GCrites

You just did it two posts ago.

The COTA people told us directly that it is fully funded. That's our source.

Someone also needs to make a miniature version

Y'all need to come to these Transit Columbus meetings. They're all bangers. 2nd Tuesdays of the month at the Main Library usually. Of course UO meetups decimate all 😉

The W. Broad line is was fully funded already and would have happened even without Issue 47 passing.

I was in a Transit Columbus meeting last night where John Esterly, Executive Director of All Aboard Ohio gave an update on 3C+D and Midwest Connect (the name for the Chicago-Pittsburgh line). Here are the notes courtesy of Ben Keith: 3C+D and Midwest Connect are Step One, fully federally-funded, doing the research. Funding from the IIJA (AKA Bipartisan Infrastructure Law) is assigned, but checks are not yet cut. Very unlikely these IIJA funds would be clawed back. Step Two and Step Three might receive reduced federal funding. Large state support within the next General Assembly for Step Two funding: more planning and studies. Worry that in 2027 there will reduced appetite for Step Three from the Statehouse. That’s where we do the capital investment in the tracks and the ongoing support. The legislature might want to cut one or the other corridor (referring to Midwest Connect my add), but 3C+D is the national priority. Optimistic timeline was end of decade, but might be longer, for structural reasons. Budget hawks in Ohio Legislature are worried about the ongoing costs for state-supported rail. AAO has commissioned a study to find that out. Probably not a Amtrak station in JD Vance’s hometown, Middletown, even though it’s right on the 3C+D rail line. It’s more likely to have a station in probably Hamilton or Oxford. But we don’t know for sure where those stations will be until Step Three is done. John mentioned one other jurisdiction that’s aiming to build a station in this area. Read More in the Amtrak Connects Us plan for some potential identified stations. Step One here is the initial planning process. Thanks to Ben for making these notes during a busy meeting.

I didn't know he lived here until like 6 months ago

Gonna have to check this out. In other cities when it happened it was always weird the first few times. And I didn't know those towns nearly as well as here.

they're really calling it DOGE this is a simulation another iteration please

I still think that "By the year 2000 UC will be all towers" era was interesting.

Is Portman even interested in coming back? I'd rather run The Golden Lamb than be a senator too.

Those years were pure agony for him so they seemed longer 😉

I think there's a lot of Rs that don't even know you and your employer pay into it. They think you just "get" it when you hit 65.

While cleaning at my mother's house I found the preliminary plans for the 2004 Columbus light rail proposal. I actually didn't know much about it since I was living elsewhere at the time. My dad must have clipped this and put it in the 2004 file. Obviously the Rickenbacker intermodal has been open for years and surely at least some traffic has been diverted into that direction from the corridors in the core. Our existing rail corridors are in excellent locations.

Did you know that if current trends continue that there will be 204 million Amish in this country in 200 years?

I thought that building was still there for some reason lol

Yeah it was a lack of machines and space in this case. The room wasn't super big and people were really jammed in there.

Hmmm, now did I vote in person in 2020 now that I think about it? I remember mailing in the primary ballot because you had to but did the main 2020 election have in-person voting? And if it did COVID concerns likely led to a lot of mail-in.

And that one had only 4-5 machines. I'm pretty sure there was a second polling place previously as well, maybe somewhere like the Lutheran church? When I was a kid it was at Glendenning Elementary. I remember seeing the voting machines being put in the hallways days before a big levy around the time of the teachers' strike.

This new polling place is ass. This is my 3rd Presidential election at my current address and at the old polling place it never took more than 15 minutes. It's going to take at least and hour. If nothing changes next year I'm going to mail it in. Lines at early voting seem to as long or longer.

I may not have picked the exact right alignments on the interactive map for both 3C+D and the Chicago-Pittsburgh Lines but I at least marked ones approximating them with the names. I imagine they'll get the idea.

I used to love seeing those BITD.

Jet fuel can't melt steel but ground up tires can!

That looks like it used to be a G.D. Ritzy's.

Does traffic always back up all the way to Florence before a home game? We were coming up from Central Kentucky Sunday morning and the traffic was nasty. The phone said it was bad all the way to the stadium. We turned around at Buttermilk Pike and took 275 to 471 and it was fine. I never came that way before games when I lived in Cincinnati. OSU only backs up about a mile from the stadium when you come up 315 before a game and Ohio Stadium holds more.