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This is great news for the neighborhood as this area right now is pretty much taken over by drug dealers and users. If you don't believe me feel free to walk by there pretty much any time of day and see for yourself. After what I saw from OTR Community Council (OTRCC) and other groups for the Liberty and Elm project, I'm worried this long stalled project may be held up by the gentrification and design police. One would hope sanity would prevail here, but given what I've seen at OTRCC meetings in the past I'm genuinely worried. The developer would have done better to go under the radar and try to avoid the public light until their permits were all approved. http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2017/05/10/exclusive-former-bengals-player-acquires-otr.html

I tell people this all the time and they tend to look at me funny, but it's true. When you no longer have to drive much anymore as a necessity it really changes your perspective. As more people realize this and share their experiences with others maybe more people will come to realize the truth of the matter. Driving all the time really sucks and we've just been conditioned to believe it's something we have to do multiple times every day.

When talking to my barber today he was happy to say he'll vote against due to his failure to stop the streetcar. Even though Simpson was a supporter of the project there is a lot of venom towards Cranley for letting it get finished.

If a $20 million farm is generating revenue of $500 thousand a year, isn't that an annual return of only 2.5% (not including the effort necessary to generate that revenue)? Sounds like from a numbers perspective selling the farm, investing the proceeds and getting into another business would be best.

Could you post a link to one of these studies? This is news to me and I'd like to see the numbers behind that theory.

I was going to vote at lunch later in the week, but remembered this morning that they moved locations. I really miss how convenient things were :-(.

I guess I'm just not getting why someone would complain about frequency and speed when the streetcar arrives on average ever six minutes or so and they're wanting to travel the distance of three blocks. It's like when someone complains about their commute when they just moved across the river from where they work. It's entirely bad decision making not poorly designed infrastructure.

Why on earth would anyone want to take the streetcar from Fountain Square to The Banks? That's only three blocks. By my estimate it takes on average about 1 minute 30 seconds to walk a Cincinnati block at a leisurely pace. I just don't understand why anyone would take the streetcar for a trip that would take less than five minutes to walk (weather notwithstanding). The only reason I have run across from a few people was that they just wanted to try out the streetcar even though they had no real reason to do so. It makes little sense to me to use it as an amusement ride, but to each their own I guess.

We were at a store out in the 'burbs over the weekend and wanted to pick up some food afterwards. Our three year old daughter wanted to know why we were getting back in the car. "Why don't we just walk over there" to get something to eat she asked. I had to explain to her that we were in the suburbs and had to drive (she wasn't too happy). It seems like the value of walkable cities is something even a three year old can understand so long as they were exposed enough to it to realize how flippin' awesome it is.

I know this is just an anecdote, but xumelanie[/member] and I live in OTR with two young kids and we're loving it. There's plenty of kid activities to do and all within either walking or streetcar distance. I'm not sure what activities are better out in the suburbs other than large forested parks.

Yeah, it's like the whole speculation on a Kroger going in at Central Parkway and Walnut Street. It's all just pure fantasy based on wishful thinking.

We charge $2000/month for a 1200 sq/ft two bedroom two car garage spaces rental on Central Parkway. $1300/month is ridiculously cheap if that's really what they're going for.

Ugh. I just vomited a bit at the thought. Really? Black Raspberry Chocolate Chip Milk Stout?

I wish they would carry some better stuff downtown. I would shop there a lot more often if I didn't have to make the trip up to Kenwood to buy things I like.

The article is pretty lengthy with a lot of caveats and various opinions from developers along the route. I'd recommend getting a Business Courier subscription as they're the only legitimate paper in the area and consistently produce good content.

Business Courier: Streetcar triggers millions in development along line http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2016/12/30/streetcar-triggers-millions-in-development-along.html ... Over the past five months, the Business Courier has examined county property records and Cincinnati building permits for nearly 650 properties located directly on the streetcar line. We interviewed dozens of property owners to find out whether – and to what degree – the streetcar factored into their decision to build. It represents the first effort by a Cincinnati news organization to measure one of the primary reasons the city built the streetcar: to spur investment in the urban core. About 60 percent of streetcar-line developers who both agreed to rate and talk about whether the project influenced their development said the streetcar played a role in their decision to build. Most also said it was not the sole reason. Some had been considering their projects for years and the streetcar sped up their timetable, attracted investors or led them to enlarge their investment. ....

Wish they would have done it this morning. My tushy was nearly a solid block by the time I got to work ;-) .

I've been becoming increasingly disappointed in the lack of usability of the streetcar. The ticket machines are complete garbage and constantly are breaking down. The streetcars rarely seem to get anywhere near 12-15 minute headways. There is no way to track the individual cars and after being open for months the signage still doesn't work. I can't seem to use it for commuting, because it is so unreliable. For example, this morning after waiting ten minutes at a stop an empty one with no signage blew by me. At that point I just walked the route twelve blocks to work and never even saw a streetcar. This is pretty much the norm nowadays and not the exception to the rule. It seems like traffic issues are only a small part of the problem. Poor quality hardware and equally bad operational management seems to eclipse any traffic issues.

I agree. The author does use quite a bit of flowery language which I don't even think he uses properly. He must think it makes him clever and quirky when it really just makes him incomprehensible.

I think there's some confusion on what the author is saying. My impression is that he isn't saying that positive streetcar articles were the Enquirer's goal to get clicks, but any article about the streetcar. The same with Steven Leeper with 3CDC. I think the author is saying he was a real @#$@#$, but any article with him or 3CDC was guaranteed to get views.

Yeah, that square footage per unit is way too large even for luxury accommodations in OTR. I'm sure they could have decreased the space per unit even down to 2,000 sq/ft and had no issue getting luxury buyers for the units. 3,000 sq/ft is an obscene amount for OTR.

A co-worker of mine who is generally supportive of the streetcar had an awful experience this weekend. Friday night a chartered streetcar party opened up at the the stop he was at and told everyone that it was a private party with another streetcar coming right behind it. After it left he and his wife waited for a half hour before giving up and walking quite a distance back to their car. I guess people at other stops were less than thrilled that the "party streetcar" went by, but no others appeared to be running. When a streetcar is chartered do they add another car to the route to compensate? Does anyone know what the deal was Friday night with the extended delays?

The main reason I voted for Strickland over Portman was Portman's endorsement of Trump. I would agree Portman's done a lot for Ohio, but to endorse Trump speaks volumes on his moral fiber.

The Over-the-Rhine Community Council has, is, and always will be a complete joke. Anyone who has ever been involved in the organization knows it. Luckily, many people in decision making positions have seen their nonsense first hand and will ignore them.

xumelanie[/member] and I actually know someone who moved here from Germany because of that show. He might be the outlier though.