John Schneider

So here's Newsmakers last Sunday. Worth watching the whole thing but can someone isolate the couple of minutes Cranley spends talking about the streetcar, starting at 6:00 minutes from the end, and can we determine the truthfulness of what he says on tape? http://www.local12.com/content/newsmakers/story/Newsmakers-November-18-2012/DYwFn1IDUEmSnoIiZFs3oA.cspx

Since becoming involved with the streetcar project and learning to make public transit part of my life, I've really become aware of the "culture war" the Republican party wanted to fight. Public transit was the first issue to open my eyes to the other side. ^ This pair of sentences may be the most important posted here in a long time. I feel the same way as Ronny, and I suspect many others do too. I voted for every Republican president since Gerald Ford and in 2000 hosted George W. Bush's southwest Ohio campaign HQ's in one of my buildings. The R's eventually lost me for good over the Iraq War in 2003, but my experience as chairman of MetroMoves started to push me over the edge a year earlier. Congressman Steve Chabot and Hamilton County Commissioner John Dowlin were two of the three co-chairs of the opposition. In debate after debate with them and others, I came to conclude that some -- certainly not all -- Republicans really don't mind lying, the more artfully, the better. I believe they view governing with such contempt that lying to limit its reach and authority is morally justifiable to some of them. In particular, I would often debate John Dowlin, sometimes twice a day. He would say something that was patently untrue in the morning, and I would correct him. Then he would say the same thing again that afternoon or evening. Happened several times. Dowlin was especially bad in this way. I also chaired the campaign which selected Great American Ball Park over Broadway Commons (sorry guys), and Dowlin was co-chair of the Broadway Commons side. Same thing: he'd lie, I'd correct him, and he'd lie again. Time after time. I suspect that the R's opposition to the Cincinnati Streetcar has cost them many young and potentially-lifetime supporters going-forward. The streetcar is sort of emblematic of everything many young people value and many older R's don't: cities, diversity and choice. It has become a proxy for the culture wars. Time will cure this.

Meet the person whose name tends to surface with respect to Duke's dealings regarding the Cincinnati Streetcar, described by one elected official as "Delta Burke without the Southern charm." http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20121029/EDIT02/310290017/A-tribute-my-time-well-spent-Cincinnati?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|FRONTPAGE|p [fixed link]

^ From what I've heard, the Oasis Line has no stops between Lunken and Downtown, so there's little potential for city-building along the line.

David Dawson has a terrfic, top-billed letter to editor of Enquirer this morning. In print edition, not online yet. Calls Duke out.

^ Yes: http://www.onlyong.com/delta/

^ Moved our gas service to Ohio Natural Gas today. Got 10,000 SkyMiles for doing it, plus one Skymile for every dollarwe spend on natural gas for the next year.

"This too shall pass."

^ I think the fundamental difference with Cincinnati is that most of these projects today are Design/Build, which for a first-time city may end up being Build/Design as problems are discovered after construction begins. From everyone I've talked with, Cincinnati has gone to extraordinary lenghts to avoid surprises.

^ Without getting into the details, be assured that things are moving quickly for all aspects of the project. The city is just being thorough in getting every detail locked down. Other than the Duke issues, which won't delay the project, there remain no outstanding issues to be resolved, just execution.

^ Do what's necessary: http://goo.gl/Ipfnf

^ That's unlikely unless Chabot's amendment to the House Transportation Bill is rejected by the Senate or, in lieu of that, the big institutions in Uptown pony-up some money to complete the Alternatives Analysis. I think the city has some money for this, but is far short of what is needed. I have no inside information, but here is some of the positive news I expect to see: * Vehicles are ordered within a week or two. That will put a public face on the project. * Rail is ordered -- a sort of "iron-clad guarantee" that the project will be built. * A contractor is selected. I believe that competition to get the Cincinnati job will be very intense. And so the pricing ought to be good. Be great if they can bring it in under budget, as has been the case with other rail projects lately. Planning another trip to Portland in November. If you want to go, send me a note.

^ I do think there is some truth to this. Calling it the "streetcar to nowhere" all the time has probably planted the seed that a region-wide system ought to be on the table soon. Saying (but no so much anymore) that OTR was crime-ridden and unworthy of investment sort of suggests that new suburban areas are. The city's confirmation of ownership of our streets makes street-running LRT easier going forward and incents suburban communities to pass similar ordinances. Assuming the city prevails in court with Duke, if it comes to that, removes the cost of utility moves from future LRT planning. And finally, when the Cincinnati Streetcar is up and running, the groups mentioned above will have little credibility for opposing rail in the future. They know they have massively overplayed their hands. I think COAST finally realizes this, and that's why they're bailing. Same with local elected officials and wannabes who oppose it. Milton Dohoney told me yesterday that we are absolutely "there" now. The streetcar will be built as planned. Expect a series of positive news to unfold over the next few weeks and months.

Cincinnatians don't hate the Bengals, they just hate Mike Brown. This city/metro loves the Bengals and wants nothing more than to see the franchise win - and win big. Local TV ratings prove that. This past weekend, the Bengals/Redskins game more than doubled the ratings of the Reds division-clinching win over the Dodgers. When the Bengals win, this whole city feels good about itself. Mike Brown, on the other hand, is an idiot that people don't like. He's not particularly likable as a person and his team's on-field results show the folly of his misguided football-management philosophy. I'd add though that Cincinnati is hardly alone when it comes to beloved teams with hated owners. Heck, just look at Cleveland with the Indians. Yes - I stand corrected.

I've been watching the Enquirer Comments on the streetcar articles lately. They have dwindled-down to a tiny fraction of what they used to be. I mean, do you remember when we once had 1,000 of them after some articles? People may still complain, but at some level, they have accepted it and many probably admire the city's pluck in getting something done that even downtown Los Angeles hasn't been able to do. My experience with these big capital issues -- FWW, Great American Ball Park, the Aronoff (which we actually voted not to build), the Convention Center expansion, Fountain Square renovation all come to mind -- is that Cincinnatians like to bitch a lot, but after a project has successfully run the gauntlet, they accept it and move on. More than anything else, we admire success. Many Cincinnatians hate the Bengals, but they will be on Fountain Square if they ever win the Super Bowl. PG's problem is that he is now on record for voting against the streetcar every chance he's had, and that's gonna' follow him around. He'll have to explain that when development booms along the line -- not just in OTR but also on the vacant upper floors of obsolete downtown office buildings without parking that will become great apartments. Cranley has a similar problem. I doubt people will forget. Arthur Schopenhauer wrote: “All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.” In Cincinnati, electric rail is now moving from Stage 2 to Stage 3. I suspect, in his heart of hearts, PG is trying to figure out how to move with it.

Sounds like COAST has finally cut its losses and sub-leased the anti-rail portfolio to John Cranley. Did you notice that it was a whole new crew at City Hall on Monday with not a COAST member in sight? Being anti-rail is not a sustainable winning issue for elected officials. Rail opponents tend to lose favor with the public over time. I've seen it happen in almost every city. I don't understand what the precise mechanism is that results in this happening, but it appears they wear out their welcome and seldom advance to higher office. Americans generally like the idea of rail and don't discriminate much with respect to light rail or streetcars or inter-city rail. They know it has a place in our future, more or less.

Does anyone know if there is some Cincinnati or Ohio or Federal law that requires Steve Deiters to post a Comment, or multiple Comments, as soon as an article about anything having to do with the City of Cincinnati appears in the Enquirer? Just asking.

^ This is true. I chaired the MetroMoves campaign and immediately after we lost, we held a series of focus groups and commissioned a poll of 500 Hamilton County residents. Long story short: 45% of the voters who voted against MetroMoves said they did so because they didn't trust government because of Paul Brown Stadium.

It would be a good idea for streetcar supporters to attend and testify at Council Finance tomorrow. Get a yellow Speaker's Card on the right side of the Chamber and fill it out. Keep your remarks to two minutes.

I suggest Jason Haap's calling the streetcar a "coal-burning train" was the clear winner on the stupidity scale, barely edging out Justin Jeffre's grease-powered streetcar proposal. Both were in a class by themselves -- not just for orginality but also for persistence.

Traffic-copter guy for Fox19.

Here you go ... http://cincinnati-oh.gov/streetcar/news/streetcar-construction-schedule-advances/

Cincinnati streets are owned by the State of Ohio. Sure about that?

"We own our streets."

A Federal court affirmed this principle with respect to the first Minneapolis light rail line a few years ago. As I wrote a few pages back, I'd much rather be holding the city's hand in this than Duke's hand. I suspect this gets resolved in the city's favor sooner rather than later and that the project doesn't get delayed by it.