gildone

Well done. Thanks, KJP.

Found this on CVSR's website today. Looks like as of today the train is operating between Brecksville and Akron. I know CVSR is primarily an all-volunteer organization, but they need to issue a press release: Departures starting August 3rd will be out of Brecksville and travel to Akron! Brecksville Station: 9:20 am, 1:05 pm, 4:25 pm Peninsula Depot: 9:40 am, 1:20 pm and 4:45 pm Akron Northside: 10:40 am and 2:25 pm

Any news on the restoration of service north of Peninsula? When they first cancelled, they were hoping for Aug 1, which is today. How is the Rockside Station construction coming?

On Biking, Why Can’t the U.S. Learn Lessons from Europe? Building bike paths alone will not get people out of their cars in the U.S. and onto bicycles. To create a thriving bike culture in America’s cities, people must begin to view bicycling as Europeans do — not just as a way of exercising, but as a serious form of urban mass transportation... http://e360.yale.edu/feature/on_biking_why_cant_the_us_learn_lessons_from_europe/2425/

^But no one in Ohio wants to ride trains. John Kasich told me so...

CLEJoe wrote: There was a detailed economic impact analysis done of the original Ohio Hub Plan in 2007. Tourism was included in the analysis. The original Ohio Hub Plan included the 3-C, CLE-Pittsburgh, CLE-Toledo-Detroit, and CLE-Buffalo-Toronto. This was available at www.ohiohub.com, but I just tried it and it appears ODOT has removed public access from the site-- it now requires a password. The Kasich administration must be afraid of letting people see the Ohio Hub documents. I'm glad I downloaded them all before Kasich took over.

None of Ohio has very useful train service. It's always a good idea to improve service in a corridor like Cincinnati-Chicago. The problem is the lack of a government commitment to support rail like it does other modes. It costs money to upgrade tracks and stations and buy rolling stock-- money Amtrak doesn't have, money congress bickers about and refuses to spend, money Ohio and Indiana refuse to spend. Meanwhile, Megabus is able to do what it does because of a federal and state commitment to spend disproportionately on highways. I see three things that need to happen in order for us to start getting the train service America needs and deserves: 1. Congress needs to grow up and acknowledge that passenger rail is no different than highways and aviation in that it requires a government commitment to fund infrastructure and some operating costs; 2. The Republican Party has to stop turning Amtrak and passenger rail into a political football; and 3. Amtrak needs to pay the host railroads on a similar scale to what Via Rail Canada does, which brings us back to point #1.

^Did anyone attend? How did it go?

I thought this was changed several years ago when Congress was GOP-controlled. They started out with talk of privatizing the interstates, then backed off to allowing states to turn any segment(s) the wish into toll roads. or am I mis-remembering?

The Dispatch's lack of honor is no surprise... I was disappointed the way the Strickland administration and his campaign staff and the Ohio Democratic Party let the Repubs get away with this lie. And the way they allowed the Repubs to take what was always intended to be the first step of a Republican-created plan (The Ohio Hub plan) and use it as a campaign wedge issue. It's no wonder the Ohio Dems have been marginalized in state-level politics for so long. They don't know how to defend themselves and fight back. They can't seem to fight their way out of a wet paper sack. If the business community in Ohio would get off their rear ends and make noise like the Wisconsin business community has started doing there, we'd get the train back.

Perhaps All Aboard Ohio needs to send such a letter.

Progressive ideas in Ohio have, I think, become victims of 20 years of term limits and 30 years of brain drain.

Too bad Ohio business leaders aren't ripping into Kasich about the 3C, Cincy streetcar, etc. What's the matter with this state?

All Aboard Ohio always needs help. Are you volunteering to help with this?

The peak oil crisis: the summer ahead by Tom Whipple Despite the recent drop in oil prices, the outlook for the remainder of the year is not good. If the IEA numbers are correct the world is probably burning more oil each day than is coming out of the ground, with the difference being made up from the 2.6 billion barrel stockpiles held by the OECD countries. Every day brings new stories of coal, electric power and oil product shortages in some corner of the world. The climate too is not cooperating with significant crop failures imminent in many parts of the world and the water levels at numerous hydro dams, particularly in Asia, falling rapidly... http://www.fcnp.com/commentary/national/9247-the-peak-oil-crisis-the-summer-ahead.html

I wouldn't put it past the Ohio legislature to attempt the same thing...

Wisconsin legislature trying to dissolve transit agencies: http://www.inboxfox.com/news/?mID=7184&mG=07EC66&sID=258579&sG=14D2D2 A small handful of legislators decided yesterday to insert a purely policy issue into the budget, without public comment, a hearing, or so much as a minutes notice; and turn their backs on the thousands of people from across the spectrum of communities statewide who invested in advancing RTAs over the past several years. The legislative Joint Finance Committee (JFC) passed a surprise motion to amend the State budget to include elimination of all Regional Transit Authorities (RTAs) in Wisconsin. The motion was offered by co-chair Representative Vos and passed on a 12-4 party line vote. The committee also voted to eliminate the capital bonding program for SE Wisconsin...

Key factoid from this piece: In a ground-breaking statement last week, the IMF says oil has entered ‘a period of increased scarcity. The peak oil crisis: killing off the recovery by Tom Whipple Since the middle of February oil prices have increased by some $22 a barrel. As the U.S. currently consumes just over 19 million barrels of oil a day, that means collectively we are now spending about $420 million a day more filling up our fuel tanks than we were two months ago. Now some of us are wealthy enough to absorb this increased expenditure without a second thought, and some just tuck the added cost away on their credit card statements in hopes there will come a day when they can afford to pay it off. For most however, these higher fuel costs, and of course the higher food and nearly-everything-else bills that go with it, are being covered by foregoing other expenditures that are not an essential part of our lives. Unlike the price spike of three years ago, when oil prices climbed from $70 a barrel in late 2007 to a peak of $147 in July 2008 and then collapsed to less than $60 a barrel by the end of the year, this time prices have been moving steadily higher since March of 2010. Much has happened since the 2008 oil price spike that has left the U.S. and global economies different places than they were three years ago. In a ground-breaking statement last week, the IMF says oil has entered ‘a period of increased scarcity.’... Full article: http://www.energybulletin.net/stories/2011-04-20/peak-oil-crisis-killing-recovery-0

If John Kasich really understood how to make Ohio "cool" for young people, he wouldn't have canceled the Cincy streetcar funding (or the 3C project): Ohio Gov. Kasich wants state to be ‘cool,’ fails to get what that means http://www.grist.org/transportation/2011-04-14-ohio-gov.-john-kasich-says-he-wants-state-to-be-cool-fails

If John Kasich really understood how to make Ohio "cool" for young people, he wouldn't have canceled the 3C project (or the Cincy streetcar funding): Ohio Gov. Kasich wants state to be ‘cool,’ fails to get what that means http://www.grist.org/transportation/2011-04-14-ohio-gov.-john-kasich-says-he-wants-state-to-be-cool-fails

And the need for the Ravenna connection increases?

^Then what's going to pay for harbor maintenance????

^for small yards, you can get a female goat and get the same results, except that goats will eat broad leaf weeds first before trimming your lawn. just make sure you have a fence...

Our congress has become such a 3-ring circus it's truly depressing.

A few years back, I was pacing back and forth on the platform on a cold morning drinking coffee from the coffee shop at the end of the blue line. The train operator said I could get on the train. I said "but I thought drinks weren't allowed?". His reply was: "Let's use some common sense around here. It's cold! Get on the train where it's warm!". By the way, when is construction slated to begin on the new Mayfield Rd station? I seem to recall 2012.