additional 0.5% sales tax at Liberty Center to pay for the public infrastructure improvements. What a crock that is. I always thought a developer was to pay for improvements out of what they charged for and made off the property. It seems like sales tax is the new pay for everything media, from stadiums to mass transit. I can understand certain public works projects, but how is a massive shopping center construed as a public works? I doubt whether a .5% sales tax is going to deter anyone from shopping there. I just abhor the traffic conjestion it is going to bring to close where I live. This I-75 area is going to make I-71/Fields Ertel look like it was designed by geniuses. The only impact on my wife and I will be quit going to Meijer over on Tylersville west of I-75, which is already a mess, and just go to Kroger less than 2 miles from our house.

I don't have any specific reason to continue to rag on Austin Landing. I just say as it goes on the scale is about what I expected - large. The infill between it and Dayton Mall is just more sprawl. Can't see where anything is being achieved other than more farm land loss.

But on this subject I don't believe the sunrise is coming anytime soon.

I think you will find out the so-called RJ, anywhere from 30, to 50, to 70 seats is biting the dust. They are just not fuel efficient. So as fuel costs rise they are disappearing. Comair was one of the pioneers of the RJ and flew many of the 50 and 70 passenger models. They were one of the biggest customers of Bombardier out of Canada who built them. Since Comair bit the dust, just how many articles have you read concerning these RJs? They may be shipping them down to South America or somewhere, but I hear very little about anyone operating them in the US. I think you are on the wrong page. The RJ, or regional jet, is being phased out all over. Remember Comair, remember Concourse C at CVG? These were all designed around the RJ, and more specifically the product of Bombardier of Canada. Comair was their biggest customer. The reason the RJ is disappearing from airline usage is due to their terrible fuel consumption. As airline fuel prices have gone up their favor has gone down. Correct analysis. CVG may really be in trouble in the next 5 years as Delta has indicated they will remove all 50 seaters from the fleet and move to large regional jets (70+ seats) & small mainline jets like the Boeing 717.

I believe bids on public projects are a take it or leave it thing. I do not believe a negotiation process is included. That is the whole purpose of a closed, sealed bid. You have you chance, put in a bid. Where does it say in the specifications you will have the opportunity to negotiate the various line items in your bid? The City could go back and break the specifications down into separate finite elements and then reissue the whole process for separate bids, delaying everything. In my experience this usually actually drives the bid costs up, as companies anticipate only a partial award affecting their cost efficiency. Many years ago the company I was employed with received a bid request from the US military for machinery, all alike. The bid specified you could submit a quote on varying quantities on the total to be delivered. At that time it was a huge order for all of the participants. We discussed how to formulate our bid. Many argued to aim at 25% of the quantity, figuring they would split the order between at least 4 competitors. I argued for a No-Bid response for all of the lesser quantities and a single bid for the whole shooting match. And it went into quite an argument. My points were 1) Who of our competitors are capable of producing the entire order in the delivery time-frame? and 2) Who of our competitors can come close to the unit cost we will quote on the whole shebang? Finally the company President agreed it was all or nothing. We got the order. I have to admit in some areas it put us back as our capacity was fulfilled for several years and we had to send business our competitors way. But the order we received required technology well beyond our standard product and the money to pay for it. That single order set us aside from our competitors for several years.

So what are the options for the City? Turn down all bids as being excessive and reissue the bidding process, delaying everything? Accept one of the bids and go forward? I believe the whole purpose of a public bidding process is they cannot choose bits and pieces. I believe they can take exception to how specific items in the bids were worded if they believe they do not conform to the project specifications. But typically this is only done to justify ignoring a low bid as being non-conforming. Any way you want to cut it, this seems to be sending the project costs upward, certainly not good news. As for the City-Duke announcement is was a two-in-one. Yes they announced an operating agreement. But they also announced handling the payment for utility relocation over to the court. I don't consider that an agreement but rather a cop out. Regardless, don't blame us, blame the court.

I think you are on the wrong page. The RJ, or regional jet, is being phased out all over. Remember Comair, remember Concourse C at CVG? These were all designed around the RJ, and more specifically the product of Bombardier of Canada. Comair was their biggest customer. The reason the RJ is disappearing from airline usage is due to their terrible fuel consumption. As airline fuel prices have gone up their favor has gone down.

I take Ultimate Air Shuttle out of Lunken for work pretty often. It’s great, you walk right in, the pilot checks you in, and you get on the plane and leave a few minutes later. Even though CVG has very quick security lines, it still takes time to get all the way out there, park, take the shuttle bus, etc. Lunken should be able to handle a few commercial flights a week without many upgrades. I’ve been to smaller airports in rural areas that function almost exactly the same way, with 1 or 2 Delta flights in and out per day. The TSA lines are open for about 30 minutes and everyone gets checked in quickly. It is actually very efficient when everyone is just getting on the same plane at one gate. And as for baggage, those places usually just offload it onto a flat carrier, and drive it around to the terminal exit. I understand the Ultimate Air Shuttle and the reasons it may be attractive for a short business trip. I spent enough time in airports to recognize however you can reduce time spent there the better. But a vacation oriented airline? A reduced cost vacation says to me a lot of kids and luggage. My wife always had to carry half the house and the kitchen sink when we went on vacation. Lunken is simply not equipped for this kind of operation. They want to operate 160 passenger planes on the route. That is more than twice the RJ-70s I used to fly out of CVG to Canada. That is not a small RJ. I just hope Cincinnati considers what they are getting themselves into before they agree to such an arrangement. Cincinnati is not in the commercial airline business and they should not be.

How long has it been, if ever, since you took a flight out of Lunken? A commercial airfield it is NOT. There has been an operation called Ultimate Air Shuttle operating out of Lunken to both NYC and Chicago for some time now, flying 30 passenger jets. For a one day business trip it may make sense, with nothing more than a brief case with you. Just pray the weather lets you get back the same day. About 50 years ago I flew out of Lunken for awhile on a small charter. The President of my then employer thought it was a great idea as they would give him free flying lessons for our business, which he never completed. Arrive at Lunken around 6:00AM and the pilot would ask where are you all going? Well I am going to NYC, another to Buffalo, another to Green Bay, another to St Louis, another to New Orleans. What an absolute mess. Spend well over a half day in the Eastern US and not get to your destination. There were reasons the airlines left Lunken and they will not go back. If they are so cheap they will fly out of Lunken I do not want to fly them as I have little confidence in their compentency.

Just saw the announcement by the City today of the 3 bids they received to actually construct the streetcar. They range from $71M to $87M, quite a spread. The original estimate for this section of the streetcar was $95M. Then it was bumped to $110M. These construction bids, on the low end bring the current cost to $128M, not including the contested Duke utility relocation cost of $15M. If the court decides the City is liable for this we are up to $143M. And actual construction has not even begun. How many construction projects do you know where cost overruns due to unforseen circumstances does not increase the cost? I seems to me that OTR, including the areas near Music Hall and the reconstructed Washington Park have been doing just fine. The justification for the streetcar has been to spur economic development. It seems to me that by the time the damn thing gets built the economic development will be over and done with. So just what is the City going to receive for this ever increasing cost?

You may call it clever, I call it dispicable and immoral.

Once the casino opens, who has a prediction as to the casinos across the border in Indiana? I predict they will be fairly rapidly on life support? If you think this is wrong - Why?

To me this should be declared out and out discrimination, illegal, and unconstitutional. How can you exempt white-collar employees from an income tax when the rank and file working in a fast food restaurant, etc. are subject to it? Just another way for the wealthy to escape paying their fair share of taxes. I hope these loopholes are just declared unconstitutional and shut down.

Can we get back to Austin Landing at some point? Start a Mason thread or something. Sure, I did not start the off topic drift towards Mason. But if addressed I will respond. If you think I will not respond to derogatory remarks about Mason, think again. I am happy to confine remarks to Austin Landing. I also am not just disparaging Austin Landing. I just wish people would recognize it for what it is, a major endeavor by Montgomery Co. to capitalize on the developable land surrounding the interchange.

If that is enough to put Cranley in there with his stop the streetcar stance, I feel very bad about Cincinnati. Let's have both a failed subway and a failed streetcar. The citizens may have to speak up for the third time, and I hope they speak loud and clear.

Maybe you should look again. The number of building lots available in Mason is down to a few. If you drive around town, what appear to be vacant lots are actually in Deerfield Twp., not Mason. Mason is ringed with a ribbon of Deerfield Twp., a rather curious result. There is some amount of vacant land on the northeast corner of the city, but it is reserved for industrial park development. So yes, Mason is close to being built-out far as residential goes. As far as the two I-71 exits, one was specifically for Kings Island when it was not part of Mason. And I for one keep arguing it does not have to be expanded into a full interchange as it is not necessary. It is the Kings Island exit, not the Mason exit. Just look at the ramps, they dump you on and off at Kings Island Drive, not Mason. Mason now uses them, but they were not built to serve Mason.

Sorely needed in terms of improving access and quality of life for nearby residents. Having lived in Dayton, and having dealt with congestion in the area, to me it makes sense. Is it critical? Not at all. On a speculative side note, I wouldn't be surprised if Lexus Nexus had influence on things, since their employees benefit from it as well. I would suggest the businesses and people living there relocate near an existing highway exit, if that's something they require. The state is not obligated to provide them with such amenities. I see this as a form of entitlement spending which is a drain on the region on several fronts. State investment in a business and residential boom in this area only drains from nearby business and residential areas, while increasing the amount of infrastructure that must be maintained over time. It subsidizes and rewards antisocial lifestyle and business decisions. Brill is right on some of these topics, though Mason is just as guilty. You can see why someone from Mason would be especially threatened by state subsidies in an area like this. Just about anything drawing people to Mason could be cloned in this area, creating competition and vacancies and decreasing land values in Mason. Please detail how Mason has benefited from state highway subsidies. Mason has two exits on I-71. The original was the Kings Mill Rd exit constructed when the highway was originally built. The second is the Kings Island, Western Row exit constructed with the establishment of Kings Island which was not even in Mason. True, it has subsequently been annexed to Mason on request of the owners who feared the taxes a brand new city proposed in Deerfield Twp. which failed may bring. The success of Mason does have a lot to do with location. But more than that it has to do with a dedicated city staff who created an effective master plan for growth, had the foresight to set aside park and industrial park lands, developed the city infrastructure, and worked with the school board to create one of Ohio's best school districts. At this point, Mason is effectively built out. Other than further annexation of Deerfield Twp. (I can hear the bawling now), Mason is at its peak. Am I concerned about Mason - no way. When you live in what several publications have identified as one of the best 20 suburbs in the US to live in, how can your be pessimistic? The real strengths of Mason are its residential neighborhoods and the schools. These two entities define Mason. The residential neighborhoods define the schools, and the schools define Mason. At my age I am just hanging on and we are enjoying everything such as the Community Center they give to us seniors. Quite frankly we love it here and I don't expect any radical changes. That doesn't mean I do not have opinions concerning developments. Pure conjestion is annoying. We will sometimes go to Costco down in the Fields Ertel/Mason Montgomery mess. We try to minimize the visits as it is about as pleasant as a tooth extraction.

I think they already stopped using the Tram. It wasn't running the past few times I have been there. No, both trams are running. When Councourse A was closed, only one tram was running, but now that everything's in Terminal 3, both trams are running. No, actually CVG's long-term plan is to stop operating the underground train altogether and connect the terminal to Concourse A with a skywalk. Concourses B and C are to be demolished in the long term. Aren't you glad the airport's Board of Directors is making an active effort to shrink the airport rather than attempt to grow it? Please advise the source of this information. I absolutely cannot fathom they are planning the demolition of Concourse B, it is beautiful. Concourse C I can see, as it was a cheap construction to serve Comair plastered out in the middle of the tarmac, with stupid shuttle bus access. And why stop the tram between the main terminal and concourses A & B. It exists and is reliable. I am not aware of any exhorbitant maintenance or operating costs associated with it. So why would it be abandoned? So please cite your sources as I believe several of us just think you made this up. ...or I just looked at documents that are publicly available on CVG's website. As you can see, the "Preferred 2035 Alternative" shows that Concourse B is demolished, Coucourse A is expanded, and there's a new connection between the Terminal and Concourse A. In the top left alternative, they have extended Concourse A west and chopped off the eastern parts of both Concourses A and B. In the bottom right alternative, they've demolished the whole thing and started over. I don't believe it is worth getting excited over someone's 2035 concept drawings at this time.

If you fly long enough you will have some incidences. One of my first was a last minute decision to go to Pittsburgh on business, where I had to take whatever connections were available. I took an early evening flight out of CVG on an old DC-3 to Charleston WV where I would change to a French Caravelle Jet for the flight to Pittsburgh. By the time we got to Charleston it was storming like mad and everything was delayed. So I am sitting and waiting when I suddenly notice airport personnel scurrying all over the place. Something was up but they weren't saying. After awhile it was announced a Piedmont plane which had taken off earlier had flown smack into a mountain about 30 miles from the airport. Then they announced boarding for the Caravelle. After boarding the pilot taxied the Caravelle to the end of the runway and off onto the grass where he turned into position back to the runway. We waited while a couple of other flights landing came in over our heads. Then the pilot informs the flight attendants over the intercom to prepare for departure. I could hear the engines rev and the plane lurch, it was obvious he had the wheel brakes on. He released the brakes, we bumped across the grass and onto the runway when he threw the engines to full power. I honestly think he was concerned about the length of the runway. We basically flew up the Ohio River to Pittsbugh where we make a left turn toward the airport. The storms had kicked up in intensity and I could feel the pilot fighting the wind. I was looking out the window and thought there's a runway with the landing lights on. I think that is where we are supposed to land but the plane is at right angle to the runway. The pilot managed to wrestle it around, keep level, and slam it down on the runway. I was spending the night at an airport hotel and couldn't wait to get there before the bar closed. Another incident was an evening flight from CVG to Kansas City. Everything seemed normal and I could tell we were starting our approach. Suddenly we pull out of our approach and begin circling. The pilot comes on the intercom and informs we have a situation. He does not have the indicator conformation the landing gear is down and locked. I can hear the motors on the landing gear as he cycles it a couple of times. Then he comes back on the intercom and informs us we are going to make a low level pass over the control tower in the hope they can get a visual indication of the landing gear. So we make our pass over tower. They can only confirm the gear is down but not whether it is locked. The pilot again informs us we will be going into a circular pattern at a higher altitude while they prepare the airport for an emergency landing. I can tell what the pilot is doing, he is going to a higher level to dump fuel down to a minimum level required for landing. He comes on again to say we are making our final approach for landing and to follow the flight attendants for the head between the knees position for a crash landing. I swear they had every piece of fire equipment in Kansas City lining that runway which was also coated several feet deep with foam. We came in with foam flying everywhere, touched down and everything was fine. But I know I was weak in the knees when it came time to get off the plane.