John Schneider

Say, whatever happened to Jason Haap?

^ I saw a Smitherman yard sign in Evanston the other day.

When is the last time you ever heard of utililies complaining about having to move their facilities for a road project? Bueller? Anyone? Anyone?

I follow the news on new-start rail across the country pretty much every day, and I've never known of an instance when a city has paid to move investor-owned utility facilities. Sometimes it goes to court. The cities always win.

I'd trust someone who works for the city and is keenly aware of the ongoings. I wouldn't discount 8th and State... I know of no one who works for the city or who is on the streetcar design team who believes that keeping manholes ten feet away from the centerline of the tracks is reasonable. Some feel manholes can be as close as two feet from the operating envelope of the streetcar. Others feel they need to be no further than four feet away. My sense is traffic is maintained on downtown streets fairly close to open manholes where work is taking place. And remember, a lot of this stuff can be and should be and often is done in the middle of the night downtown.

I'm just passing along the information. Are the local utilities misinformed or overly cautious because they have no experince with streetcar wires? Maybe. But the fact is that they are asking for 10' horizontal clearances from the centerline of track. They are being unnecessarily cautious.

WLW is selling cars and sprawl. After all, why would WLW want to get people out of their cars? Listen to their commercials. Half the ads are for automotive products. I'm sure, at some level, broadcasters have concluded that people in cities with rich transit systems drive fewer miles, spend less time in cars, and buy new cars less often. And probably don't spend as much money on the cars they do buy.

Something Barry leaves out that I brought up to him when he interviewed me: he's an elite runner, better conditioned than almost all Cincinnatians. And he's a really fast walker. I know -- I spent a week in London with him and his wife a few years ago, walking and talking the Tube everywhere. I'm a walker in good condition, and he writes that he can cover a segment of the streetcar's route in 12 minutes that routinely takes me about 20. I don't doubt that he did it, just doubt that it's relevant to the mainstream of Cincinnatians. Honestly, how many Cincinnatians could walk from Fountain Square to Findlay Market in 16 minutes in other than ideal conditions?

According to an expert from Portland, anything less than 10 feet from the centerline of track to the manhole is considered unsafe, so in effect the streetcar demands a 20' wide strip cleared of utilities. I called the director of Portland Streetcar and asked him if manholes needed to be kept at least eight feet from the operating envelope of the streetcar -- which is what Duke is insisting on -- and he just laughed. I mean, think about it. In fact, they've left three manholes between the tracks -- ones they don't have to get into very often.

Mark Donaghy, president of the Ohio Public Transit Association, sent an Op-Ed in support of the Cincinnati Streetcar to the Enquirer in late-March or early-April. Never appeared.

Riverio and Flynn are both supporters. Dunno about Sittenfeld. Doubt it.

Would be a good LTE.

Smitherman came up to me after the meeting and said I was "misconceived." So I called my mother, who assured me this was not the case. I think he meant to say that I was misinformed. But then, how would he know?

I don't think anyone that's working on the streetcar project or any of the elected officials have a problem with the wires. They're so small these days, it's just a non-issue. But I do think they believe that the hybrid cars could save a good deal of money in terms of OCS cost and distribution, and that's the reason they are considering the Kinkisharyo vehicle.

Enquirer has a balanced article on what's next for the streetcar.

^ I watched it last night. It's good. Wish they would have shown more recent LRV's. I thought it was remarkable that James Kunstler was on for ten minutes and didn't drop a single F-Bomb.

Dear Streetcar Supporter, One door closes, another opens ... When the Cincinnati Streetcar was awarded a $24.99 million Urban Circulator Grant last summer, the U.S. required our city to study how the streetcar will affect the human and built environments along its path. That study is now complete and awaiting public comment. Here is a copy of the report: Click here: City of Cincinnati - Streetcars This Week -- two public Open Houses will enable you to learn more about the "Environmental Document." The meetings will be held in City Council Chambers on Wednesday and Thursday nights between 5:00p and 8:00p. These are come-anytime, walk-around and ask questions sorts of meetings. Parking meters are free after 5:00, and there is plenty of garage parking available south and east of City Hall, 801 Plum Street. The leader of the streetcar team, Fred Craig, will make presentations and answer questions at 5:30p and 7:00p. both nights. You can make comments then. A court reporter will be taking everything down. Knowing how easily modern streetcars fit into the three cities where they operate today, I'm sure there are no environmental issues of significance, though COAST may try to conjure some up. But everybody wanted more details on the construction and operation of the streetcar, right? This will be the most information you've ever seen on the streetcar project in one place, and it would be good to know more details. If your home or business is on the streetcar line, you know the micro-climates of your block. See where they have placed the stops along the line. See where parking meters are being removed on account of the project. There are data on noise and vibration during the construction and operation of the streetcar and information on how long it will take to build a block of streetcar track -- not long, it turns out. So plan to come one or both nights. And bring a skeptic. John Schneider

It was both a 4-3 and a 6-1 vote. Toni Selvey-Maddox, a Cincinnatian, moved to separate the streetcar funding issue from the entire TRAC slate of projects. That motion failed 4-3. Then, they voted 6-1 to approve the staff recommendations, Selvey-Maddox being the only "No" vote.

^ COAST would still have opposed it.

^ I'm sure current plans contemplate the environmentally pristine Little Miami "Parkway." And bike paths. Hiking trails. And a bunch of trains and buses. But times change. If ODOT wants to bring another Interstate Highway through Cincinnati someday, I doubt the funding for a new NEPA study would be much of a problem. I mean, the river and flood plain will have already been bridged, the vertical construction of the grade-separated interchanges will have been completed. Most of the remaining roadway is already limited-access highway. Not a giant leap to IHS standards. Then there's this ... "even if they reserve space for a full interchange now, the EIS needs to be based on the full freeway build out". So since you suggest that I-74 is so highly unlikely - virtually certain never to happen -- maybe we just don't reserve any land for more interchanges.

That's your supposition, if what you say happens; then the project will be in violation of the R.O.D. In other words, that can't happen w/o a re-evaluation of the Environmental Clearance I am running out of air by restating this. SR 32 relocated and Red Bank Road are NOT being constructed to freeway standards. They are being constructed to somewhat a "high class status arterial"; such as a souped up Reed Hartman Highway or what is currently happening on Bypass 4 in Butler County. It will generally be an at-grade facility; boulevard type type road, with a grade separation at Madison Rd (I think), and a a grade separation @ US 50 where there is one currently. The Red Bank/SR 32 facility cannot be converted to an interstate simply by slapping shields on it. Nor can the Nor wood Lateral without major geometric improvements. The I-74 extension you state simply cannot happen under the auspices of the current programmed projects and accepted and approved NEPA documents (ROD And EIS). If it happens, then more projects will be needed in the future as well as new Environmental Documentation will need to be cleared. That won't happen. Once all the interchanges and the eight-lane bridge over the Little Miami River are buit, ODOT will start another environmental study aimed at converting sections of I-75 and I-71, the Norwood Lateral, the Red Bank Expressway and the (new) Little Miami Parkway into I-74. Will happen sooner rather than later. Note this statement: "The I-74 extension you state simply cannot happen under the auspices of the current programmed projects ... " Sure, totally agree. Can't happen currently. But a subsequent action could easily enable it. And will.

You're missing the point. Property tax is not a user fee on drivers of automobiles. Everyone who owns property in the county pays property tax whether or not they drive a car. So, let's take the property tax that's spent on road maintenance and spend part of it on streetcar operations instead -- wouldn't that be fair? ^ Swish! Travis nails a three-pointer!

The plans for the bridge nominally show two auto/truck lanes, one dedicated bus lane, and one dedicated lane for rail in each direction. Today, there are about 1,000 transit trips per day coming from Clermont County. So I'm suggesting that the bridge's bus lane will, after construction, be found to be unnecessary and will soon be converted to a third general auto/truck/bus lane. The train will never be built, and so there will eventually be four general auto/truck/bus lanes in each direction on the bridge over the Little Miami River Valley. That's equal to the capacity of the Brent Spence. The 74/75 and 75/Norwood Lateral interchanges may now be "part of a separate project." But viewed in context with the new Little Miami River bridge, the interchange at I-275, the new interchange at Madison and Red Bank Expressway, these, in the aggregate, appear to be the major set-pieces of new cross-regional interstate highway, I-74. When all of these major pieces are in place, it's just a matter of time and political will before Federal Interstate Highway shields go up on sections of I-75, Norwood Lateral, I-71, Red Bank Expressway, and re-aligned S.R. 32 designating them as the new shared/exclusive I-74 freeway. I see a lot in the physical plans which tends to confirm this and nothing to deny it won't happen.

^ Sure, if you were willing to privatize the roads, have them pay property taxes on their rights-of-way just as the old streetcars had to do. Plus figure out a way to capture the increased property values arising from the presence of the streeetcar -- hard to do with a bunch of private land ownerships. As things stand now, it's pretty hard for private transit to compete when its competitor gives its product away for free.

^ I do know of some people -- and not just avid streetcar supporters -- who have dropped their print subscriptions recently in part because of the Enquirer's coverage of the streetcar. Some are neutral on the issue but have said the Enquirer's reporting and editorial hammering on the streetcar is emblematic of a paper that no longer tries to inform but rather seems content to rely on dogma.