Gordon Bombay

^It was called Bourbon St. I don't think Metropolis is accessible through the main mall though. The place certainly had it's problems back in the day and there was crime. I remember going there in the late 90's/early 2000's and security not letting you walk around in large groups (they also had this policy at Northgate and Tri-County when I worked there), but I can't find any information on an indoor shooting war.

I think the incident you're referring to is when a gun was pulled and there was a huge response from the Fairfield and Forest Park police. I remember watching the ruckus from the hotel parking lot across the way cause I saw all the cop cars on my way home from work. The mall itself wasn't open, just the nightclub. Also, you can't enter the nightclub from within the mall itself, you have to go outside. Are you kidding me? To enter Metropolis you have to park in a completely different parking structure than that of the main mall, why were you parked there and who was following you? What kind of "general sh!t?" While these malls don't have substations, they do have a constant police presence. I've worked at both Tri-County and Springdale and both had cops in there at all times working out of the customer service desk. The point of the substation at Cincinnati Mall/Forest Fair was supposed to be some educational thing done between the Fairfield and Forest Park police, since the mall fell into both of their jurisdictions. If you have a link to an article on this, I'd love to read it. I remember there always being rumors of gangs there, but I don't remember anything about an indoor shooting war. Yeah, the article made it seem like it was installed after the Mills renovations to curtail some high spike in crime at that time. They had a substation there for years. I have a picture of me at the substation in 1993 with my "koala care" day care class. Also, the substation closes with the main mall and doesn't stay open with Metropolis. It's not located adjacent to the parking garage, it's located within the mall itself.

"Crime was so rampant that a police substation was built." Sherman, you're my friend and I enjoyed reading this, but that is nothing for than mere speculation attempted to be put forward as fact. The Forest Park and Fairfield Police had a substation there for years and often held D.A.R.E. events and such there. I remember going to them as a kid. When the mall was renovated to "Cincinnati Mills," the substation was moved down by the food court. The police always had a kind of "ambassador" presence there, it wasn't put there to curtail rising crime post-mills renovation that your article seems to suggest. Sorry, I just felt the need to point that out. They didn't put a substation there to curtail crime, it had always been there. "Even the suburbs can suffer from years of neglect, vandalism and crime." While I agree with you about the anti-downtown attitude most suburbanites seem to place on downtown while not looking in their own backyard (i.e. Kenwood), what vandalism was there at Cincinnati Mall that your article implies? Even though I moved out of Fairfield, I still have to go back there every now and then for eye appointments, they keep the place pretty well maintained and they were pretty quick to throw me out of there for shooting photos. When you're a security force with nothing to guard, it's a pretty easy job. Also, again, I don't think crime was as rampant there as you make it seem. It's a good article and a good recap story how that place never panned out, but I think the statement on crime is quite a big exaggeration.

Event ant-streetcar folks realize that 700 WLW is blatantly anti-streetcar. Nice to see that Daryl Park is on Mary Kuhl's side: http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1780938972652&id=1514763610

I couldn't agree more. I think it feels like the ballpark is "right in the neighborhood." It was dismal a few seasons back walking along 2nd St. with that giant hole in the ground from where Cinergy stood and The Banks was stalled. I like how the buildings of The Banks blend well with the HOF and team offices. It feels like the ballpark is tucked away amongst the buildings. I think it will be cool for out of town fans and the typical suburbanites who visit one game a year to come down and see the progress. It's dramatically different from last year.

If Smitherman can run for mayor, it seems like any idiot can. I am putting my name in for 2013.

I still wouldn't go there.

So even if the Enquirer goes out of business someday and a new tenant occupies their space or one of the other existing tenants at 312 Elm take it over, do you still want us to let you sleep?

That is unfortunately not going to happen. Given the fact that the Enquirer gets thinner and thinner each year and, they STILL to this day can not provide a decent website that isn't clunky, user unfriendly and hard to navigate all while not grasping how to use social media and online multimedia - I'd say it will happen sooner rather than later.

You know, I caught a lot of flack for voting for Strickland. He was the first Democrat I voted for. I'm not a big fan of him, but every tim Kasich opens his mouth, I feel glad I made that decision despite the outcome. No thanks Johnny boy.

Thanks for the quick answers to the questions everyone!

My question is, in European and Asian nations where high speed rail travel is more prevalent, do they operate a similar system or did they begin in a similar way. For instance, did they start with a single entity such as our Amtrak or are their rail lines privately owned much like airlines are? I can see Sherman's point about the privately funded 3C, but in an environment where everything else is Amtrak it seems like a lose-lose situation. We'd get 3C, but how well would the company coordinate with Amtrak. Sherman is there anything like your proposing currently in operation in the US?

I'd like to name one Tom Luken.

Taken a couple nights ago from the Covington Landing:

"Harrell accused city budget writers of playing a “shell game” with restricted funds, which they say can’t be used to solve the projected shortfall in the city’s general operating fund. Money from the sale of Blue Ash Airport and tax revenue from a casino scheduled to open in 2013, she said, could be transferred to the general fund instead of the streetcar project." Pardon me if I'm wrong, but aren't those funds capital funds? And I believe we've been over this, but capital funds can't be used for the operating budget. Now, how does someone like Cool Kat Kathy who used to enforce law, not understand it?

Unfortunately, I think that's the point. Hardly anyone is buying print journalism these days. Lets face it, the Enquirer had been on a huge downward slide ever since the guy was caught faking the Chiquita fiasco. The only reason they ever went up in readership recently was because they absorbed some of the Post's former subscribers. It seems to me like the people running the Enquirer aren't very creative. They ran out of original, thought-provoking and investigative stuff to do and kind of took the Network News "Troubleshooter" approach. I.E. Find a minor problem, but report on it with a spin that promotes fear or controversy and watch everyone get riled up. I bet they're loving this streetcar nonsense, because it keeps people fired up and they come to the website to argue and bicker. The biggest downside to that is that it empowers people like Luken and CASS into thinking people actually give a s**t about what they have to say. When they don't realize that the majority of streetcar opponents don't live within the city. It's a shame, I follow USA Today, NYT, Washington Post and a few other real papers on facebook and Twitter and some of the feature stuff they put out is great. The Cincinnati Enquirer though is an embarasment, it feels more like a local town newspaper written by the gossip queen. They have some excellent talent too, unfortuately they've forced those people to blogs and given the front pages to AP re-hash articles and morons.

It's interesting to read the comments on that blog post, it's different than most streetcar articles. Most commenters are streetcar supporters and the ones who aren't are blasting the Enquirer, COAST and police/fire for such a silly, silly article... That is absolutely pathetic. Quoting their Mr. Rodgers song and linking to their facebook page all while never seeking the other side of the issue or seeking a divergent opinion. Am I really reading an article from a major newspaper or is that this "journalist's" myspace?

On Monday nights I drive out to the burbs to see my father and some of his friends. We meet at this suburban bar and watch Monday Night Football while drinking shitty domestic Michelob by the pitcher (they all give me hell when I order bottles of Moerlin, which while domestic, I like a lot better, but they can't believe I pay that much more than the Michelob special! ZOMG!). This past election, all of them (even the one guy in the group who voted for Obama) has been bitching about the 3C plan. When I informed them that I was voting for Strickland (not just for the 3C reasons) you would've thought I had spit on all of their mother's graves. (I've probably mentioned these guys in this thread before, if I have I apologize, but I have a point I promise). Well anyways, tonight they were whining about the guy who is on the news lately that refused to be x-rayed by the TSA at an airport. While that's a whole other topic, the ring leader of this monday night group who most vocally opposed the 3C said "Soon, people are gonna stop traveling by air - it's too expensive and too much of a hassle, they're gonna use other options." I reminded him that the guy he just voted for has already vowed to kill the other traveling option we were looking at to which he replied: "No one was gonna ride that s**t anyways, I'd rather drive." I think these people who oppose rail, whether it be light rail, streetcars or things like the 3C oppose it because they don't understand it. None of these guys (aside from my father who is from NYC) have ever experienced rail. They grew up on highways and airports. They'll vehemently oppose rail until it truly isn't cost effective on fossil fuels anymore. When it gets to the point that these guys truly can't afford to fuel their cars or buy that airplane ticket because the 757 has such high fuel costs, then they'll swallow their pride and accept it. Unfortunately, that's what I think its gonna take to change the mindset of stubborn people like this. That or they all die off and the younger generation after them takes charge.

1) It's private property. If they want to close it off for special events like Riverfest or hold events on it to raise money to cover their expenses, they reserve that right. They didn't purchase it to better serve cyclists. 2) There's another bridge on the other side of the aquarium a few blocks down. Use that one. Curious to hear what your good ideas are for it.

8th and St., you bring up an excellent point here. I too have noticed this. It seems like people here in Cincinnati, Hamilton County and the surrounding suburbs don't "get it" because they've never truly experienced public transit whether it be bus, rail or wiremobile. Every Monday I drive up to a bar near my dad's house in Fairfield. We (I) throw back a few beers, eat wings and watch the monday night game with some of his friends who I've known since I was a kid. Every week someone trys to provoke me into a streetcar argument and it always comes down to similar things like you mentioned. The guy who was stationed in Germany in the army loved riding the trains there. Guy #2 loved using the L and subway when visiting Chicago. Guy #3 liked the light rail in Houston and my dad grew up in NYC where he NEVER drove a car into the city, took the subway everywhere and still does any time he visits. ALL of them having the same opinion though: "No way it would work here." All voted against MetroMoves in 2002. And then you have the folks who have never experienced public transit. The folks that have their SUV across two lanes on 2nd St. waiting to pay 20 bucks to park underneath the ballpark. All summer long I brought friends from my workplace in the suburbs down to the ballpark for Reds games. For some reason everyone wants to park at Hooters and walk across the bridge. So one day I suggested taking the Southbank shuttle, I've done it many times. You wouldn't believe how skeptical they were of it. "Is it safe?" "Are you sure about this?" "Do you know where it goes?" "Does it go through a bad area?" "How much does it cost?" "Maybe we should just walk." A buck and some change and we were where we needed to be in no time. Not where I wanted to be cause Hooters sucks, but we were there. Point is, I think the streetcar will change people's perception of public transit in this city with how easy it is to use and navigate. I don't know what people think it is about Cincinnati that for some reason BETTER public transportation can't work here. When in reality the city and surrounding areas geography makes it an ideal place to build mass transit, particularly by rail, instead of expanding our highways through neighborhoods and cutting into the surrounding hills.

The tea party folks will read this: "In the event that you cannot accede to my request, I ask that you take no actions to spend the funds allocated to Ohio so that these funds can go toward reducing the federal government’s $1.4 trillion deficit." and blindly proclaim him as a hero.

Today or last Friday? Today. I believe all the local TV stations were there Friday. City Beat was there too. Luken went on a rant about how the mayor is in China seeking "financing for the streetcar from the Chinese." The conspiracy is out! Red Dawn is here and its starting with the streetcar!

The streetcar isn't the only sollution to redevelop OTR, but its a damn good start. In Portland they built theirs through an abandoned industrial area that is now full of afordable housing, entertainment, shopping and restaurants. In multiple other cities we've seen how permanent rails in the ground attract busineesses and promote development. I'm not sure the last time you went down to OTR was, but I was just down there tonight explaining to a friend how great it is. (Highly, highly recommend Joe's Diner by the way to anyone reading this), but that I wouldn't go north of Liberty. Since the riots, OTR has turned around quite well, the streetcar will serve as a continued catalyst and help speed that up. Instead of upper scale condos, we'll see more affordable housing opportunities that cater to college students and young people just joining the work force and the area is ripe for that kind of development. I'm not sure what you're getting at by wanting to re-tool the Metro routes. In my opinion, they're pretty good. Seems like you're just trying to create more and more reasoning to try and convince yourself why you dislike the streetcar project. METRO's problem is how hard it is for a newcomer or out of towner to navigate. They're slowly getting better though. Look, the streetcar is happening. Instead of vast sewer conspiracies and continuing to look at the past at what we could've done, lets look at the opportunity we have now - the streetcar to strengthen our downtown. More businesses, more people = stronger economy. It's worked elsewhere, its already working here. In case you missed tonights episode of South Park, it featured a hero named "Captain Hindsight." Your posts really remind me of him.

Exactly! Good thing we're building it.

I'm glad others feel this way. I take TANK every day to get to school, but that's about it. It serves me hardly any benefit to go anywhere else when I need to get downtown or further. Metro and Tank being two separate entities really sucks. I like in NKY and my roommate and I often carpool when we work the same shifts. One night he drove us home after we both had driven in the morning, he had a family emergency and I was stranded at the apartment the next day. I tried to plan out taking TANK downtown then hoping on Metro, the whole process would've had so many "layovers" and downtime that it was ridiculous. TANK operates a fine system here in Northern Kentucky and METRO is slowly getting better, but damn I'd love to see these two systems unified.