Civvik

How does that $19 million break down? In fact, what are all funding amounts by source available, and what still needs to be secured? I'll break it down after the funding is approved tomorrow. Cat's out of the bag. (I think?) The $4 million is from OKI.

I'm pretty sure it would! Which must be ironic to god, since I'm sure pleeenty of people have been praying for grant approvals.

That would be a great idea, and give the public an example of what to expect, so they could support further spending on the other two segments in the future. I wonder what would happen to the cool bridge span architectural features...

Although this project was not in direct response to the streetcar, it will certainly benefit!

That mural is amazing. To me the real shame isn't that is being destroyed, that's just the cycle of life, it's that nobody does shit like that anymore. At least not with such beauty and nobility.

^Let me qualify that by saying that I don't know for sure what their process is. But as someone who's worked on meticulous land use plans for light rail systems with all the public input and rezoning/comp plan amendment bells and whistles, the streetcar doesn't strike me as the same kind of animal. Looking at the route map in the impact study, I don't even know what I would have to re-plan as far as land use.

I wasn't aware that a new land use plan was necessary... The land use is already pretty compatible. The city is already working on a form-based code. A huge portion of the route goes through a gigantic historic district. There *are* good questions in that editorial. But they are decorated with lots of meaningless, taunting questions as well. Especially the one about the impact study, since that's probably the most comprehensive document the city has revealed to date.

Have the editors of the Enquirer literally just not read any of the streetcar studies?

June

A yes from Berding...Bortz's vote becomes less relevant. Will Luken still sue?

Berding sounds like he will vote no. Bortz will vote, and then COAST will try to sue him. They won't win, but it could make things messy long enough for Luken to get his signatures. It is amazing to me how the same tiny group of suburban men can wreak such havoc on a major city for so long.

Fake drama sells newspapers! Or iPad subscriptions. Or direct brain download. Whatever. Cheesy journalism is here to stay!

Trust me, you'd have to try REALLY hard to reach the level of our usual suspects. Hell, even I can be a usual suspect.

I can't quite synthesize what you're trying to say with all that. It's kind of all over the place. The potential impact of the investment does matter very much, especially if you can communicate it in your application. ...Which would be one part of a good grant application. And I think you might mean that work already done is favored well by the people awarding grants as opposed to the people writing them. You could have meant it either way I suppose, but the former makes more sense...

I agree with your sentiment somewhat, but I don't entirely seeing it as "begging to get back our money." Federal money was taken from citizens of all the states, and I see it as a privilege to use all the citizens' money on our local project. Just like 3C rail, or The Banks. But this in no way entitles the federal transportation department to be arrogant. That part does disgust me. They should always frame what they say as though they are stewards of the citizens' money, not some rich daddy teaching us a lesson.

I was hoping to see a cool before and after in the photos. They post 11 photos for this story, and not one of them shows the new streets without power lines. But five of them are of utility poles. Seriously, the Enquirer just needs to die.

I wish I could tell what the message from the feds actually is. All things being equal, it escapes me why they would prioritize a smaller city over Cincinnati, which is perhaps the biggest untapped opportunity in the country. I also don't understand why the feds would posture about our money having a contingency. We wouldn't ask for theirs if we didn't need it, and needing it kind of indicated that we can't build the system without it. So...what's the deal. I further don't understand why this would be political, if it so happens to be. Southwest Ohio may be an enemy of the current administration, but Cincinnati certainly is not.

Cincinnati's narrow east-coast style streets have always been challenging for sidewalk life in the basin. I think it would be nice for one of the newer buildings to recess a bit every now and then to allow for outdoor seating and gathering without totally blocking the sidewalk.

Haven't seen anywhere to even put a drive-through in the site plans...

I can't think of a popular form of transportation in America today that is funded by private investment... But shouldn't they be? Shouldn't the gas tax be raised by mileage or across the board to pay for itself? Shouldn't the users and beneficiaries of rail cover the operational costs in the same way? It all needs to be reformed somehow, but ideas are needed as to how to go about it. Just because we have screwed it up for so long doesn't mean that we need to continue to do so. Let's be clear about something. This initial streetcar line is not about capturing value from transit users like the old ones were, it is about increasing land value. It is definitely a gamble by the city, hoping that fixed-route transit will be more attractive to developers and residents than bus transit. It is about the perception of value. It is simply a gamble with an apparently good record of success in other places. So, with that understood, there is one main reason why a private investor isn't going to do play the game: Because the government becomes a prime beneficiary via increased property tax collections. That ROI is not capturable by a private investor. Second, some of the benefits of revitalizing the neighborhood are too diffuse -geographically and functionally- to be captured by a single entity on a balance sheet. Third, property ownership is too fragmented in the service area for one controlling interest to capture a sufficient portion of real estate development profits to justify paying for the system.

Sherman don't insult your own intelligence. The vehicle isn't the transportation system, the road is. And it is not fully funded by fuel taxes.

This is precisely why I lurk 99% of the time I come here and very rarely ever post. It's hard to know when someone is being sarcastic and when they are being serious. This doesn't seem to have stopped the other some-thousand people from posting. This board is pretty well-behaved as far as discussion boards go.

I can't think of a popular form of transportation in America today that is funded by private investment...

You should send this to CityBeat.

It's looking pretty good, honestly. The tiara is coming together faster than I thought it would.