arenn

I spend a few months working in Houston, and while it was not my favorite city, I can respect what they've accomplished. They are amazingly pro-growth there. And by the way, they were not always the center of the US energy industry. You may remember that the 1980's drama about oil in Texas was called "Dallas", for example. Houston does not have zoning in the city. However, it looks little different from most southern sprawlvilles. Suburbs often do have zoning, and within the city, HOA restrictions are as tough as those anywhere. The city also has a building code the mimics zoning in some respects. This is not as wild-west as some might claim.

That hotel design is terrible!

Use flagstones instead.

Obviously I'm happy that Indy's EA is fairly large, though that is only relevant to a limited number of things. I happen to think that the best general measure we've got is MSA, though even those contain significant regions (if not populations) that are only tangentially related to the core. (California is an odd case with MSA) Cincinnati is ringed with other metros - Louisville, Lexington, Columbus, Dayton, Indianapolis. This, along with its status as the largest and traditionally most important city in the region, gives it a lot of those super-regional assets like IKEA and Kings Island. It's also why the Cincinnati EA isn't bigger, however. Which would you rather have?

I wouldn't get my knickers in a knot about West Chester. Every city that is growing has a suburban area like that. Indy, Cbus, and KC are no exception. In fact, some have it worse. Overland Park is arguable the true business center of the KC region these days. I'm not saying this migration of business is good for Cincy, but it certainly isn't a uniquely bad phenomenon

That Dayton-Springfield EA or whatever it is makes no sense. If Dayton and Cincy end up with a single MSA, I expect the BEA to simply eliminate it and give its counties to the surrounding area.

Looking pretty good on Issue 9 - that's a healthy margin

FYI: http://www.urbanophile.com/2009/11/01/cincinnati-water-works-and-the-commonwealth/

Atlanta poaches another one from the Midwest: College Football Hall of Fame moves from South Bend to Atlanta http://www.southbendtribune.com/article/20090923/News01/909239955/-1/news&updates=1 $50 million package

Hi - resurrecting this topic. Does anyone have any links to pro/con sites for this Water Works sale? Presumably I could go to the usual suspects for the anti-side, but would like to see the most compelling rationale from the pro side as well. Of course, additional perspectives from the insightful crew here is always welcome.

Got news for you, LGA is the preferred airport to fly to NYC. Certainly it is much easier to get to than JFK. It's 20 minutes by cab from Midtown most times of the day.

COAST is right about one thing: any loophole in the charter amendment would be used by streetcar proponents to try to undermine a negative election results. It's the way of the world. Ironclad language is the only way to guarantee results. I don't think this amendment is a good idea, but let's be real here.

thomas, you've got to look closer at that, I think. For example, are there other policy levers such as zoning preferences, tax subsidies, etc. that are channeling development along that line? I'm not saying the streetcar had no impact or that other policy levers shouldn't be used, but I'd be willing to be money there's more going on than just a rail line

I think there is goodness to have some stickiness in wages. When companies can make numbers just by ratcheting up or down pay (which frequently happens in bonus oriented firms), what we really have is a cookie jar reserve system. Sticky wages do help create management discipline I think. OTOH, I do think the civil service model in this country needs major reform.

Pay cuts are extremely difficult to administer, even in the private sector. I don't know Ohio's laws for sure, but would not be surprised if it were illegal as generally public sector workers enjoy very strong legal protections against everything but layoffs. I have seen any number of places do furloughs. But can you close a $20 million gap with that? Also, as a general rule, I would not be in favor of using one time cash injections like the proceeds from an airport sale to plug operating budget holes. Those should be saved, used to pay down debt, or invested in capital projects (though of course with a close eye towards the operating tail generated). I believe the city has that money earmarked for the streetcar, which is an appropriate type of investment. The problem with papering over budget holes is that you end up leaving structural deficits in place and are able to put off hard decisions until later. Possibly if there is a truly unique cyclical problem, you could treat it as a reserve, but you'd have to be awfully sure. Michigan has been relying on one time gimmicks to balance its budget, and the bill is finally coming due.

Let's see the specifics. "Something else" is a cop-out.

Fine. How do you propose paying for them?

I think the point is that it is easy to criticize cuts, but where is the alternate plan? By all means, people who don't like the current approach should say so, but they should have a better alternative in mind.

Didn't see this one posted. I don't think it has anything to do with Cincinnati, just this lousy economy and poor industry dynamics. Cincinnati hub is shrinking Delta is cutting flights in Cincinnati by 17 percent in the fall By Kelly Yamanouchi The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Delta’s Cincinnati hub is less than half the size it was four years ago, one of the company’s most dramatic areas of cuts. A major question in the merger was whether it would cut a hub from its combined network, which now includes Delta’s hubs in Atlanta, New York, Salt Lake City and Cincinnati and Northwest’s hubs in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Detroit and Memphis. With its larger presence, Atlanta-based Delta is now a key economic force in more cities around the country. That means that the strategic decisions Delta’s executives make at their headquarters near Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport are being scrutinized by more civic leaders, travelers and companies all over, who depend on Delta flights for business trips and vacations, to boost tourism and to attract corporate headquarters. And Cincinnati is not going quietly. The Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber launched an effort to keep its Delta flights to London and Frankfurt, which Delta plans to cut this fall. Delta worked hard to gain support for the merger by pledging not to eliminate hubs or lay off front-line employees as a result of the deal. Now as the company cuts flights amid the recession, that amounts to growing pressure to balance maintaining its service while cutting costs. Read full article here: http://www.ajc.com/business/cincinnati-hub-is-105747.html

Nice blog post. I went over to the Activist Toolkit and it is awesome. Actually, it could easily be copied for the pro-streetcar side as it really espouses little political POV. I love how the first item is "Run for Office". Incidentally, the things I quoted came from here: http://coast-usa.blogspot.com/2009/08/petitions-submitted-to-city-council.html

Thought I don't agree with all of their positions, and certainly don't support the rail charter amendment, you've got to hand it to COAST. They've been very effective, and their strategy, execution, and hustle are paying off. I'm particularly impressed with their "big tent" alliance that includes the NAACP and, according to them though it seems hard to credit, the Green Party. I was over at their blog, which I actually find amusing, which had this interesting blurb: "Some of COAST's LGBT members had been telling us how prevalent fiscal conservatism is among their community, so we made a concerted effort to saturate the Pride Parade and Northside 4th of July Parade. We certainly weren't disappointed. These two events out-produced many church festivals. We had no luck recruiting LGBT leaders to "come out" in support of our cause, but community members were some of the most knowledgeable and budget-savvy voters we encountered. Thanks, let's find more ways to work together." They are even going after the LGBT community, which I must say is a good move. I have noted with enormous despair that members the Indianapolis gay community often opposes progressive urban policy and is very conservative in many local issues. I have to give the political right credit. While much of their rhetoric is just political spew, they've got sort of sardonic humor streak that, when done right, is extremely effective. At the national level this is best illustrated by people like Mark Steyn and PJ O'Rourke. The only equivalent I know on the left, apart from Colbert and Stewart, if you want to count them, is Christopher Hitchens. Consider, could a pro-streetcar person have written anything like this: "Special thanks goes out to Councilmember Roxanne Qualls. Her insistence that uptown be included on the route introduced tremendous uncertainty into the proposal. City planners scrambled to figure out how, and indeed if they could get up the hill, and struggled with a near-doubling of the cost. All of that gave us the time we needed to conduct a rather relaxed signature drive. If not for that, the streetcar might be underway by now. "The biggest boon to petition production, however, was Mayor Mallory. His mishandling of the budget, frequent junkets, and utter obliviousness to the plight of the beleaguered taxpayer engendered a rage among the electorate that had people yanking petitions out of our hands to sign them." The pro-streetcar writings I have seen are quite dour. How about a little light hearted mockery like this?

By the way, I'm all in favor of self-amendable, home rule city charters. However, amendments should be limited to proper constitutional matters. Generally amendments should be proposed by the City Council and subject to super-majority voting to approve. I'm not averse to citizen led amendments, as long as the petition threshold is high, super-majority voting required, and the content is appropriate for a charter type document. The rail amendment fails the test.

I sure hope the charter amendment fail. California style initiatives are not needed in Cincinnati. The city charter should focus on the structure of government, not public policy, which should be politically determined.

Thanks for the link. Let me say that I generally think Cincinnati streetcars are a good idea.

Thanks, Lincoln. How did Columbus overcome this? I know they provide water service outside the annexed areas.