Gordon Bombay

^Can you apply for it with one year left of a photo degree and lots of experience with Legos. Cause I know a guy...

This of course assumes that there is potential for development. Construction of a streetcar does not guarantee development. Streetcars are more successful in cities that already have a lot of new development going on than in cities that do not. By your theory then, Cincinnati is perfect for it. Good thing we're building one.

Thanks for sharing Sherman! I really like this idea:

^That's a shame to hear about more barricades. The park looks even more beautiful with every passing week. My parents took me out to eat for my birthday and we went to the Lager Haus before walking around the park. Luckily, the fountains were on they loved it. They couldn't believe how much had changed downtown. Their exposure had been limited to Reds games where they'd park in a garage and then leave and a few Rod Stewart Concerts at the crappy arena. Speaking of barricades, are the fountains and steps still blocked off with chain link fence? Been wanting to make a picture there for weeks, but decided not to go around the fences for once.

As a photographer, I take offense to the above photograph.

^Just blue both the times that I drove by.

You're welcome! One more today with all fountains now on: Saw them lit up last night, absolutely gorgeous. Are they on all the time now?

Let's do it.

^Drat. I'm actually really interested to see who they buy it from/what model it is. Working at an amusement park for several years has made me an ultimate dork.

Ok, so anyone remember this image: I have yet to see a carousel. I want a carousel.

Finally went to Johnny Rockets last night. When I was a kid, I used to beg my parents to take me to the one in Kenwood, we'd go every year for my birthday. We stopped when I got older. The last time I was at a Johnny Rockets was probably when there was still one in the Cincinnati Mills Mall. For nearly two months now I've been trying to get to the one at The Banks. They have that walk up window and paint on the windows that say they close at 2 AM on the weekends. They don't seem to follow their hours well. Many times we've walked up only to be told they were closed or find them closed well before their hours said so. Anyways, last night we lucked out, but thought we had hit the same problem. We walked in, the sign said wait for a server. We waited for awhile and finally a friendly girl came and sat us. We were the only ones there, Holy Grail seemed relatively busy across the way as did Moerlin Lager Haus when we walked past it. Now, I come from a family who has a habit of being overly critical of the wait service at restaurants, I personally couldn't care less. I've only had one awful experience with a waitress in my life. But, don't get me wrong, the service from our waitress at Johnny Rockets was great. She was very polite, but the rest of the staff seemed to forget that there were people eating there. It was clear they were closing soon and I understand getting ready for that, but they were so obvious about it that it made us feel rushed. Eventually another couple did come in too and they also seemed confused as to whether or not it was open. They had to wait for a server for a little bit. The whole experience was just odd, but the food was good and I really liked the spinning sign/interior design with the classic Reds and Bengals stuff going on. However, this place seems like its hardly open and has terrible reviews online. They need to step up their game it seems like.

Amen. I like Cafe De Wheels, they have good stuff, but for $2 you can get a hot dog off the guy at his cart across from the court house. He's a good dude and it's a good hot dog.

Horstman is such an A-hole, he couldn't bring himself to write a wholely positive article and had to slip in this little dig! I actually think it was good that he pointed that out. It backs up the point that the streetcar will bring development to this area. My only concern with it is whether or not Horstman really went and saw that. The dude did claim he could walk faster than any human being alive. Edit: Someone just pointed it out to me that he used the word "apparent." I forgot about that, he was assuming the girl on the corner was a prostitute. I've seen them on McMicken before and had one approach me while waiting to photograph one of the breweries - one of the most awkward experiences of my life. Horstman didn't really know what she was doing. So yeah - he's an ass. As an aside, did anyone see the comment from recently retired Enquirer photographer Michael Keating? Sums up how I bet most of his former coworkers feel about the city/project. That being said, while Horstman is a questionable journalist - Keating is an outstanding photographer.

The reversed skyline is driving me crazy. Can you believe they would print that? It's a rendering dude, from where it would be *photographed* anyways the streetcar would be running in the river. All the crap the Enquirer prints and THIS is what drives you crazy?

Any idea with "Charlie Winburn" in front of it, I generally find it to be bad. While jump starting phase II would be great, I think they'd be better off on the real campus. The Banks is a big retail/dining/tourist spot, not a college.

BINGO! Thank you! Ironically, tomorrow I decide If I'm still pursuing the journalism part of my degree. And 8th and State - since that photo is backwards it is only reasonable to assume they are lying about how the cars will look as well.

^Because they say "we want to know what you think," when really no newspaper cares what someone on Twitter or their comment section "thinks," but people will come back and back and back to check the results and vote. Each page view will be more hits for their Miami University or Furniture Fare ads.

I don't mind Metro's current design, if anything I think it looks quite nice. However, I wish they would have a uniformed paint scheme. A lot of their busses are still donning that old Primary white with the red and blue stripe through the "M." If the streetcar line went with the same color vehicles and they were Red and White like seen above, I'd be totally ok with that - especially if it was called the "Red Line."

These things look great. So sleek and futuristic. I actually like that they differ in appearance from Portland. Was there any word on the Duke situation last night?

^I bet they practiced intentionally falling like you beforehand.

Does anyone know if any of the historical streetcar wire poles still exist around Cincinnati? If so, where? Could they be repurposed?

InBetween is doing a decent lunch hour with the addition of Great American Tower workers. It's funny to see that a majority of people choose to sit on the expansion side or outdoors. They really need to remodel their original space... I'm sure they'll do their normal Opening Day business, but may suffer on normal game days with the CRG now open and priced at $10. Also, they were closed the Saturday nights of the Big East Final and March Madness Round 3. Holy Grain on the other hand was packed. Until I read this, I had no idea that InBetween was still in business. I can't tell you the last time I ever saw it open.

^And didn't we know both of those points anyways?

^So lets educate the public. "Look out for rail transit tracks, they can be dangerous when riding your bike." Boom. Issue solved. Can we get back to discussing the streetcar now?

Wha-wha-what? You're kidding, right? Come on. Couple points here: 1) Why would you do that? 2) How do you intentionally line up your bike so that you "slip" on the tracks? 3) By you intentionally falling, doesn't that defeat the purpose? No one rides close to streetcar tracks with the intention of wiping out... except you apparently. 4) Those rails on Elm are surrounded by Cobblestone and not similar to modern streetcar tracks, so I'm not sure how you're able to judge. 5) Seriously, if you're not lying, why would you do that? Look, I've heard you're a nice guy from UO members who have met you and I don't doubt that. How committed are you to being the "cautious skeptic," though? You're grabbing at crumbs now.This bicycle thing is a non-issue, another distracting problem that takes away from the real conversation. The streetcar is coming dude, whether you can ride your bike on its rails or not.