John Schneider

"Qualls focused on two huge and sometimes controversial projects that are aimed at addressing the region’s growing traffic woes – the I-75 Corridor Reconstruction and the Cincinnati Streetcar proposal." So far as I know, there is nothing controversial about Cincinnati's streetcar project, however postings like this one can easily help make it so.

There's a continuing debate in Portland about the efficacy of the free fares. This blog brings it up from time-to-time: http://portlandtransport.com/

A sad story. I really worry about the end-game here.

Below Zero serves, mainly, super-chilled vodka -- straight. About two-dozen varieties. Not a place to go on an empty stomach. Well, it depends, I guess.

POSTED EARLIER TODAY IN "DOWNTOWN COLUMBUS STREETCARS" SECTION BY NOOZER. FOOD FOR THOUGHT. From Tim Doulin's "Cranky Commuter" blog in the Columbus Dispatch: http://www.dispatch.com/dispatch/content/blogs/blog_commuter.html All aboard? During the state of the city speech last year, Mayor Michael B. Coleman floated the idea of streetcars for Downtown. That was about 18 months ago. And a decision whether to have streetcars is probably several months off.

This has been tried all over the United States many, many times with very poor results. Some group scrapes enough money together to buy a few fake truck-trolleys, and they are heavily promoted but used sparingly until the vehicles start to wear out or the two or three years of operating money runs out. Right now, lots of these vehicles can be had for virtually nothing because, after the initial euphoria runs out, the sponsor group moves on, there's no sustainability for a fake streetcar that "looks like one." No one wants them anymore except maybe high-demand tourist cities where most people fly in or the parking costs a bunch. And the "flexible" argument? The truth is that the value of any transportation improvement is its inflexibility, the idea the it will always be there to be counted on. Who would value Port Columbus if it were "flexible"? Should I-71 be "flexible?" Should your own street be "flexible"? People crave authenticity in their cities these days -- that's a key driver of the back-to-the city movement around the country. They're too smart to be happy with the fakes.

The City of Cincinnati will be holding public hearings on the downtown streetcar on September 20th and Sepember 27th in downtown and Over-the-Rhine. More later.

Absolutely right on target in every respect.

Actually, it did go up I-75 via Xavier to Tri-County. There was a route to northern Blue Ash along I-71. There was also a route along I-74 to Dent and a route to Newtown via Xavier that used the same tracks as the I-75 and I-71 alignments for the first first five miles. There was also a cross-connector than linked the I-74 route with the Newtown alignment via a short connection between Northside and Xavier. There were two streetcar routes in the plan leading out from downtown to the UC Medical Center and to the Northern Kentucky, the latter stopping at the Ohio side of the river. All in all, the plan included about sixty miles of light rail and six miles of streetcar. Together with a vast expansion of the bus system, it would have brought transit to within a mile of 95% of the households in Hamilton County. If you want to see the plan that was on the ballot in 2002, plus the eventual extensions beyond Hamilton County that weren't on the ballot then, go to www.protransit.com.

[Resumed from above due to bad hand-eye coordination] Funny story: in the midst of the debate about moving the fountain, Jim Tarbell called me early on a Sunday morning and said, "C'mon, let's get a cup of coffee." I asked if it could wait, and he said, "Absolutely not." So he led me over to the Starbucks at Fourth and Vine and then back to the Square. Then he said, "Wait a minute", and he proceeded to step off distances and then gather up tables and chairs and rearrange them in a pattern I didn't understand. When he finished, he had placed one of the large green tables in about the center of the Square together with chairs at the four points of the compass about twenty feet from the table. I said, "OK, what's that for?" He then pointed out that he had placed the table when the fountain was to be moved to, and the chairs represented the edges of the pool surrounding it. Then we pulled a couple of chairs to the table and drank our coffee, even going back to Starbucks for refills. He asked me what I thought. I said that I hadn't thought about it much -- didn't even know before then where the new location was to be -- but my real estate instincts led me to conclude that the new location was better. It would be further away from the traffic noise and pollution coming from Fifth Street and would be likely to be more in the sun on the shortest and coldest winter days, i.e. not in the shadow of The Westin Hotel. I also told him that bringing it back to the north would reduce the glare of early-morning and late-afternoon sun on the hottest summer days. He said something like, "But you won't be able to see it coming down Fifth Street anymore." And I said, "What kind of downtown are we building here -- a drive-through downtown or one that tends to honor pedestrians more?" I told him that the move was entirely consistent with the logic of taking down the skywalks and making the Square more pedestrian friendly. After a while, he agreed.

Funny story: in the midst of the debate about moving the fountain, Jim Tarbell called me early on a Sunday morning and said, "C'mon, let's get a cup of coffee." I asked if it could wait, and he said, "Absolutely not."

Very much so I'm reminded of the truism that when something is really happening in Cincinnati -- as opposed to mere wishful thinking -- that the media seldom has a clue. I'd be optimistic in believing that a lot is probably going on behind the scenes.

Even Astoria, Oregon, with a population of around 10,000, has a streetcar.

I don't think it has anything to do with money right now...rather it is just going through the typical political process that is required of any project. Especially one of this magnitude. Whether you like it or not, there are reasons governments have set up the bureaucracy they have. It is ultimately there to protect the citizens from something getting slipped in under the rug that is not desirable. This project is pretty black and white and appears to have no opposition. I would expect that you could anticipate build-out of this at the more aggressive timetables. The streetcar will be back at Cincinnati City Council in a presentation by the City Manager to the Economic Development Committee on October 9th.

Car-free since '73.

Dear Cincinnatian, Early this fall, Cincinnati's city manager will report to city council with respect to how the first phase of a streetcar system could be financed, built and operated in Downtown Cincinnati and Over-the-Rhine. The consultants studying the project concluded last May that the downtown streetcar project would return benefits to our community well in excess of its cost. If approved by City Council this fall, construction could begin in a year, and the line connecting The Banks with Findlay Market could be operating by 2010. To enable Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky residents to understand how rail transit might work here, the Alliance for Regional Transit has been leading trips to Portland, Oregon for several years. Portland has the nation's only modern streetcar and one of the nation's best light rail systems. Over 300 of your neighbors have gone to Portland with us, and sometimes we've been joined by residents of other cities. Ask around -- you undoubtedly know a colleague or neighbor who taken the time to do this, probably several people. And someone has suggested that you participate in our next tour of Portland on Friday, September 28th. I have reserved rooms between September 26th and September 30th at The Paramount Hotel -- here: http://www.portlandparamount.com/about/index.html The Paramount will charge you $139 per night for a standard room to $154 for a suite, and they won't charge for a second person in the room. The hotel will hold these reservations at this rate until September 7th. In addition, the Alliance charges $100 per person for the tour including your lunch on Friday, Friday evening dinner and tickets for the Portland Aerial Tram. We need all of your time between Noon and 10:00p on Friday, September 28th. Other than that, you're on your own. Most people will arrive on the evening of Thursday, September 27th and leave on Saturday or Sunday, but you could spend less than a day in Portland and complete the entire streetcar tour. Don't book any flight that arrives in Portland later than 10:45a on Friday. Lots of people who've been to Portland several times before have remarked that they had never viewed the city from the perspective of these tours. You'll come to understand how Portland is able to attract new residents and businesses by offering car-competitive alternatives like the streetcar. It's a pretty good story, but it's not perfect, and we'll show you those things too. Delta's well-timed nonstop flights were $539 this morning, but I've seen fares on United and Northwest in the $250 range. On September 28th, the weather will be perfect. If you are interested, please write back right away, and I'll send you more information. Thanks, John Schneider 513-579-1300

Sure. That and more. I just posted the Times of London piece to show the lengths some people will go to in order to make a case for preserving the status quo.

Great pics. I may want to introduce some of these at the City Planning Commission next week in its discussion of The Banks project. Would that be OK? Thanks.

There's always someone willing to spoil the party -- in this case, Rupert Murdoch's Times of London. See: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article2195538.ece

If you have too much time on your hands at 5:00a Saturday morning, Channel 12 is repeating a half-hour interview show on the Cincinnati Streetcar. I didn't think it was anything special, but the host of the show did, and apparently they've had a number of requests to re-air the segment. It includes some very good video of the Portland Streetcar. Also, you may be able to stream this and the prior segment on-line. The name of the show is "Make Peace With Nature."

In icy weather, they often run the cars all night to keep ice from building up on the overhead wire. In this climate, they would install switch warmers. That's the biggest problem - frozen switches. They would never derail in icey conditions, but the streetcar might have to drop sand on the tracks to start moving on a icy slope. Look at it this way, Buffalo and Minneapolis both have light rail. Ditto Stockholm, Oslo and Helsinki. And Edmonton, Calgary and Toronto. Not a problem.

Is it just me, or is the water coming out of the cold water taps in Cincinnati this summer warmer than it's ever been?

Not a friend of rail transit.

I'm guessing no Federal Funds to build the streetcar. There's a strong desire to avoid the Federal process - probably adds two years at a minimum. The city manager will report to city council in mid September as to how we going to pay for building and operating the streetcar. If that is well-received, and environmental study with extensive public input costing about $800,000 would follow-on. There's a strong desire to get this done before Jim Tarbell leaves City Council in early December. I think we have at least six votes right now.

It's supposed to be finished by December 20th or so. It's a re-landscaping, and I think the work is within the boundaries of the current islands.