John Schneider

^ "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth."

San Antonio, which has a streetcar project, is now the largest metro without rail. We're second. This is a temporary setback. We'll get there.

Looks like tomorrow sometime. Announcements to be made in Kansas City.

^ Can we just all just get comfortable with the idea that the 3C needs to get to CUT? They'll figure it out if that's what the public demands.

Nothing like a snowy Monday holiday to get this list all cranked up. Jefferson's a great choice, and Metro wants to put an Uptown hub there. Imagine how much time you could save people who simply wanted to go from, say, Westwood to Oakley without having to go downtown.

^ I've heard the venting isn't adequate. Also, no place for passenger amenities, access by service vehicles, etc.

Jake, why swing it to the west? Why not just trace a path under Clifton Avenue, say? It wouldn't have to land on UC, but that would be one way to solve UC's intractable parking problems. It could land on the vacant site between McMillan and Calhoun that's been cleared for redevelopment. Wouldn't consume much land and could be a real amenity for whatever ends up there.

^ Dunno. Needs to be tested.

^ Tunnel would require a lot less track mileage to be built, maybe $10-15 million less. Because the route would be so much faster, it would require fewer streetcars to hold the same headways and thus fewer drivers, less power. And less wear and tear on the equipment. It would be weatherproof, a fatal flaw of Vine Street, I'm afraid. Plus, most important, it would make the trip between Downtown and Uptown faster than driving. Much faster. It would be a breakthrough project, finally bringing OTR into the mainline orbit. We need to break out of the box of conventional thinking in this city.

^ Pretty sure you can't get the equipment into the RTC.

Tunnel from the top of Elm to McMillan/Calhoun or a second line on-grade through Broadway Commons to Gilbert to Taft/McMillan to Hughes Corner. Either probably more expensive, but both faster and more worthy.

^ All correct. Also, the light rail was designed to bracket Metro's bus facilities at Government Square which runs between Main and Walnut.

^ The cable-stayed bridges over FWW are purely for aesthetics. The prep for the light rail is in the roadbed.

I'm guessing they will be installing switch-warmers to deal with this, but you're right, the fewer switches and crosses, the better.

^ Not to worry. It's coming to Union Terminal.

^ Actually, I think the closer you get 3C Rail to the the Boathouse, the more support you lose. The East Enders have been very clear all along. They favor electric rail, but they don't want diesel trains that will only stop every few miles. They see rail as a community builder. They want access at multiple points along the line. The commuter rail plan in the Eastern Corridor is really a stalking-horse for bringing I-74 through Cincinnati on its way to the Carolina's under the cover of a "multi-modal solution." The highway will get built. The train won't. Google "I-74 & Cincinnati" and read all about it.

Just so everyone knows ... so far as I can tell, there is no interest in Cincinnati for the Oasis Line Replacement line or for building a station at Lunken Airport, whether temporary or permanent. Everyone from Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory on down (and especially rail advocates) favors bringing the 3C rail directly into Cincinnati Union Terminal. Spending the $30+ million now destined for the Oasis Line and Lunken to bring a fourth mainline into CUT instead would be a much wiser move. I believe that the plan to go to Lunken has cost the plan support in Cincinnati and that it ought to be dropped as soon as possible.

I'm guessing there's a second streetcar route from CUT to Lunken Airport via Eggleston.

Looks like President Obama will annnouce the grants for high-speed rail tomorrow in Florida. Tampa to Orlando seems to be the test-bed for America's first true high-speed rail line and may soak up a lot of the money. What will be interesting to see is whether the Florida legislature accepts the grant. I can imagine this becoming very political down there.

The best way to serve the westside is to ensure that planning underway now or about to get started includes the possibility for extending rail there. At a minimum, this means that the replacement of the Western Hills viaduct -- not that many years from now -- is made wide and strong enough to carry light rail. I don't see streetcars getting to Pleasant Ridge. Few people would want to stand up for that long. Of course, there are some seats, but to me, that seems like a pretty long distance to travel by streetcar. Hyde Park would be a stretch. But probably doable. After the initial build, I can't imagine there could be a better streetcar line than the Oasis Line. It's like a linear Pearl District. The Wasson Line is definitely a great candidate for light rail. My guess is that I-71 light rail is on hold indefinitely until Norwood and Deer Park come around. Too bad - both of these communities are really set up for it. Once the reconstruction of I-75 is underway starting late this year, people will be begging for light rail there. I wouldn't be surprised to see light rail in the I-75 and Eastern Corridors on the ballot in 2012.

Unlikely that Federal streetcar grant to Cincinnati will be announced today on mayor's trip to Washington. http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20100120/NEWS0108/1210373/Mallory++mayors+to+meet+with+Obama

How often is it we have a fire like this? Most large buildings would be sprinklered. Wonder if this building's sprinkler was turned off.

Just got back from another streetcar tour of Portland. After the tour, a couple of us took Amtrak to Seattle It left right on time and took three hours and fifteen minutes to go 144 miles (by car = 2.5 hours), arriving fifteen minutes early. Business class seats -- much more comfortable than first-class airline seats -- were $42 one-way. Great connections to Portland's Union Station via the new Green Line light rail on Fifth and Sixth Avenues. On the other hand, a very awkward connection from Seattle's King Street Station to the new light rail. We saw no signs, and no one seemed to know where it was. It's fairly close to the Amtrak service, but walking there is roundabout and confusing. Maybe they have a plan to connect them better, but it's not apparent how they would do it. Seattle's streetcar didn't have a whole lot of riders when we were there early on a Saturday night, but there is definitely real estate investment going on all around it. Amazon.com's new urban campus is under construciton right on the line. Seattle's light rail to its airport is something to behold. It would seem to be the best downtown-to-airport service in the country, but that's setting a pretty low bar. There's lots of grade separation, so not a lot of benefit is rubbing off on the adjacent neighborhoods yet. But from a pure transportation perspective, it's really fast -- not a lot of stops like Portland's. Loved Seattle's rail/bus transit tunnel's architecture, but it's not very user-friendly for someone who is unfamiliar with it. For example, it's not obvious how you buy a ticket. You can't buy one at the platform level. I'd recommend that anyone wanting to see all kinds of passenger rail -- take a few days to travel between Portland, Tacoma, Seattle and Vancouver. You can see just about every kind of rail that's operating in North America today, and you won't need a car. It's effortless.

Bortz is going to vote no. Ghiz is going to vote no.

Discussion underway right now. You can watch it on CitiCable, Channel 23. Thomas and Quinlivan have been terrrific. Winburn was pretty supportive. Bortz talking now.