John Schneider

I think the casino changes the center-of-gravity for light rail planning here. The streetcar would still be helpful in getting visitors to and from the casino, but the casino will also want to get workers there. I'm imagining a "Rapid Rail" LRT that originates in the Transit Center, goes north on Broadway to Central Parkway, goes east through Broadway Commons to Gilbert, Gilbert to Xavier, to Rookwood and Hyde Park Plaza. Maybe beyond Hyde Park it goes through Fairfax to Mariemont -- some of the old alignment is still there. It needs to be really fast. I'm thinking that someday a branch of this line gets built west to Union Terminal or maybe Northside. That would be an interesting way to go cross-town fast using our boulevard-type parkways. Meanwhile the streetcar would make the connections on the narrower streets. Just thinking out loud.

^ The Freedom Center was conceived well before the "riots" of 2001.

Needs to get to Gilbert. You'd have a lot of bus to streetcar transfers there. Adds value to the North Frame.

Ghiz will be for it. She has countywide ambitions, and the county wants transportation choices. I worked the Main Libary polling place yesteday -- kind of a microcosm of the region if you think about it. And lots of suburbanites on both sides of the river said they wished they could have voted against it too. There is significant interest in light rail here again. Ghiz isn't going to be able to pick and choose between what's a streetcar and what's light rail. Except for the people reading this and maybe 1,000 other Cincinnatians, most people couldn't tell the difference.

It's fitting that Cincinnati bought back its rail future on the same day that Warren Buffett bought Burlington Northern.

West Sacramento will be a modern streetcar like we're doing.

Federal funding awards for streetcar projects are expected in late-January. Cincinnati is right at the top of the list along with Milwaukee, Fort Worth, West Sacramento, Tucson and Atlanta. Boise would have been in there, but now it looks like it will have an Issue 9 of its own.

Once you have light rail to Gilbert, everything in eastern Cincinnati opens up.

To everyone who wrote, phoned, worked, voted -- and most of all, believed -- thanks for the Herculean effort over the past few months. Today was the true beginning to shape a balanced transportation system for Greater Cincinnati. As someone said on the night of our huge loss in 2002, "We're running a marathon here, not a sprint." We're now at about Mile 7. Thanks again.

Three Reasons to Vote 'No on 9' 1. Deception --- proponents of Issue 9 want Cincinnatians to believe that we're voting on the Streetcar. Not true. We're voting a Charter Amendment that, if passed, would prevent our City from expending any monies for right-of-way acquisition or construction improvements for any form of passenger rail without first holding an election for each and every expenditure regardless of dollar amount. The proponents won't tell you that this Amendment would negatively impact Union Terminal (Amtrak train is passenger rail), the Cincinnati Zoo (Safari Train is passenger rail), and would require that Cincinnati hold an election before we could participate in the State of Ohio's High Speed Rail project connecting Cleveland-Columbus-Cincinnati. 2. Anti-Commerce, Economically Uncompetitive --- if passed, Cincinnati will be the ONLY City in America (sad, but true) that amended its version of the Constitution with this restrictive language. At a time when the Federal and State governments are pursuing major passenger rail projects and allocating dollars that can only be used for transportation, Cincinnati will be an uncompetitive position. Do we really think the Feds and State will wait for Cincinnati to hold an election? OKI recently expressed their concern relative to delays and the impact on timely funding applications. 3. Massive, Broad Based Support for 'No on 9' --- when is the last time all business groups (Chambers, 3CDC, Cincinnati Business Committee), Unions (AFL-CIO, Pipefitters, etc), good governance (League of Women Voters, Cincinnatus), Republicans (Sen. Seitz, Council Member Ghiz, Former Sen.'s Aronoff & Finan, Bill Cunningham, etc), Democrats (Governor Strickland, Mayor Mallory, Sen. Eric Kearney), Charterites (Council Members Bortz & Qualls), Judges (Mark Painter, Nathaniel Jones)...all were in agreement? No on 9. As leaders, we are sometimes called upon to act --- please forward this email. It's important that voters understand the truth about the issue 9.

^ Face it: transportation planning for all modes will be in a real mess if Issue 9 passes.

Here's the list of candidates who oppose Issue 9 and who support the Cincinnati Streetcar. for Mayor of Cincinnati: Mark Mallory for Cincinnati City Council: Jeff Berding Chris Bortz Tony Fischer Kevin Flynn Greg Harris Nicholas Hollan Roxanne Qualls Laure Quinlivan Cecil Thomas Bernadette Watson Wendell Young And remember, Issue 9 might apply to roads, bridges, any and every acquisition of land for transportation purposes ... "A court might determine that the "last antecedent rule" applies to the amendment. If so, every acquisition of land - for widening a street, building a bridge - would be subject to a popular vote! At the very least, there would be expensive and time-consuming lawsuits. Not to mention making us a laughingstock." -- Retired Ohio First District Court of Appeals Judge Mark Painter Read Judge Painter's Op-Ed here: http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20091030/EDIT02/910300367/1019/EDIT/Issue+9+could+cause+create+legal+mess MAKE IT VIRAL!

^ Ten percent of the voters in the last election.

^ Jeff Cappel

^ Someone has videotape of it, right? Let's go to the tape.

One of the three speakers at the "Yes on 9" news conference today was Tom Luken, who tried to establish his street cred with the reporters by telling them that he once served as Chairman of the House Transportation Committee during his sixteen years in Congress. If I were Luken, I wouldn't be bragging about his former stewardship of our nation's transportation policy, such as it was. I mean, think about it, the Seventies and Eighties was the period when sprawl in America was supercharged by the acts of Congress. That's when suburban and exurban development that has robbed our cities of their people and wealth really started to take flight. Even the rail systems built during that period were pretty marginal by today's standards. Watching him up there on the steps of City Hall today, where he once served as one of Cincinnati's least memorable mayors, I felt sorry for him.

^ I don't think this is so good for us.

Big news coming tomorrow.

^ Very perceptive.

^ At least it beats their using a pic of the Tampa Streetcar.

^ Hey, that's my picture. Good to see the Enquirer is still using it without credit.

See: City of Cincinnati Streetcar Proposal Video

The Newsmakers taping didn't go so well for Tom Luken.

A friend of mine attended a conference at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City this summer, and one of the featured speakers was a VP at the unniversity. When asked by someone in the audience, "How is it that Salt Lake City, a politically conservative stronghold in the most Republican state in the nation, manages to build all these new rail lines and continues to plan for more of them?" My friend said the speaker thought for a minute and then answered, simply, "Because we think about the next generation here."

Is is a city-only ballot issue.