TroyEros

The geo tag is off. There's alot of places on Instagram tagged in the wrong areas. Plus it wouldn't make sense to have a restaurant there. There is literally nothing but blight there currently in the west end. It's definitely in otr but I can't figure out where.

Does anyone know where this is/details about the project: It's from joseph creighton (the owner of cheapside), but it's not the new ice cream place on main st, nor is it his new bar mecca on walnut. I can't really decipher where that is, but the only the thing I understand is that it will be a restaurant/bar. Also the brush factory is also opening up an otr store front location, but I don't know where that will be either.

Um, do you not understand that that is simply a matter of appropriately funding operation of the system? That Cranley succeeded in getting as few streetcars running as possible under the guidelines of the federal grants? If we can get him out of there, then this thing can be adequately funded and we can 3-4-5 streetcars all the time. This thing could have the #1 ridership of any new streetcar system in the country, and there could be a push to buy a sixth car so that we can run 5 more often. Also, the real-time arrival information is borderline irrelevant. When I was a kid, my dad used to catch the bus next to a telephone pole with an orange stripe. Metro didn't even have those route markers with the bus numbers on them that they have now. If people can see a streetcar coming, then they know it's almost there. If it's out of sight, then they're waiting at least 5 or 10 minutes. Not hard to figure out. No the real time tracking is INCREDIBLY relevant. People want to know whether they should say screw it and wait it out, or just walk. If I knew a street car was coming at such and such time, I might go and grab a coffee at a nearby cafe in OTR. I'll keep myself occupied at the very least. But not knowing when the street car coming is incredibly frustrating. It makes the wait feel that much longer.

I hate to admit it, but I understand the anti street crowd a little bit now. We created a really expensive system, that is slow, and has incredibly long intervals. The worst part is that simple stuff, that would seem like no brainers like having real time eta's on the street car, and being able to purchase a ticket on board the street car is not even implemented! A part of me wish we could've perhaps pushed harder for high speed rail instead. If this issue with the intervals don't get fixed, it will absolutely kill the street car. I can get over the fact that the street car isn't the fastest thing in the world. But I can't get over waiting over 20 minutes for a street car to arrive (especially when I can walk from OTR to the banks in the same time it would take for me to wait). Hopefully these kinks will get worked out, but it sounds like this is not something that will be fixed quickly.

Wait, we have only 2 street cars running in the evening? What about the weekends? If so that's absolutely crazy. These long intervals feel as if it was done on purpose to kill the street car. What's going to happen when winter rolls around? Do we really expect people to stand in the freezing cold and wait 20+ minutes for a street car? I just don't understand how we don't have shorter frequencies in place.

Trust me, it's not just Cincinnati. Since moving to NYC I've begun noticing just how much of a headache anything related to the subway is. Everything comes in WAY over budget, way behind schedule, and then immediately has problems. Or you have situations like the L tunnel between Brooklyn and Manhattan planned to be shut down for 18 months straight stranding hundreds of thousands of people from their jobs in Manhattan and the MTA's response so far has generally been, "lol not our problem." Cincinnati is still new to fixed mass transit. It has been 5 days into operations. These things will get sorted out. I hope so. It's just more frustration that instead of figuring out how to get this to uptown, we are still stuck on why we need more than 2 street cars running for a big event. I understand there are huge economics in play, and it's not a simple subject. But still, I wish we can move past the subject of whether this street car is even necessary, or will still be alive within a year, and we can have our city leaders start at least a small CONVERSATION about brain storming possible new extensions, and how to get the appropriate funds to do so. I'm just tired of all this drama I guess.

To be fair though, Atlanta and DC already had quite an extensive line of rapid transit before the introduction of street cars. Honestly, if Cincinnati had an extensive network of rapid transit already laid out, that hit the key points of the city, I don't know if I would be totally on board with a street car system myself (mainly due to the high cost, and the long wait time for a street car per stop). My point though, is that those mentioned cities (aside from KC, Detroit would've already been there if hadn't been in a economic coma for the past decade) already had a foundation laid out years ago that helped connect the city with rapid transit. Cincinnati has only caught up in the most slightest way, with this new short street car route, and instead of saying, "Hey lets make this city great. Lets take it to new heights. Lets get this place to become rivals with places like Atlanta, Chicago, Philly. Lets build this city and have it soar." Instead our leaders are like..."Why do you guys even want a street car? Don't you know we have great surface lots. We tear down old buildings about once a year for you guys to have more parking!" I just guess I'm tired of this backward mentality. We are far behind with our public transit, and have caught him in a slight way. But even now, instead of pushing further. Instead of saying, okay, what's next, how do we increase ridership, how do we get extensions, how do we take this new form of public transit and have it soar? Instead, it's a constant back and forth of city leadership asking how the hell does this street car exists, and why we need to even run it all during big events. I guess it's just disheartening that you have so many residents, especially millennials, have so much new found passion for this city, and want to see it continue to grow and become something truly great, but leadership is constantly asking why you want this city to be great when it can simply just be okay. It's frustrating when you love your city so much, but we keep electing people who have this mentality, of "I don't give a damn about progress, I just want to maintain the status quo".

I don't understand why other mid sized cities in the US don't have this much headache, but here in Cincinnati it's like utter chaos. How the hell did it get like this? It's just utterly sad and somewhat disgusting that we aren't raising our voices more about this. Other cities are size have far outgrown us in public transit, and it's normal for them. But here in cincinnati? It's like, why do you need anything other than a car and a bus? Who ever laid the foundation for that mentality needs a bruising.

I hope I heard this wrong, but on 700 wlw they were saying only 2 street cars operate on the weekend? That's not true, right?

Yeah, if nothing else, wait times will put a HUGE dent on the long term success of the street car. Especially if a good chunk of the street car paying crowd is lunch goers from the CBD. Real time info, and shorter street car intervals are an absolute MUST. Especially as we are nearing winter. People will absolutely not wait more than 15 minutes in the freezing cold for a street car.

That seems fairly easy to implement as well. Not sure why that isn't a feature?

I don't know how much the budget is truly shoe stringed though. They had plenty of opportunities to downscale the entire project but are pretty keen on keeping the project high density.

For those who are curious, Source 3 development Elm and Liberty project is on page 101 of the packet http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/buildings/historic-conservation/historic-conservation-board/september-12-2016-staff-report-and-attachments/ The design is final. Apparently a mural will go up on the garage facade as well to hide the blankness of it.

Jmicha I think your standards are higher, which isn't a bad thing of course. Infill is always a tricky subject, especially when you are dealing with these massive supersized lots. I agree with your statement that it can elevate above, and be "truly inspired", rather than be inspired in such a finicky way. That said, I still think it looks rather decent. At the very least it's better than the Gateway Garage project, and the Mercer Commons project, and is a project that is high density and will be home to hundreds of new residents to that block of elm. Again, in no way, shape, or form do I think this project is ideal. But at the same time, I still even with all of it's "faux" inspiration, it will still look rather solid on that block of elm.

I don't know. I'm just an average joe who knows nothing about the in's and out's of architecture (other than what I've learned through these forums of course). To me it looks like a mixture of classic (with the brick facade, cornices) features of OTR, with some modern touches. Just going off the rendering it looks like it should at least somewhat blend in with the existing brick buildings found on elm street. I don't think it looks perfect, but at the same time I think saying it looks garbage and only a touch above the U-Square is a bit harsh. U-Square looks completely uninspired. At least this project feels like it's taking inspiration from OTR's existing fabric. Again, I know nothing. But that's just my average joe, "eye's" talking.

Is 16k good for opening day? It sounds good to me, but at the same time I don't know what to compare it to either.

I know in the past this project was compared to the uptown u square project, but looking at the renderings, I can't help but feel that this project has much more thought behind it, especially in regards with blending the historical features of OTR. It doesn't feel just simply slapped together is what I'm saying. At the very least it should blend more with the surrounding buildings compared to he Mercer Commons building, or the Gateway Garage building on Vine Street. Plus its nice to have a project that cares about density.

Exactly. I'm really happy with what the street car provides. I love how it takes the CBD and essentially breathes new life into it. Just simply seeing the street cars passing by, full of people is really a sight to behold in it's own right. An I feel ultimately you are taking parts of Cincinnati like the CBD, and North of Liberty OTR, and exposing these areas to people who may have never thought about exploring these areas before. I also agree with how it's convenient. Especially for events, or if I want to go to the Cincinnati Library, and grab a meal in OTR, I don't have to worry about walking all of those blocks. I just hop on and go. That said, and this is my main point, and my main grievance. The street car isn't about getting me from point A to point B in the fastest manner possible. Which is fine, I understand that's not the purpose for which it was built. That said, I think that factor will turn SOME people off. An that's why I wish, one day, we can perhaps revisit the old subway tunnels and allow for rapid transit to key attraction nodes in our city, and beyond. Again, the street car is awesome for various reasons. But the detraction of speed, traffic, and constant stops can be a major detractor for some riders. Hopefully we can have a type of rapid transit transportation that can have us hop onto an OTR station, and have us arrive to the Banks, or UC in less than 2-3 minutes flat. That's my big, "pie in the sky" dream at least.

Also, the garage building on E 13th street is submitting plans for a rear addition, and a pergola. The developer wants to build a store front, and have a back patio for what I'm assuming is a bar/restaurant. Good use of that space in all honesty, and will be great to see that street see more pedestrian activity, and hopefully more development with rehabs of the existing cluster of buildings that are in pretty bad shape there.

So source 3 elm and liberty project was in the latest HCB. I can't exactly understand if the design was approved or not? There were a lot of letters that continues to pan the design. In all honesty though the new rendering looks pretty decent to me. Brick facade, and is also including cornices with their buildings, that's already better than most infill in OTR. Apparently the overall height of the project hasn't changed much either, which I guess is a good thing and a bad thing depending on how you want to look at it.

I love how if there is an unpopular opinion or comment about the streetcar it becomes automatically shunned as idiotic or not real. I am supportive if the streetcar and enjoy that we have this in our city. But if we are being real, this is a bus on an electric wire with a more comprehensive and simplified route. I really enjoy that aspect, since buses feel like mazes sometimes to navigate your destination. But the stops, the general allowed speed and the high peak traffic makes the street car an annoyance. It's the best option we have, and I'm glad that it exists. But if I was in a rush and had to get to OTR to say the GE building down by the banks, I don't really think using the streetcar is the most quickest option, and would probably simply drive and park in the parking garage by the banks.

I'm definitely on board with John Schneider's idea about the tunnel now. If I lived in OTR and worked at uc or one of the hospitals, I'd like to get there as fast as possible. If we created a simple street car extension to UC, I imagine the ridership will still be there, but not as high as it could be due to the sheer slow speed of these vehicles. Also I'm not sure how much traffic would play a factor either. If it's anything like how it currently is on walnut St then no thank you.

For some reason the city feels more alive with these street cars. I even feel there were more pedestrians in the cbd than normal. I feel like the street car is ultimately connecting the attraction nodes of our city and our encouraging to people to explore a little bit more, rather than stay isolated to one area like say the banks or otr. I know in general that it will be a great tool for tourism, since alot of our attractions are hit along the route stops. I guess a union terminal extension, and a new port ky extension would be nice down the line as well.

That's the main reason why I enjoyed the street car. I never felt lost about where I was, and was mostly think less. It did its job, it transported me. That said if there was high speed rail already in Cincinnati I would probably never use the street car. The wait intervals suck, especially if the weather outside isn't favorable for waiting. Plus, I do think it's slow to get from stop to stop, especially in heavy traffic. But it's the best we can do for now and I appreciate it for what it is. But I do wish we can get a form of high speed rail in the near future.

I'm just afraid of how truly of a success this will be. The 1st day was packed obviously, but I'm sure that had more to do with curiosity + excitement. I imagine alot of the workers in the CBD will use the street car for lunch hour to get to OTR/Findley Market. I imagine on the weekends it will be packed, especially for reds/bengals game, and OTR beer hopping. I'm just concerned on the weekdays. The population who live downtown and OTR is really tiny. Can the street car really support the needed numbers to be a success? I even noticed as it got later in the afternoon today, the street cars became less and less packed. I'm just afraid that the ridership will be strong on Friday's and Saturdays, but during the weekdays will be barren. An I guess I'm ultimately afraid they will use that as a target point on why the street car isn't a success.