John Schneider

Jake, I checked with a source in Uptown who says he would certainly know if this were happening. He said it's not happening soon. They are focused on the MLK interchange. They're supportive, but just too many other fish to fry right now. We really need a champion up there to move this forward at a quicker pace. You'll soon see more Council candidates start to fall in line in support of the streetcar -- at least saying they won't stop it. Cranley will start to look pretty lonely out there come October, when it matters. And when people fully come to understand what it would cost to stop the project, he'll look pretty foolish too.

^ "This too shall pass."

^ The Comments on this article were so uniformly negative that the Enquirer took them down already.

^ Love it when COAST resorts to saying we need light rail for the streetcar to succeed. Wonder if these guys ever think their comments through.

^ Yes, it lays over there, and there's even a small dispatch and parts office. I got off there and walked up the Walnut/Vine steps, but there are elevators galore.

Andy Chirch and I were on the first MetroPlus bus out of 6th and Main this morning @ 5:31. Actually 5:34 - it was late. It's a terrific service. Only nine minutes from 6th & Main to Jefferson & University. Looks from the schedule it's more like 11 minutes at peak. It's car-competitive and probably faster door-to-door than driving unless you can find a meter. Of course, it doesn't stop, and that's why it's so fast. But, still, it's great. I hope it catches on. Another nice thing: It's 300 feet or so from TANK's #2 Airport Express, which similarly performs great. There's now a really good transit path from CVG to UC. Everyone should take it to the end of the line -- the Riverfront Transit Center -- and continue through RTC to complete the loop back into the CBD. Amazing what we have down there.

US 52 is a four-lane limited-access expressway from Sciotoville east to West Virginia, where it becomes a freeway to Interstate 64. Doesn't this seem consistent with a plan to extend I-74 east from Cincinnati? I mean, connect the dots -- literally.

Hope he does make this argument, for it's a real loser. And of course, this is just the City of Cincinnati's cash portion of the equation. We'd also be foregoing $200 million in the Net Present Value of beneifts resulting from the investment.

It's kind of amazing that someone who has accomplished so little in his life as Tom Brinkman is sought out by a reporter for his opinion.

^ Who says?

^ I didn't say Greg Landsman was an opponent, just that he was a non-supporter. It's a distinction with a difference.

Greg wrote to tell me that he would not have voted for the $17.4 million needed to complete the project. That would have killed the project. On the other hand, he wrote that he would never vote to kill the project. Until we read in a news account that he supports the streetcar, I'll continue to count him as a non-supporter.

^ In John Cranley's world, the Incline House probably is the hottest place in town. (Except that it's closed for lunch)

Debated Pete Wittle on WVXU today: http://goo.gl/c0JAdp

Fun fact of the day: on Facebook, Metro has under 2,000 followers. The streetcar? Over 5,000 followers.

^ I suspect the reporter has had a bad day today.

Looks a lot different from this perspective. Taking another group out there this fall. Let me know if you'd like to go.

They are incorporating a short spur from Race onto Elder Street going east toward Vine so they don't have to interrupt operation of Phase 1A in order to extend the line in Phase 1B. At least that was the plan the last time I asked about it. If anyone knows that has changed, please chime in.

^ The streetcar has hit the point of no return.

I'm on the Brian Thomas Show, 55KRC, tomorrow between 7:00a and 8:00a.

^ Disadvantaged Business Enterprise

Not meant to be perjorative, but they need some time to get their systems for laying track down, and I don't think they want to start in front of Music Hall right before the opening of the season for the Cincinnati Symphony. There will be problems, and they will work them out. Better to do so outside the view of an audience.

What is the question?

I attended the Pre-construction Meeting for the streetcar project today, and I wanted to share what I learned in no particular order of importance: * 45 people were in attendance representing every contractor, consultant, partner and City of Cincinnati departments involved in the project. It's an impressive team. * Access to abutting properties must be maintained at all times. * Streets can be closed on a case-by-case basis if it is coordinated well in advance. * 79-foot sections of rail will be welded into 1,000+ foot sections (2+ blocks at a time) and dragged to their locations and placed in the middle of the night. * The DBE goal of the project is 18%. *There is a $2,000 per day penalty for liquidated damages for missing any of the interim deadlines and a $2,500 per day penalty for missing the completion deadline. * There are lots of unusual site conditions. * There's a robust community relations plan including monthly hot-line reports, business and residential surveys, a stakeholder communication plan, and weekly e-blasts and construction updates. * There's a Value Engineering agreement whereby the contractor shares half of the savings with the city. Sanitary and storm water work will start immediately. * Track work will begin at 14th and Elm and proceed north from there. The section of track in front of Music Hall will be the last laid in OTR -- after they have their act together. * Water Works will soon move a water main on Main Street in the CBD. * Demo of the old building on the maintenance site will begin very soon. * First track may be placed as soon as September 15th depending on the resolution of some very deep utility relocation work in Liberty at Elm. Track laid in October for sure. * There is no problem getting straight rail. It is immediately available. Special track work such as curves and crossings will take longer. Electrical sub-stations will take some time to fabricate and install. * The job will be routinely staffed from 7a to 4p, but they will work 24/7 sometimes. * City noise ordinance will be enforced between 9p and 7a. After attending this meeting, I'm even more confident that this will be a great project, and I bet it's completed ahead of schedule. It appears to be designed for success.

^ Nope. 589.