KJP

from Otis White's Journal on http://governing.com/notebook.htm Transit Done Right Among cities that have developed rail transit in the past 40 years or so, a few have stood out for doing it right: Washington, D.C., Portland, Ore., Dallas. It’s time to add another to this list: Denver. Denver has vaulted to the front thanks to a crash-construction program called Fastracks, which is pouring $4.7 billion into constructing 119 miles of light rail and commuter rail over a 12-year period. How big an expansion is it? Consider that it includes 57 new stations, and officials say it will pretty much cover the region when finished. (Fastracks is financed by a sales tax increase passed overwhelmingly by voters in 2004.) How do you add that much rail that fast? A long stretch is along highway right of way, which makes land acquisition easier but doesn’t allow the kind of development you’d like to see in a rail corridor. Even so, Denver is creating some exciting transit-oriented developments. One, in fact, was featured in a Wall Street Journal article recently. It’s the main station in suburban Englewood, and by looking at it you see how thoroughly rail transit can transform communities when transit planners and local officials work together. As the Journal explained, Englewood is hardly a glamour town. It’s an older, lower-middle-class city whose main feature has been a threadbare shopping mall called (we’re not making this up) Cinderella City. In the early 1990s, city officials decided that the 55-acre Cinderella City site should be redeveloped. Their first thought was, gulp, a collection of big-box retailers. But then the light bulbs went on and city officials settled on building a hip mixed-use district called CityCenter surrounding the rail station. (And we do mean mixed. CityCenter includes hundreds of apartments, 350,000 square feet of retail, offices, a new city hall and the city library.) “Our community has a new core,” the city manager told the Journal. Precisely. And that’s what rail transit gives you: an anchor as well as a ride to work. Because rail stations (unlike bus stops) are hard to move, they create long-term investment. And a different kind of investment: dense, walkable, mixed-use developments, the kind that both feeds off transit and feeds it. But these things don’t just happen. It takes a smart and sensitive transit system (which Denver has) and visionary but patient local government. Why all the patience? Because, as the Journal noted, most localities aren’t set up for mixed use. In many cases, their zoning prohibits mixing land uses, so they have to go through the arduous process of creating new zoning classifications and establishing mixed-use districts. Then there’s the pursuit of good development, the city’s own investments, and so on. In Englewood, the city manager said, creating CityCenter “was like climbing Kilimanjaro.” Was it worth the struggle? The Journal pointed to a new resident of downtown Englewood. Zachary Bradshaw is a 28-year-old employee of a software development company in Denver who takes light rail to work and walks most places. And he finds most of the things he wants, including entertainment, in walking distance or a train ride away. “The location,” he told the newspaper, “is awesome.” It’s hard to imagine that word being used about Englewood before the trains arrived. http://governing.com/notebook.htm

I saw images on every page, usually near the top with explanatory text below.

VERY VERY COOL. Too bad I couldn't save it on my computer for posterity!

Here's my report (I have another version with lots of graphics and such, but it also lists an organization's name as the sponsor of the report -- but the organization refused to sponsor it. So, it's just 8 pages of jottings now.): http://members.cox.net/kjprendergast/Turnpike_Lease_PP.pdf

I was reading through it from another source, and was so impressed with it before even finishing it that I wanted to post it here. But wouldn't ya know Gildone beat me to it! Everyone should read this presentation! http://www.atlanticplanners.org/Events/Conferences/2006%20Conference/2006API%20Principles%20of%20Post-Peak%20Planning.pdf +++++++++++++ By the way, I like this section!..... _____ Now before you get too rosy a picture about the impending phoenix-like rebirth of Flint, Michigan and all that... at a global scale, rising ene rgy prices will probably result in less industrial activity overall. You use energy to make stuff and you can compensate by being more efficient but at some point there’s just less and less energy to make stuff. So at a global scale, industry is likely to decline. But since proximity to markets will become such a relative advantage, places that currently have next to no manufacturing—like, say, most of the rustbelt cities that used to be industrial centers in Canada and the U.S.—will get more than they have now. Less overall, but a different distribution. Again, railroads and seaports are going to be a big advantage. If common sense has any say in the matter, we’ll be manufacturing different things than we do now. I wouldn’t place any bets on the auto sector or the Boeing plant. But companies that make buses and trains, wind turbines, solar panels, bicycles, plus a lot of basic necessities, are going to have good reasons to set up in Cleveland or Hamilton or Moncton. Your economic development department should really be getting on the stick here. _____ Cleveland's location on a navigable waterway is a huge advantage for us. But what we do with that advantage is up to us.

That's been my thought as well. I even wrote a report about it a year ago.

See some of the information linked at: http://www.surfacecommission.gov/commissionlinks.htm

They're all wonderful pics, but the first one was simply striking.

Now THIS is a city neighborhood.....

I know one of the authors (Jim Ridgeway -- we researched some mob stories in the late 90s), and he tends to be a bit sensational. But he's good at going to the heart of an issue. He and the other writers did a good job researching this story. By the way, we wouldn't have a captive market -- whether the road was in public or private hands -- if we had surface transportation alternatives to the interstate highway system. No matter who owns it, the interstate still has a monopoly-share of the travel market. The nation is held hostage to the health of the highway system and the flow of cheap oil. Privatization is only one of the developments in recent years that has exposed the dangerous eggs-in-one-basket path we have taken in the past 50 years.

While the U.S. debates whether it should provide a measely $1.2 billion to Amtrak.... ____________________ http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article2086680.ece The Independent December 9, 2006 17:16 France hopes to set world speed record of 342mph with new TGV By John Lichfield in Paris Published: 19 December 2006 The French railways will attempt to raise the world speed record for a conventional train to at least 342mph in the new year - smashing their own 16-year-old record. Tests with a new generation high-speed train, or train à grande vitesse (TGV), will attempt to push the speed record for steel wheels on steel rails to at least 550kph (342 mph) and possibly 570kph (354mph). The tests will try out a new line to the east, from Paris to Metz, which is due to open to the public at a maximum speed of 320kph (200mph) in June. The record attempt will also make a strong statement that France is ready to take on competition from Japan and Germany in the multibillion-pound market for high-speed trains. .......

True. They just head to Oakland (California, that is).

FULL MEETING SUMMARY West Shore Corridor Stakeholders December 13, 2006 Lakewood Hospital Wasmer Auditorium Selected Highlights (Full Summary follows attendees list): Bay Village Law Director Gary Ebert reports a positive meeting between the West Shore law directors and Norfolk Southern Resident Vice President of Public Affairs Bill Harris on Dec. 12. NS says the agreement with three West Shore suburbs limiting freight train traffic is indefinite, but wouldn’t be harmed by the introduction of commuter rail service. Seven Lakewood High School students presented their designs for a train station in downtown Lakewood. Seven students, from computer-aided design/drafting and interactive media classes, showed renderings and a 3-D model of the traditionally designed depot. Ken Prendergast of All Aboard Ohio presented a draft resolution for city council members, county commissioners, chamber boards, service groups, planning commissions and other bodies to consider. Passage of language in the sample resolution, which follows this full summary, would ask the Ohio Congressional Delegation to provide federal funds for an alternatives analysis of transportation improvements in the West Shore Corridor. The draft resolution is available at: http://members.cox.net/kjprendergast/SAMPLE_RESOLUTION.doc (MS Word, 24kb) NOTE: The next full meeting of the West Shore Corridor stakeholders will likely be held in late January or early February. Its agenda will likely be a description and discussion of the funding process for the alternatives analysis. For those receiving this e-mail for the first time and would like to get an overview of the regional commuter rail proposal, please see the PowerPoint presentation available at (LARGE FILE – 1.9mb): http://members.cox.net/kjprendergast/West%20Shore%20Corridor.pdf __________________________ ATTENDEES - At the Dec 13th meeting, there were 52 attendees (listed alphabetically by last name): Nickie Antonio, At Large Lakewood City Councilwoman William Baddour, Chief Operating Officer, Lakewood Hospital Chris Bauer, Associate Planner, City of Lorain Paul Beegan, Executive Committee, Lakewood Alive Kathy Berkshire, Executive Director, Lakewood Chamber of Commerce Betty Blair, Lorain County Commissioner Jennifer Brady, representative-elect, District 16, Ohio House of Representatives Kevin Butler, Ward 1, Lakewood City Councilman Joe Calabrese, General Manager, Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA) Michael Challender, Executive Director, Lorain Growth Corporation Joe Cimperman, Ward 13, Cleveland City Councilman Philip Copeland, Region 6 Director, National Association of Railroad Passengers Lois Copeland, resident, Elyria Mark Duluk, Principal, Arkinetics Architects+Urbanists Maureen Duffy, Manager of Auxiliary Services, Lakewood Hospital Gary Ebert, Director of Law, City of Bay Village Jon Eckerle, Senior Regional Realtor, Century 21 Commercial/HomeStar David Estrop, Superintendent, Lakewood City School District Edward Favre, Lakewood mayor’s office and Lakewood Board of Education Marty Gelfand, Staff Counsel, Congressman Dennis Kucinich Tom George, Mayor, City of Lakewood Debra Girman, First Federal of Lakewood; Vice Chair of Marketing, Lakewood Chamber of Commerce Paul Gluck, Professional Engineer, CH2M Hill, Cleveland Jack Hall, Senior Transportation Planner, Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency David Hartman, Director of Business Development, RE Warner & Associates, Westlake Jennifer Hooper, Executive Director, Lakewood Community Progress Inc. John Hosek, Director of Transportation Programs, Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency Kevin Kelley, Ward 16, Cleveland City Councilman Therese Krevinko, Lakewood Hospital Will McCracken, Oberlin John Motl, Planning & Programs, District 12, Ohio Department of Transportation Lisa Novatny, Staff Writer, Lakewood Sun Post Anthony Palumbo, Chief of Operations, Electric Vehicle Institute, Bowling Green State University Joyce Parks, assistant to Lorain County Commissioner Blair Ken Prendergast, Director of Research & Communications, All Aboard Ohio Jim Rowe, VP of Operations, Lakewood Hospital Mark Schroeder, resident, Lakewood Ken Sislak, Board Member/Northeast Ohio, All Aboard Ohio Taylor J. Smith, President, Avon Historical Society Bill Snorteland, resident, Lakewood Beth Thames, District Director, Congressman and Senator-elect Sherrod Brown Vince Urbin, Development Department, Lorain County Paul Vernon, President, Cudell Improvement, Inc.; architect, KSU/Cleveland Urban Design Center John G. Whitcomb, resident, Rocky River George Zeller, Center for Community Solutions and GCRTA Citizens Advisory Board Lakewood High School students: CAD Drafting - Brannon Mencke Daniel Michaels Samuel Norris Morgen Schroeder William Snyder Interactive Media- Nicole Muscatello Kristen Vassel _________________________ FULL SUMMARY Lakewood Mayor Tom George welcomed attendees to the fourth West Shore Corridor stakeholders meeting. He said that while concerns remain about heavy freight train traffic, he was excited about the prospect for lighter commuter trains in the West Shore Corridor. He cited the opportunity for strengthening downtown Lakewood (one of the few Cleveland suburbs with a true downtown) and boosting property values along the corridor with better crossing protection and quiet zones. _______ Lakewood Hospital VP of Operations William Baddour spoke next, saying the hospital is a critical stakeholder in the West Shore Corridor and is excited about commuter rail. They see the rail service as a way to enhance access to the hospital for workers, clients and visitors. _______ Ken Prendergast of All Aboard Ohio provided an overview of the Nov. 15 Community Stations Subcommittee, as subcommittee chair Bob Parry, Westlake Planning and Economic Development Director, could not attend due to a conflict. Prendergast listed the potential station sites identified by the NEOrail feasibility study, but noted that some in attendance at the subcommittee meeting remarked that, at least in some communities, other sites should be considered and analyzed. Prendergast said copies of the station sites briefing report were provided by the Northeast Ohio Coordinating Agency, and that anyone seeking additional copies should contact Steve Jones at NOACA. _______ One of the highlights of the meeting was the presentation by seven Lakewood High School students who prepared designs and a model of a proposed station for downtown Lakewood. The site identified is between Belle and St. Charles avenues. School Board member Ed Favre introduced the students and said they were given a broad set of criteria and goals for designing the station. Favre said the station should be of a traditional design like those of other stations built elsewhere along the former Nickel Plate Railroad Co. line which runs through Lakewood. One of those historic stations still stands in downtown Rocky River. Bay Village also has one, but it was moved to a park in that city. The station design should be compatible with other structures in the surrounding neighborhood, not be too large to spread beyond existing railroad property, and be accessible for pedestrians and cyclists. Safety also was an issue, so the station needed openness/large windows for visibility while having a fence to prevent commuters from walking across the tracks in between the crossings of Belle and St. Charles. The students showed the renderings and 3-D model they designed, and discussed the extensive research they conducted to come up with the design concepts. They visited the historic depot in Rocky River, looked at numerous photos and used their classroom lessons to pull it all together. Everyone in attendance agreed the students did a tremendous job. To get copies of the students’ designs and/or photos of their station model, please contact Ed Favre in the Lakewood mayor’s office at (216) 529-6602. _______ Bay Village Law Director Gary Ebert reports that he and the law directors from Lakewood (Brian Corrigan) and Rocky River (Andrew Bemer) had a productive meeting with Norfolk Southern Resident Vice President of Public Affairs Bill Harris on Dec. 12. NS confirmed his company’s agreement with the three West Shore suburbs limiting freight traffic to 14 trains daily is indefinite in term. The current volume of train traffic on the West Shore line is four to seven trains daily. Harris also said his company is not opposed to the general concept of running commuter trains on its West Shore tracks and doesn’t believe adding commuter rail would jeopardize the integrity of the agreement. The West Shore law directors have asked for a written opinion from NS’s Law Department. _______ Prendergast asked all those present who serve on city councils, county commissions, chamber boards and so on to consider passing a resolution to ask the Ohio Congressional Delegation to provide $1.5 million for an alternatives analysis that's needed to nail down the best way to improve transportation in the West Shore Corridor. The study would take the next step after the NOACA NEOrail feasibility study conducted several years earlier, but a number of developments since (higher gas prices, the availability of second-hand and therefore more affordable train equipment, the option for diesel light-rail, use of economic development to help finance capital costs, etc.) might make regional rail or some other public transportation enhancement more feasible. An alternatives analysis would identify capital and operating costs, issues affecting the natural and built environments along the corridor and includes an extensive public involvement process. Conclusion of the alternatives analysis would make the preferred option funding ready. While many officials took sample copies of the draft resolution, it is requested that the following, slightly revised version be used as a starting point instead. Meeting was concluded at roughly 10:45 a.m. _________________________

So much of this project has to do with TIF financing, which means a lot of accountants and lawyers from the city, county, port authority and private sector talking to each other. This is a massive, multi-billion-dollar project. And Stark isn't just working on the so-called Power Block in the Warehouse District. He's working on the whole enchilada to have a phased-in building process in place. Then there's the leasing activity, where you have retailer A saying they'll come to the development if retailer B and C are there. But then retail C says they'll come in only if retailer D and E are there. I'm sure the leasing agents are burning the candle at both ends on this project. Let your imaginations run wild as to how much work has been done, is being done and have yet to do. And you might be closer to appreciating what these people are up to.

It may well be. But don't discount traditional commuter trains. Some make very frequent stops, like every mile in close-in urban areas. In outer areas, they may stop every 5-10 miles. You can design a rail service to suit virtually any needs a region has.

There is a hybrid type of equipment called diesel light rail. It can operate on streets like streetcars, on rapid transit tracks like Cleveland's Rapid, or on freight railroad tracks as long they aren't too busy with freight traffic. Here is the model.... http://www.riverline.com/ ...which operates every 15 minutes during rush hours and 30 minutes off peak. Here are some photos of New Jersey's RiverLINE.....

Problem is, that track comes into downtown from the wrong director for Ann Arbor - Detroit commuter rail. Unless.... There someday is a high-frequency commuter rail service between Ann Arbor and Pontiac via downtown Detroit. Now that would be a cool, U-shaped routing!

I thought you might be interested in the following job posting.... http://www.riderta.com/bc_employment_list.asp?listingid=630 Note that this position is housed in RTA's marketing area.

I was interviewing a locally prominent developer last week, and two of his staffpersons mentioned that an average of 100 people start jobs at the Cleveland Clinic every Monday. Some are likely replacing departed employees, but most are surely new.

Actually, from a railroad construction perspective, it's not hard at all. All that really needs to be done is put back the tracks that were removed or replace those left to rot. Instead, the hard part is getting past an NS intermodal facility just west of Michigan Central Station. Any commuter trains that travel past it could not cause conflicts with existing yard operations. NS wouldn't permit it. And building a commuter train-only track in this area may be expensive given all the other diverging tracks at a major junction west of the yard.

Ah, yes, Turkey will spend as much to improve one rail line as the U.S. does for all of Amtrak. It's clear the U.S. is spending too much on rail.... ________________ http://www.summit.co.za/news/biz4.html From: SUMMIT - South Africa's only business TV channel Monday, December 18, 2006 EIB loan for Turkish high-speed railway ISTANBUL - The European Investment Bank (EIB) granted Turkey a loan of 850 million euros (1.1 billion dollars) to build the country's first high speed railway between capital Ankara and financial centre Istanbul, the bank said. The project involves the construction of a 533-kilometre (330-mile) railway track between the two cities with trains travelling at a speed of 250 kilometers per hour, thus reducing travel time to three hours. The project will cost 2.6 billion euros and is to become fully operational in 2008. .......

And the tracks for the proposed West Shore Corridor commuter rail service run right past there....

Thanks. I've always thought of myself as a creative guy.

Look to the Southwest (lower left) corner of this map. That should give you an idea as to the scale....

True, the Amtrak station is in a poor spot. But there used to be track access from near the western portal of the Detroit River rail tunnel (just east of Michigan Central Station) to near Joe Louis Arena. You can still see some of the tracks through the weeds, along the riverfront south of the arena. If a station at Joe Louis Arena were built, that would put the commuter trains within walking distance of the Detroit People Mover.