Gordon Bombay

"Fact checking and research still come hard for local special interest group." http://caast-usa.blogspot.com/2009/08/more-lies-from-good-folks-at-coast.html Ugh, I have a feeling this is gonna be a nasty fight come election season. Grab some popcorn folks, this one's getting interesting!

I know some people have been wondering whether or not the Cincinnati Enquirer ran the editorial piece in the sunday print edition...the answer is YES they did...and how. On the front piece of the "Sunday Forum" they ran a large headline "On Opposite Tracks" and outlined the dangers of the proposed charter amendment. The front page outlined exactly what the amendment would do, who supports it and who doesn't. It also included a graphic of the "Chicago Hub High Speed Network" and pointed out how this referendum could potentially exclude Cincinnati from that. The front also had quotes from Mayor Mallory, Councilman Bortz, Ellen Van Der Horst, Christopher Finney and Christopher Smitherman. On the very next page they ran the editorial followed by an outline of the streetcar plan and an article on the effects of streetcars in Tampa, Memphis, Seattle and Portland. Props to the Enquirer, I know some like to hate on it but they did a pretty fair job reporting on the ballot issue and laid it out plain and clear in the sunday print edition. I just hope they keep up this kind of exposure come election time!

Uh, how is that late?

"So tell CFP to shove their so-called "progress" up their crack-pipe and smoke it." I think with the recent poll numbers and this nonsense being sputtered on their blog, COAST is getting quite desperate.

Had the opportunity to work with a member of Indy Parks and got permission to photograph this depression era art deco ball park: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 If you'd like to see more photographs or read about the history of this place, check out QueenCityDisco.com This is just a small sample of the photographs, plenty more at the link above!

I listen to Cunningham quite regularly and Eddie and Tracy nearly every day on my way home from work. COAST has had representatives on there in the past, but not "nearly every day."

It's the Ohio River. I took that spring 2008 when the river was flooding. THat ramp leads down to the public landing.

^Oh, ok, I wasn't sure either. That way just kind of always made the most sense to me, but I'm not really educated on the plan that well. I think the transit center definitely needs to be utilized though and the Eastern Corridor would be a great way to start.

I'm not 100 percent sure on this, but I think a light rail line running along the oasis line to the transit center would turn North beneath the walkway connecting U.S. Bank Arena and Great American Ballpark, right by the public landing then cross Pete Rose Way into the transit center entrance. Right about here:

Yeah, that threw me off too. I think they forgot to mention that the city would have to try and procure federal stimulus dollars for a rail project.

The local citizens group, CAAST, weighs in on COAST's recent ramblings and 700 WLW's recent interview with Mayor Mallory: http://caast-usa.blogspot.com/ I'm really starting to love reading this blog.

No, given his performance back then, I'd say he was a so-so player, hardly someone who would've been "highly desired." http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/j/jonestr01.shtml Went on "Exploring Cincinnati" today to talk with Travis Estell about www.queencitydisco.com and we had a little bit of a discussion about the Cincinnati Streetcar and the WLW call by Mallory today. THe podcast should be up on www.explorecincinnati.com later today

Well Tracy would know a lot about the issue and transit systems in general. I mean, as a baseball player he sucked so bad that he was traded around quite often and got to see a lot of cities and how they operate their public transit. He also said that the streetcar "wasn't working in Long Beach." Yet, the Metro Blue Line running through Long Beach isn't comparable to the proposed Cincinnati system and has some of the highest ridership on the Los Angeles area light rail line. Thanks Tracy, for showing us you not only know nothing about baseball or parenting, but also know nothing about transit.

John, hope you will be posting some photos soon!

^Thanks ColDayman! - Ha, no, we passed up on the super villain shop. I like to think we're more good than evil - Thanks for checking them out Robert! - Glad to see Burger make it up to central ohio! I hadn't tried Burger until tonight ironically and hadn't planned to. After posting that update I went to see a play with some friends and afterwards someone had a party. Their fridge was stocked with Burger and everyone kept saying "Burger sucks!" A couple cans later and I was telling stories about exploration and really enjoying Burger Beer. Hudey, Burger and Moerlein...gotta support the locals.

Been really busy lately and haven't posted a photo thread on here in awhile, check out some of the abandoned stuff we explored recently...and some of the neat historical treasures we found: A Super Villain's Secret Laboratory - This abandoned distillery for "Gilbey's Gin" now resembles the perfect place for a comic book super villain to set up shop in a secret laboratory. It took some rooftop climbing to find this place: - Note the faded "Gilbey's Gin" atop the building? - Graffiti as we climbed the fire escape. - Gordon Bombay supporting Brandon Phillips. - Trains fly by at night. - The secret lab. - Ram23 at work. - Did we climb to the top? Guess you'll have to check out the full update if you care to find out! Hudepohl Brewery: Tour 3 - Exploring another section of our favorite abandoned Cincinnati brewery, we found some cool stuff: - Burger Beer is back on sale in Cincinnati these days! - Would make a sweet t shirt. - Falling would suck. - Remnants of the neon lights that once adorned the building. Where were the other letters? Check out the full update to find out! - Gritcinati Any beer can collectors here? That's all for now! Thanks for reading and i you want to see more photographs or read up on the history of these places, check out my website: www.queencitydisco.com !

Gotta love the slow classix cd we found, been jamming to that all day! "Do me baby!" :)

Downtown bus line or downtown streetcar line? Cleveland currently has no modern streetcar line.

I see what you mean Eight and State, Portland just happens to have a very similar plan to what Cincinnati is proposing and a very similar population size. If you do some reading on Tacoma and Seattle, they've also had great success with their modern streetcar lines. Dan, Cleveland is not closing any rapid transit lines due to lack of ridership. Cleveland did have streetcars at one time, but started converting their lines to bus lines following ww2 for multiple reasons, none of which were low ridership. Mainly due to change in ownership. If you want to read more about the Cleveland streetcar, you may find this interesting: http://queencitydiscovery.blogspot.com/2009/06/catacombs-of-cleveland.html The current Cleveland RTA heavy rail is considered one of the best and safest in the nation and is not comparable to what Cincinnati is currently proposing. Now, say, if Cincinnati was planning on utilizing the abandoned subway, Cleveland's RTA would be comparable, however there are no current plans to utilize the subway for rapid transit. In fact, if the current COAST charter amendment passes, it would make it very difficult for the abandoned subway tunnels to ever be utilized in any capacity for rail.

Another local citizens group is chiming in with their opinion on the streetcar spending and their opposition to COAST: http://caast-usa.blogspot.com/

From the article you linked to earlier: Read it again Gordon, he was speaking about his other trips around the world, not the Portland trip. This trip is clearly on the books. How convenient of you to miss that. Oh, it clearly is? I wasn't aware the article clearly stated that considering it ended with the sentence I highlighted and doesn't say who's paying for the trip.

From the article you linked to earlier:

^So are you saying they should've been invited?

A pretty good article that explores all sides of the issue without really putting bias on one end. I'd say this is the most balanced article on the streetcar yet.

Dan exactly how is Cincinnati burning?