John Schneider

I bet he and his wife aren't required by Ohio law to keep separate budgets either. Especially since he lives in Kentucky.

^ I think Charlotte and Phoenix defeated similar efforts after construction began.

Might be good to look at this in context. The City of Cincinnati's share of the property tax duplicate is 11%. So a 23% increase in the City property tax represents a 2.5% overall property tax increase. This is what we're talking about?

I disagree. Cranley has called out the mayor, the manager and the council majority - essentially saying they've cooked the books to finance the streetcar. I think it's important that this group in particular know all the arguments to counter what he's saying. I mean, it's nice to talk about water mains being moved, fare policy, vehicle design, but right now this discussion is much more important in the scheme of things. I'd keep in going. I know for a fact that a lot of people now follow this site as an accurate source of information. Right now, for example, there are five lurkers following this exchange.

Not dead yet. Have been in Portland with the team that will manage the streetcar'operations. Brad was there. Will soon post some observations about what's going on there including the extension which now takes them to fifteen miles of track. Pretty amazing stuff - headways down to five minutes on the two most active streets come September. Oh, and I do drive - just don't own a car.

Elm Street water main has been moved between 12th and Elder -- about two more blocks to go. Contract has been let, or is about to be let, for moving the water main on Race Street. Scope of sewer work has been defined, and they are now working on documents. Cincinnati Bell has signed-off on relo. They want to be between the tracks because their wires will be more protected there. Scope defined with Level3; docs in the works. Duke now agress with three-foot separation, working on cost-sharing details now. Bottom line: as far as I can tell, the utility issues are getting settled, as is always the case with street-running rail projects.

^ Dunno.

I hear Sittenfeld voted against the city's acquiring the car barn site today.

^ The building shown in the news report is not the building the city wants for the car barn. The city wants the one to its east, which is part of the same ownership, plus the parking lot at Race and Henry. The building in the news report would remain.

[No URL available] "April 29, 2012 8:00 PM Streetcars desired: M1 Rail hopes to hop on Cincinnati's order By Bill Shea (graphic caption Cincinnati's website shows the streetcars that M1 Rail is eyeing. (article) The Motor City is looking to the Queen City when it comes to downtown streetcars. The choice of vehicles also may save Elmo, Snoopy and Captain Underpants parade floats. M1 Rail, the private consortium of investors seeking to build a $137 million, 3.3-mile modern streetcar line on downtown Detroit's Woodward Avenue between Hart Plaza and New Center, told the U.S. Department of Transportation in a recent report that it's in talks with the city of Cincinnati about possibly piggybacking its streetcar order. M1 is looking at both off-the-shelf purchase of six streetcars or attaching its vehicle needs to another system's order, which is a common practice in the transit industry because it can reduce turnaround time and cost. Cities that have rail vehicle orders in process that M1 is looking at include Portland, Seattle, Tucson, Salt Lake City and Cincinnati. M1 has taken a special interest in Cincinnati's $20 million procurement of five streetcars for its $110 million plan to install a 3.8-mile downtown line using a blend of bonds, taxes and private donations. Groundbreaking on the project took place in February, and the line is supposed to be running by 2014. Earlier this month, Cincinnati selected Elmira, N.Y.-based CAF USA, a subsidiary of Spain's Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles S.A., as its preferred vendor to manufacture the five streetcars, with an option for up to 25 more cars. The city and company are in talks for a final contract, and delivery is expected to take 18 months. Cincinnati's streetcars are very similar to what Detroit is seeking. "The Cincinnati RFP requested delivery of five vehicles with similar specifications as M1 Rail would utilize for its preferred vehicle," M1 said in its report. The model used in M1's report is the Siemens S-70 Ultrashort -- manufactured by Germany's Siemens AG. The cars are double-ended, with operating controls at both ends and passenger doors on either side, and are powered by aerial electrical lines. The low-floor cars allow passengers to step directly onto the trams from elevated boarding platforms alongside the trains. Each seats 60 people, with room for 120 more standing. The Woodward project is funded largely by private backers and is seeking $25 million in federal stimulus funds. Under "Buy America" requirements triggered by the use of federal money, the streetcars for the Detroit and Cincinnati projects must be at least 60 percent manufactured domestically. M1's infrastructure plan calls for four electrical substations along the line, each connected by underground wiring, to power the streetcars. However, about 1.5 to 1.8 miles of the system would not use overhead wiring, meaning the annual Thanksgiving Day parade on Woodward would still be able to use its large character balloons -- something that had been in jeopardy and under discussion in recent years. Both the Siemens and the CAF USA streetcars have the ability to forgo aerial wires for long stretches. "We'll be in fantastic shape and appreciative," said Tony Michaels, president of The Parade Co. A message was left for M1 President Matt Cullen. Much like Detroit, Cincinnati abandoned streetcars in the 1950s, switching to trolley coaches (buses powered by overhead lines). City and business leaders have been pushing for several years to build a streetcar line in a bid to boost economic development, which has been slowed in Cincinnati's central business district because of its proximity to the beleaguered Over-the-Rhine neighborhood. Detroit's transit backers have touted similar goals. M1's report to Washington, required as part of its bid for federal financial aid, predicts that the Woodward line will "create more than $444 million of project benefits associated with economic development, travel time savings, safety and infrastructure benefits for the region." Also last week, M1 said it would subsidize the operational costs for the rail line for up to 10 years -- putting to rest one of the project's biggest question marks.

Just as a point of reference, eminent domain proceedings can take up to a year. This is a project schedule constraint. On transportation projects, the city can do a "quick take" -- take control of the land and buildings and have a court to decide the compensation to the property owner later. This won't hold up the project.

I suspect there is a real story here -- not that any reporter in this city is likely to go after it, times being what they are. What, exactly, is the condition of the utilities under our streets? I hear stories of 100 year-old wood water mains, 100 year-old brick sewers and then see news reports of electric and gas manholes exploding almost in front of Duke Energy's headquarters. It has to make you wonder.

^ I disagree. One of the benefits of the streetcar will be exposing passengers to the architecture, stores and services along the route. I find it almost impossible to see much in detail from a Metro bus that's been wrapped. Plus, most of the ads I see on the buses are pretty tacky.

And most of the components made in his American car (I'm assuming its American!) are made outside the USA. A lot of the motors for electric trains are made at the Siemens plant in Norwood.

Cincinnati's streetcars will be made by CAF-USA in Elmira, N.Y. CAF is based in northern Spain, and from what I've heard, is a reliable supplier. It is dominant in the Iberain Peninsula and South America. CAF built Houston's light rail vehicles and builds cars for AMTRAK. Here is the deal on CAF: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Construcciones_y_Auxiliar_de_Ferrocarriles And here is the streetcar page from the CAF site: http://www.caf.es/ingles/productos/tranvias.php

Like the postings of all the manhole pics from across the country that showed up here a month ago, I guess we need to start posting our pics of cyclists with their bikes riding on light rail or streetcars all over the world.

^ Lots of people have noticed the double-standard at work here.

The Portland Streetcar stops at the front door of both Safeway stores on that city's streetcar line. It's in the street, but it's right there. I see people with groceries getting on all the time. As long as it's close, it will be very convernient. I mean, we're building two streetcar stops at Findlay Market, right? Walkable communities, where they're successful, function differently from the driveable suburban development we're all used to seeing. My greatest fear is that the streetcar will be built and we'll keep doing the same kind of development we've done for sixty years. And it be less successful on account of that.

Cincinnati's streetcar project is much admired and discussed among national rail advocates. They have long thought the design of the route was pretty amazing in terms of the variety of uses it will serve.

^ Media will seldom give rail a fair shake. They have too much invested in the highway economy. Think about it.

MetroMoves would have costs an average Hamilton County family $67 per year in additional tax.

All streetcars are light rail.

Doesn't matter. Rail opponents will use whatever language can be most negatively grafted onto the project, and the media will pick up on it. I agree that "light rail" is an awful term. "Streetcar" actually tests pretty well in focus groups, which is why the opponents call it a trolley. Sooner or later, this too shall pass.

^ I think it's a big deal. Not sure why, but I'm a member of a list of rail system managers, designers and advocates from around the world. It's an amazing group -- I can put up any question and get an answer within minutes. Soon after the Groundbreaking, a guy from Baltimore, an old pro who's seen it all, said he thought the Cincinnati Streetcar would be the "most watched" rail project in the United States for the next couple of years. No one disagreed.

^ Portland's tram was $50 million or so. It travels about 3,000 horizontal feet and about 800 vertical, I think. It crosses above Interstate 5, so I suspect that's not really an issue. There are two counterbalanced cabins, each of which carries 30-40 people in three or so minutes of travel. The fare is $4.00, and you can only pay it at the waterfront because parking is limited at OHSU, which is why they built it -- to conserve land on OHSU's hilltop campus. The Portland Aerial Tram connects its South Waterfront development -- a sort of "Banks on steroids" -- with the Oregon Health & Sciences University campus, which is the largest employer in the state of Oregon. There's a lot of demand at both ends. And a streetcar at one of them. The tram is definitely the high-point on the trips we make out to Portland. There were multiple critics of the project when it was under construction. Its City Council sponsor, Sam Adams, acquired the nickname "Sam the Tram." Then, on the day it opened, Portlanders formed a line two blocks long to take ride it. Now Sam Adams is mayor of Portland, and everyone loves the tram