John Schneider

^ Never heard of it before tonight

Derek is hosting a party that evening at Pi Pizzeria. Pretty sure he said he was buying drinks and food for everyone.

^ Jeff Cappel, Sad Sack

Who remembers the Dean's cape that he wore around from time-to-time?

So whatever happened to the self-named Dean of Cincinnati, Jason Haap?

^ Thanks Travis. This has gone on so long -- 20 years -- I had to dig deep to remember everything that has gone on. Alex is a really good interviewer.

^ yes, provided they aren't hit again

^ An understatement from what I've seen

The vehicles have counters at every door, and they will be able to count boarders and de-boarders at every stop. They will an analyze all these data, and I'm sure they will make adjustments as needed.

It is ubiquitous.

"I think it'd be corny to have the line named, and it'd further the notion that the streetcar is a frivolous toy rather than a serious transit investment." ^ Nailed it.

^ The irony is that the truck was delivering the ticket machine to the streetcar stop there. So i guess the driver should have known, right?

^ Whether the use it or not, they will be exposed to the streetcar. Dunno about you, but the reactions I see and what I hear is almost universally positive. People are really gonna like this streetcar.

Surprising news coming tomorrow!

We sure could use a YOU here. It's not you personally's job to do it here of course, but it was you and people like you that made the difference down there. We don't have anyone like that. ^ I'd just keep your powder dry. The history of bringing rail back to America's cities is pretty much start-and-stop. When the current thinking peters out, eyes will turn to rail again, especially with one of the nation's best streetcar projects a 100 miles away. In that environment, when, like Winston Churchill said, "You can count on America to do the right thing -- after it has exhausted every other alternative," -- in that environment, your champion will probably step forward. Happens in every city, it seems.

^ Doubt the future's gonna turn out this way. Often when a city or state begins to talk seriously about rail, some magic gadget appears that would make higher-level public transportation unnecessary. In Cincinnati, we lost two years on the trail to developing the streetcar because a developer insisted we study PRT. Support for California High-Speed Rail is somewhat being undermined today by the prospect of the Hyper-Loop. Some people are saying that Uber and Lyft will destroy city transit systems except in the largest cities. Even without being put under the same microscope that light rail and modern streetcars are subjected to, these schemes seldom seem to pan out.

Whatever happened to Michael Earl Patton anyway?

We cannot force them to use city poles. Call Cincinnati DOT to register noise complaints

Yes, they generally must be at least 300' apart. A MOLT pole is the tall light tower used in the central part of downtown Cincinnati. Because of the slanted-down light heads atop them, some people call them cobras.

Cincinnati is probably ahead of most suburbs on regulating these. Our city actually hired an attorney from California to push back against what the industry wanted, and he was on a speaker phone for at least an hour in each of two meetings. I don't think the industry is very happy with the changes the city demanded -- there must have been half a dozen industry reps at each CPD meeting. Cincinnati is also requesting that this equipment be co-located on city MOLT poles and others wherever possible or desirable.

The cooling fans in the boxes are what makes noise, and the city is only permitting them if poles can't be used for the whole installation. The equipment on the poles is air-cooled by the large rectangular vanes which sort of act like radiators. If you feel one is too loud, call Cincinnati DOT. They have the power to regulate nuisances from these.

Yes, it's a 36' tall, 12" diameter cell tower that you'll start to see all over town as the wireless carriers phase out the tall cell towers we've seen forever. In Cincinnati, they generally can't be closer than 300'. FCC rules require all jurisdictions of local government to allow for these in the right-of-way although we can make rules as to where they go and standards of quality and design. City Planning Commission passed rules and design guidelines a couple of weeks ago. Now at City Council.

Yep

They have had some big fish on the line, but the idea of advertising on the streetcar was killed by top management. Too controversial, they say.