John Schneider

Hello UO. If I may: Mallory has proven to not be a hothead. I would think he is letting the state situation play out and working behind the scenes on the council transition. There has been a lot of political drama the past few weeks but the project hasn't been declared dead. You'll have to keep your wits and see how this plays out. I agree.

A couple of stories that relate to what is written above ... Ever wonder why the southbound 7th Street exit from I-75 is on the right side of the road, while the 5th Street exit to the heart of the city is on the left? When the IHS was being planned in the Fifties, the plan was to bring I-75 down along the Mill Creek and cross the Ohio River at a "cut in the hill" to the west of where it now travels through Covington. The story is, Fred Lazarus II called President Eisenhower and said, "I don't know about this highway system you want to build, but for damn sure, if it's coming through Cincinnati, it's coming by my store." That store, the old Shillito/Lazarus store at Seventh and Race, is the reason that exit is there and why Fifth Street (where his main competitor, Pogue's, had a store) got the crappy left-hand exit from the freeway. Because of this, I-75 was shifted east to its present alignment, wiping out much of the West End. Imagine if I-75 were way west of where it is today. Look at the pictures of the old West End, another OTR-quality neighborhood and virtually intact until the freeway came through. Plus the forced expulsion of African-Americans from the West End to Mt. Auburn, Avondale, Corryville to make room for the re-aligned highway, pushed-out to sometimes worse housing than what they had, this caused racial tensions that first bubbled up the the Avondale riots of 1967 and to some extent continues today. You know that I-71 interchange that serves Kings Island? I've heard that was similarly handled by a phone call to Governor Rhodes. These are the kinds of abuses that the corridor planning processes first developed under ISTEA about twenty years ago, and later under TRAC, were designed to prohibit. Kasich is undoing a lot of history here. Revisiting it, actually. Just watch him try to switch the streetcar money to the final design of the Ohio access ramps to the new Brent Spence Bridge. And, of course, most of that design work, unlike the streetcar construction work, will be done out-of-state. And he's the guy worried about Ohio jobs?

Here's what Kasich doesn't understand and what most people don't understand. Those job numbers floating around - 1,800 construction jobs and 9,000 permanent jobs, those are expressions of new employment in "job-years," which is the standard unit of measurement in economic development projects. So, the 1,800 constuction jobs is really more like 900 people being employed for two years. The 9,000 permanent jobs over the life of the project is more like 300 people being employed for 30 years, say. The latter sounds very reasonable given the likelihood of redensification and repopulation along the route. The 1,800 job-years of construction are not all local jobs. We don't build streetcar vehicles or girder rail here, for example. But there is a lot of local, labor-intensive, well-paid work associated with these projects. And there are spin-offs -- I'm sure a food truck or two will always be around wherever they're working. The irony is, the streetcar was never designed to be a "jobs project" any more than a new Brent Spence Bridge is meant to be a "jobs project." Both happen to be infrastructure projects that employ people to build them, and they both have employment impacts well beyond their completion. Yet, the governor has now managed to re-define the Cincinnati Streetcar solely in terms of the jobs it produces while ignoring the other benefits. Shame on the city if it lets him get away with it.

There have always been forces wanting Americans not to have transportation choices. For instance, tomorrow is the anniversary of an important finding by a Federal court: Title: 1949: National City Lines conspirators convicted of colluding to put streetcar companies out of business Date: Saturday March 19, 2011 Time: All Day Repeats: This event repeats every year. Location: United States Federal Court Notes: Following a nearly two-year court process, on March 19th, 1949 nine American corporations and seven individuals were convicted under federal charges of one count each of conspiring to monopolize part of American trade and commerce: National City Lines (and E. Roy Fitzgerald & Foster C. Beamsley) American City Lines, Pacific City Lines, General Motors (and H.C. Grossman)Standard Oil of California (and Henry C. Judd), Federal Engineering Corporation, Phillips Petroleum Corporation (and A.M. Hughes & Frank B. Stradley), Firestone Tire and Rubber Company (and L.R. Jackson), and Mack (Truck) Mfg.

^ After talking with people today, I am not especially worried. On the other hand, I have a thick skin from years of disappointments trying to bring rail to Cincinnati.

This guy is acting like a dictator. What does he know about the merits of this project? Does he know that people who know more about transportation than him (oh, how I am resisting make jokes about that!) rate this project more highly than anything else ODOT is considering for funding? The purpose of the TRAC, set forth in law, is to remove as much political whim, corruption and emotion out of transportation investment decision-making and instead make it based on the cold, clear facts. That was the purpose of the TRAC law when the Ohio General Assembly passed it in 1997 or 98. If the TRAC is going to ignore its own scoring process under strong-arm pressure from the governor, then the TRAC needs to turn out the lights and go home forever. It has no reason to exist. I hope it does follow its own purpose. What ever happened to the rule of law, fairness and consideration for those who have not made large campaign contributions to the governor? We are taking so many steps backward in this country. Is this really what they teach you in your Bible study class Guv? How can a man whose parents were killed by a drunk driver make decisions like this?? Don't you realize how many drunk drivers this Cincinnati streetcar is going to take off the roads? Maybe you should think about this project in that way, dear Guv. Your own narrow selfishness seems to be the only guidance you have. Dialed-down about 20% and minus the Bible-class reference, this would be a terrific LTE.

Clarification please... Opposition to the Streetcar? Support for the Streetcar? Action/ Eminent construction? Politics aside, things are coming together, getting resolved with respect to the real project that's been underway for some time now. It's easy to forget about that.

Things are starting to move along a little faster now ...

^ I think the game is to move the streetcar money to the Brent Spence Bridge.

^ The city has this information, and I'm content to just let things play out at this point. The streetcar project, at least most of it, is going to happen. It's great if the state is a partner in the Cincinnati Streetcar. If not, we'll build what we can build. You'd think the state would favor a project that removes Ohioans from its highway network. That's a hard thing to get your head around, but going forward, "the trip not taken" will be a very important aspect of mobility-planning everywhere in America. I hope Ohio realizes this before it's too late. Our mayor and a majority of City Council have.

Remember this when you vote this fall.

Here we go: http://www.wlwt.com/r/27135449/detail.html I hope they will start building with the $100 million or so they have together now and will apply for more Fed funds to keep building it as planned. That should be enough to build four track miles, more than either Portland, Tacoma or Seattle built in their initial phases. I don't know what part, if any, I would cut -- probably the section from Fountain Square to the Banks if we had to. My guess is they will determine where the ridership looks to be the highest and the economic development potential the greatest and start building there. Dunno how the Feds would regard such a change, or how the state would, for that matter. You know, things like this happen with just about every city that builds rail the first time. Here and now, it's amplified by a lousy economy. If the economy were booming, we'd probably be spending all our time right now worrying about cost escalation. Remember, this is a marathon and not a sprint. We're now at, say, Mile 20.

No Council vote on the streetcar grants today.

Keep the faith. It's not over by a long shot.

^ I've seen a Portland fare evader -- apparently a repeat offender -- taken off a MAX train in handcuffs. I've probably boarded Portland Streetcars hundreds of times over the years, and I think I've been checked for a ticket a handful of times.

^ I'm thinking this would only affect meters in OTR and elsewhere along the route, not lots.

This is a key point. There is tremendous opportunity for cross-selling between parking meters and the streetcar. I can imagine a whole lot of people may want to park cheaply in OTR and take the streetcar to the CBD for the last mile. Would be great for OTR businesses to have all that traffic. With electronic meter stations, the city could have sales to promote the streetcar at slow times. That is, park in OTR, get a free streetcar ticket. The possibiliites are endess here.

^ It's not out of the question to make the streetcar free. By my calculation, almost 50% of the miles on America's three modern streetcar systems are free. But the culture here may not allow for it. It's worth continuing discussion.

Here's the overall problem which begs a solution. The average trip on a streetcar is a mile, so most people aren't on it very long. Fare-checking has to be really fast while the streetcar is moving and crowded. It will to difficult to have and afford fare-checkers -- three of them because there are three doors that open simultaneously when the car stops -- checking everyone who enters the car. Doing so will slow the streetcar down too much. Hence the logic of a highly visible fare ID system that operates transparently while the streetcar is moving. What I wouldn't want to see is an Enquirer reporter writing something like, "Despite the fact that the Cincinnati Streetcar supposedly charges $1.00 to ride, this reporter boarded eight different streetcars between Noon and 2:00 PM yesterday and was never once checked to see if he had bought a ticket." So, while acknowedging that fare policy and enforcement needs to be user-friendly, the consequences of having uneven or absent fare-checking -- assuming we are going to have fares, and their are good arguments for and against having fares -- could lead to lots of problems that undermine our ability to have the system be highly regarded, prosper and expand. In short, in order to establish that the streetcar is valued and paid for by the users, we may have to put up with some things that we'd rather not do. I really don't see much difference a visible I.D. system and having to display "Pay and Display" parking receipt on your car's window, wearing a wristband to attend a concert, or being stamped once your ID is checked as you enter a bar. Do they still do that? I think the stickers could be a sort of marketing reminder along the lines of when the Board of Elections gives us those "I voted today" stickers. I see a lot of those around on election day. It's a tough puzzle. Surface-running rail systems around the nation wrestle with this all the time, and in their heart-of-hearts, few will say they do a very good job at it.

^ What would we do without Brad? Nice work.

^ Get a pic of him and the petition if you can.

Fun fact for today: in the state of Ohio, it is illegal for a person to collect signatures to place an issue on the ballot unless that person is an qualified elector, i.e. a properly registered voter who lives within the jurisdiction where the issue will be voted on. So, if you see someone gathering signatures for the anti-rail ballot issue who you know is not a Cincinnati resident or who is otherwise not legally able to vote in Cincinnati, note the date and time, get their name and take a picture. Send all of the information to Cincinnatians for Progress @ 417 Vine Street, #202, Cincinnati 45202.

^ Can someone tweet this or put in on Facebook? Or both?

I think a stop on the Main Street bridge over FWW would be a "call stop" where the vehicle doesn't stop unless someone is waiting at the stop or if someone signals they want to get off. Otherwise, it skips the stop. I imagine there would be long periods of a typical day where the stop would be skipped. But imagine if you park in one of the new garages along Second Street or live in one of new apartments on the north edge of the Banks and you work around Fountain Square. You're not going to want to backtrack to Freedom Way to catch the streetcar. People hate to go out of direction to get to their destinations. And a lot of people would like to catch a ride up the hill between Third and Fourth or in bad weather. Then there are Reds games ...

We raised 250% of our goal this evening, and more checks will be coming in over the next few days. We have now have enough money in the bank to hire a top-flight campaign manager for a May campaign. Lots of new faces, lots of new email addresses. I still think they're on the ballot in May. Can't imagine they really want to delay it -- the only reason would be that they can't get the signatures. A november ballot just gives us more time to organize. Nice job, everyone. Onward and upward.