I agree with Lincoln Kennedy.

Thing is, people get their information from where they want to.

People who listen to Cunningham, Haap, Winburn and Smitherman are not going to go to protransit or the Cincy Streetcar blog for research.

Using their mediums will just result in their muddying the issues with circular arguments.

I suggest printing up a pamphlet and going out into the neighborhoods and distributing it.

There is also local access cable, but I think a printed document will do better. People will pass it around and reference back to it.

It needs to address FAQs clearly and the whole notion of how it will generate economic development needs to be explained.

If the Broadway commons casino issue gets on the ballot, I believe it will a win for both the streetcars AND the Casino. The city needs money and both will bring it. 

Here are some shots of the Seattle SLUT.  This line is only a year old and much shorter than what exists in Portland.  It's also shorter and has fewer vehicles than the initial section that opened in Portland in 2001.  I took a bunch more and will post them later this week. 

 

The line starts on the edge of downtown, right next to the terminus of the famous monorail.  The Seattle Downtown Transit Tunnel, which was built in the late 80's, has a station here.  The tunnel has been converted to mixed light rail and buses and light rail will begin operating later this year:

 

About halfway to the lake:

 

Heading north through new construction:

 

Heading north away from downtown:

 

The shop facilities. They only have three vehicles presently (red, orange, purple), and only space to garage two of them.  There is only one more parking space for one more vehicle so if they expand the line they'll have to build new shop facilities.

 

Jake, thanks for sharing! Seeing shots like these and Rando's from Charlotte really get me excited that one day Cincinnati may see these types of streetcars. I read awhile ago that Cincinnati had secured the land for a streetcar maintenance garage, where do they plan for this to go?

The development along those lines in Portland and Seattle is VERY encouraging!!!!!    We could use SOOOOOO use this....... because things are about to blow up downtown (in a good way) and this streetcar will only expedite that growth.

 

This really is a no brainer!!  Even if the development is half of what P-land and Seattle is experiencing.

 

Great shots Jake, thanks!

Thing is, people get their information from where they want to.  People who listen to Cunningham, Haap, Winburn and Smitherman are not going to go to protransit or the Cincy Streetcar blog for research.  Using their mediums will just result in their muddying the issues with circular arguments. 

 

I suggest printing up a pamphlet and going out into the neighborhoods and distributing it.

 

There is also local access cable, but I think a printed document will do better. People will pass it around and reference back to it.

 

It needs to address FAQs clearly and the whole notion of how it will generate economic development needs to be explained.

 

Pro-streetcar groups need to:

1) Identify how many votes they need to make sure the ordinance doesn't pass (probably somewhere around 30,000);

2) Identify voters who routinely vote in Council Elections, since that will be who people are going to the polls for in Novemeber;

3) Come up with a pitch that canvassers can use to talk to folks door-to-door;

4) Get funding from the part of the business community that is pro-streetcar.

 

This issue wins on personal voter contact by dedicated volunteers canvassing door-to-door.

Clearly Glenway and Peebles Corner are as important to urban growth as dowtown/otr/clifton (sarcasm).  There is no glenway without the downtwon core, and thats where you build first.  Just because it isn't immediately focusing on the westside doesn't mean that the west side receives no benefit.  Im so sick of people thinking that neighborhoods are more important the the core.  There are no neighborhoods without a strong downtown

 

The point is that, the city bailed on downtown decades ago and as a result of bad policy and a lack of jobs that support our specific tax base of mostly laborers with little to no education, our neighborhoods have deteriorated quite a bit.  Because of the longlasting effects of dying neighborhoods (think Cleveland), the effort to invest in Price Hill and Walnut Hills, among others, should be much greater than the single-minded focus of hipsters and corporate urbanites that want to pretend its 1890 again.  These other neighborhoods matter too.

 

What about those people with the blisters on their feet from hiking Cincinnati hills day by day?  Connecting the Westside with a couple lines is not only a humanitarian gesture, but politically shrewd.  Who do you think loves WLW so much?  Not just the suburbs.

 

What's going to happen when an out-of-towner realizes our streetcar system is actually one loop, and the gentrification happening around that line is not indicative of the state of 95% of our communities?  Anybody with a brain would think that Cinci could have/needs to do a little (lot) more.

 

 

 

^Your psycho analyzing this way too much! 

 

Leave the 20th century ideology in the past!!

 

We have to crawl before we can walk. 

 

This can't start in Walnut Hills or P-Hill.  It has to start in the city center and spread outwards from there.  Ironically, similar to how sprawl worked.  Those two neighborhoods will probably be high on the list once the successes of the first phases are realized.   

I think a big part of blocking the referendum will be getting UC students to register to vote in Uptown.  Most UC students would vote pro-Streetcar and a lot of them are still registered in their hometowns.

 

I love how people have started to throw around the term "hipster" as an insult to people supporting the Streetcar.

 

Also, is there any possibility that they city could buy the remaining necessary right-of-way NOW, before the referendum, so that even if it passes, the Streetcar will not be blocked from being built?

So by 'hipster' do they mean decent wage-earners who don't heavily utilize city services?  What is the downside of attracting more of them? 

If anyone is organizing a campaign in favor of the streetcar, they need to begin the process of going out and selling the idea. I have to say that I'm am starting to believe that if Smitherman/Finney's charter amendment gets on the ballot, it will pass (thereby banishing streetcars). Older, relatively liberal folks that I would suspect would be in favor of such a powerful economic development tool don't seem to understand what it would do, find the cost extreme, and the route confusing. So pro-streetcar folks need to address the following:

1) Emphasizing that the streetcar is a modern, new technology, nothing like the old trolleys, and part of a natural progression (superbuses for high density routes that are easier to enter and exit, carry more people and are more fuel efficient and environmentally friendly);

2) Showing a route map that would include prospective lines to other core neighborhoods such as Price Hill and Walnut Hills;

3) Comparisons to the City's contributions to other large capital projects (FWW rebuilding, the Banks, Stadiums [Riverfront, PBS, GAPB], the Convention Center) to give people a sense of scale about the streetcar's cost.

 

Without doing something like this, and without making personal voter contact, I suspect that the charter amendment will pass if it is on the ballot.

 

The message that this WILL NOT be paid for by a tax increase should be included as part of the campaign.  I guarantee a lot of the masses assume that the 185 million to build phase 1 (or phase 1 and 2) streetcar system will come from a tax increase.  When they realize it doesn't increase taxes and most of the money cannot be used for other pet projects outlined but some naysayers, I think the masses will support having the streetcar. 

hipsters and corporate urbanites pretending its 1890?  Really?

 

You have had some decent points to your arguments but now you show that you are just really quite out of touch with trends and attitudes of those in the YP range.  Seriously, we all know that it would be much more beneficial for the whole city if the streetcars were to touch every intersection, and since you are so stuck on this, how do you propose financing it all right away?  The only way to do it would be tax increases, which obviously would not fly.

For some reason, these guys (and Jason Haap) seem to think that having a "cool" mass transit system is a bad thing.  They are missing the huge contradiction in their arguments: They call people who prefer streetcars snobs or hipsters, but then claim that a bus system would be as successful as the Streetcar.  But if there are lots of anti-bus snobs in town, how could a bus system achieve the same ridership as a Streetcar?  If you think that it's inappropriate for us to spend money on a system that is "neat" (as Haap put it), then how do you intend to improve the public perception of buses?  Unless, of course, you don't really care about building a "car-competitive" mass transit system.

Clearly Glenway and Peebles Corner are as important to urban growth as dowtown/otr/clifton (sarcasm).  There is no glenway without the downtwon core, and thats where you build first.  Just because it isn't immediately focusing on the westside doesn't mean that the west side receives no benefit.  Im so sick of people thinking that neighborhoods are more important the the core.  There are no neighborhoods without a strong downtown

 

The point is that, the city bailed on downtown decades ago and as a result of bad policy and a lack of jobs that support our specific tax base of mostly laborers with little to no education, our neighborhoods have deteriorated quite a bit.  Because of the longlasting effects of dying neighborhoods (think Cleveland), the effort to invest in Price Hill and Walnut Hills, among others, should be much greater than the single-minded focus of hipsters and corporate urbanites that want to pretend its 1890 again.  These other neighborhoods matter too.

 

What about those people with the blisters on their feet from hiking Cincinnati hills day by day?  Connecting the Westside with a couple lines is not only a humanitarian gesture, but politically shrewd.  Who do you think loves WLW so much?  Not just the suburbs.

 

What's going to happen when an out-of-towner realizes our streetcar system is actually one loop, and the gentrification happening around that line is not indicative of the state of 95% of our communities?  Anybody with a brain would think that Cinci could have/needs to do a little (lot) more.

 

 

When the streetcar system increases development and causes tax receipts to increase for the city, would not that provide more money to help redevelop neighborhoods such as Price Hill and walnut hills?  The health of downtown has a direct impact on the neighborhoods in the city.  If downtown dies, then there will be significantly less monies to help other neighborhoods.  The neighborhoods do not exist separate or independent from downtown.  Think of the the proposed streetcar system as fixing the roof on a house called Cincinnati.  If the roof doesn't get fixed, it doesn't matter what you do to the rest of the house (ie the other neighborhoods). The house would still deteriorate and could lead to the whole house being condemned.

 

"What's going to happen when an out-of-towner realizes our streetcar system is actually one loop, and the gentrification happening around that line is not indicative of the state of 95% of our communities? "

 

Any educated person knows that a city tries to put it's best foot forward for visitors.  Smart visitors know what they see is but a small representation of the city.  Has anyone stopped visiting or moving to Atlanta after they bussed all the homeless out for the Olympics several years back?  No---Atlanta keeps growing.  The question you posed is a poor counter-arguement that is filled with holes.

"The point is that, the city bailed on downtown decades ago and as a result of bad policy and a lack of jobs that support our specific tax base ... our neighborhoods have deteriorated quite a bit." 

 

City Blights, I think your answer lies in your question.  Doesn't it stand to reason that if Cincy's neighborhoods deterioriated when downtown was ignored, reinvesting in the core would help improve all of our neighborhoods through increased revenues to the city as a whole?

How exactly did the City bail on downtown decades ago?  It has been the major focus of development efforts ongoing since the 1940s in one form or another (some good, some bad).  Please point me to specific examples of the City bailing on downtown.  If they did, where then did they focus the money and the effort, the neighborhoods?  That then contradicts your own statement.

Cincinnati bailed on downtown . . . really? We've built two massive stadiums, building a new neighborhood (the Banks), a renovated public square, a massive fix for transit (FWW and Gov't Square), two fantastic dt-near neighborhoods - the East End and Mt. Adams, an expansion of the Convention Center, the tallest building since the last Depression, a new theatre district (the Aronoff), a brand-new national known school (SCPA). I'd also add that Downtown and its earnings taxes is what keeps the city afloat when the county and many of our peer cities are in much worse shape budget-wise (including Cbus). Why would we not want to invest in the core so that capital densification can occur and we can reap the benefits of higher property and earnings taxes.

 

Look, the neighborhoods certainly needs investment, but outside of a couple cities no one has figured out what kind of investment works in pre-car neighborhoods (and much of the development that seemed to work was built on the froth of the credit bubble). I'd love to see a system that included access to Westside (esp. Glenway) and also along Gilbert/Montgomery, perhaps Madison, and Reading Road (LRT)), but we need to start somewhere. Arguing that we should start everywhere at once is setting this up for failure.

Arguing that we should start everywhere at once is setting this up for failure.

 

That may be the last argument that opponents can muster up about the proposed system!    They are running out (actually never had) of any VALID reasons!   

So that's what Seattle looks like.  Interesting stuff (and good shots).

 

I did some searching on the Portland streetcar. 

 

It seems the route is 7.8 miles long (round trip) and the operating costs are $3,300,000/year.  Assuming the Cincy line is going to be similar and you know the lenght you could come up with a rough annual operating cost.

 

The Portland transit authority TRIMET subsidizes 2/3 of the fares. , say $2.2M/year.  I guess that's how much (or the porportion) of the public susidy you can expect in Cincinnati.  Now the question is where is the money going to come from.

 

 

 

 

The Cincinnati line is not going to have the large fareless zone that Portland has.  You only have to pay in Portland at the outermost parts of the line, and it's the honors system, so many don't pay even in those zones.  In fact the streetcars get so crowded that you couldn't pay in the fareless zone if you wanted to because there is only one ticket machine per streetcar.  If they were to find a way to collect fares on everyone, revenues would increase, but if they were too militant about it I think ridership would fall off slightly.   

 

John Schneider thinks we should sell tickets from machines at the stops, not in the cars themselves.  The machines accept credit cards along with dollar bills and coins but cost about $20,000 apiece.  This was the original motivation for Portland to only have the machines on the cars themselves. 

 

Putting these machines at each station would cost $40,000 per station since no stations would be islands.  Maybe the better way is to have them on the streetcars and then at prominent stops like the Reds stadium, Gov Square, and Findlay Market. 

 

Politically they have to say they're charging fares, but maybe they could only charge fares going northbound or only going southbound.  Or any $2 fare would be good for the entire day, so that you don't have to pay again for a return trip. 

 

I think they could try fareless south of Central Parkway on game days because few people with a bunch of kids are going to pay for each kid and it would turn into a mess handing each kid a ticket anyway. 

 

 

 

 

Ok, too many quotes to keep track of, but...

 

Cincinnati's downtown neighborhoods were once ethnically divided as most of you know.  When many German and Irish families left downtown, OTR became a concentration of black poverty coincidentally around the time that highways were cutting through the western downtown areas, parking lots were being built over top of our eastern downtown areas, and the Laurel Homes was fully "integrated".  The 1950's was a time of great deindustrialization in Ohio, and those with social mobility found no use for core industrial neighborhoods anymore, particularly by the mid 60's.  Only recently has the city even come close to formulating a competent plan on downtown revitalization and marketing, and the fact that we're having this dialogue suggests much needs to be done.  Cincinnati has been afraid to market itself as a tough, industrial city with strong core neighborhoods as evidenced by the Broadway Commons debacle.  For one, the area around Crosley should have never been destroyed, and two, baseball in Cincinnati should have stayed where it was and not in a mudpit.  Riverfront generated good income for the City, but was just another 70's concrete circle that didn't last and was devastating for the athletes themselves to play on.  For some reason, we're still stuck on this family-friendly, play-on-the-river culture as our only ticket out of this never-ending spiral instead of merging this concept with other parts of our city that could turn themselves into decent-sized hubs of mixed-income shopping and pedestrian activity.  Bringing a streetcar to Price Hill would bring tons of support to this project, and quiet even more naysayers that spread the real ignorance I hear posters complain of.  I understand people are fed up with the negativity, stagnation, and close-mindedness in this region and believe me, I'm just as tired.  I also understand that this won't be San Francisco overnight no matter what.  I just happen to have a different view of how we can get Cincinnati as a whole thinking about our city as a whole, and not just their part of town.  Unfortunately, one of the best ways to get people to buy in is to pay them off, and if a bigger system that ambitiously makes it to Westwood as well as Mt. Lookout could get our voter base behind a small tax bump, it's a viable option to better our city as much as we can.

 

"Hipsters" wasn't an insult to anybody.  It's my honest take that the City wants twentysomethings with degrees that can still call daddy for a quick $100 to live on the route, and "hipster" would qualify for part of that demographic.  Obviously I'm being partially facetious, but my fellow Cincinnatians are so passionate about change in this city that they've lost a sense of humor!

 

Things I never said:

 

-the streetcar should start in Price Hill, or everywhere, or anywhere but DT

-tourism is a bad thing.  I'm familiar with Atlanta, and while there are some pretty desolate areas in Atlanta proper, there are some very average looking areas income-wise not far from DT as well.  Cincinnati?  Eh, not so much.  Homelessness in Cincinnati is one of our biggest black eyes, hands down.  Let's not get into a Cincinnati-Atlanta comparison.  That's one we can't win right now.

 

osogato, you're right, but at the same time, downtown has been a mess for so long that other areas might be required to uplift it.

 

a small tax bump?  not a chance that would pass

^^Have you ever thought that if the streetcar is built, and it revitalizes OTR and downtown, that downtown would become a cool place to live.  Once downtown is solid, people will want to be in close proximity to it, which would benefit neighborhoods such as Walnut Hills, Price Hill, North Side, Corryville, etc. Just look at the portion of Walnut Hills immediately bordering Mt. Adams and Eden Park.  This area is incredibly attractive, with high rise condos, renovated row houses, and a very stable populace, because it is close to a great park, and a great neighborhood. Oakley has seen spin off from Hyde Park, Northside from Clifton, etc. We must have a stable core before other neighborhoods can really take off.

 

And I would really appreciate it if you could stop exaggerating the situation in Cincinnati.  We have our problems, of course we do. But to say that 95% of the neighborhoods in this city are in bad shape is just not true.  Cincinnati has a number of stable neighborhoods including: Mt. Adams, East Walnut Hills, Hyde Park, Mt. Lookout, Mt. Washington, Pleasant Ridge, Oakley, Clifton, Northside, North Avondale, etc. We have crime problems, yes, but crime is and has been decreasing.  Cincinnati Public Schools has been a let down for the city for a while, but all of the schools are being either rebuilt or renovated, and in the past year, the district received a rating of "continuous improvement".  While not an excellent rating, it shows that the district as a whole is getting better. 

So... is there are formal group working to get the message across?

 

Also:

1) A fare must be charged.

2) Saying that it won't cost us any taxes may help, but I suspect that most people will respond with, "Yeah right".  A lot of folks don't really get that Downtown and Clifton bring in the vast majority of the City's revenue.

 

Whoever is selling this thing need to sell it by getting people to want it.  I also think that people are looking for people to ask questions about the issue, which is why personal voter contact is so crucial.  Registering UC students to vote in the City may help and is not a bad idea.

I'm willing to assist in the campaigning for this project. I don't have money to contribute to the campaign, but I can donate my time.

a small tax bump?  not a chance that would pass

 

No chance whatsoever, how proactive.

 

edale, where is the exaggeration?  The city is divided about one streetcar loop because of the numerous longstanding problems here in Cincinnati such as crime, blight and public transportation that have eroded our tax base.  Again, this wouldn't be nearly as big if Cincinnati was accustomed to experiencing any measure of success in civil projects and developments.  A new convention center is the most successful thing the city has been able to do to generate income and stabilize an economic region since...no joke, I can't think of what off the top of my head, somebody help me please?

 

"Portions" of good neighborhoods is part of the problem.  We have sections and streets in good condition all over, but as a whole we suffer.  Sometimes we even come up with new names for them for not only socioeconomic reasons, but as a concession that we can't save/assist the bulk of the area, so preservation becomes key.  Economically, I bet you'd find that most of those enclaves you mentioned are not in line with what you would find down the street, or average on a citywide scale.  BTW, Northside and Corryville are not stable; they are very much in transition.  Agree on Mt. Washington, Pleasant Ridge and Hyde Park though.

If the glass is so empty, why try to fix it? Off to West Chester, I guess. This isn't going to make the citizens of Cincinnati sh#t gold, but what other big splash investment has the potential to begin to change the geography of the city that would eventually benefit the city in the same way?

I think the fact that I'm not on this site shitting on everything that comes up, makes me a bit more proactive than you.  I'm just being realistic about the situation and how the economy currently is and how it effects people.  No matter how small a tax increase it would need, as soon as people hear the words, tax increase, they will check the no box.  Besides that, no politician in cincinnati who wants a future will suggest that

City Blights, name a major world city without rail transit.  I'll help you, there aren't any.

 

The modern streetcar has revolutionized urban rail transit planning because, to repeat it yet again, it achieves the majority of what a regional transit system (so far as promoting development and activity in a core area -- it certainly does not help suburban commuters commute) does for a fraction of the capital cost of light rail or heavy rail transit.  Groups from all over the country visit Portland on a regular basis and are attempting to get this going in their cities.  It sells itself, in person, instantly.  All technical questions are answered within minutes and the money doesn't seem so much of a concern.  But Portland is remote and few people have familiarity with it.  It's no coincidence that Seattle, which is a 3 hour drive north, was the first to start building its own system after seeing Portland's example.  I myself was quite skeptical of the modern streetcars but after having visited it's safe to say that it's way beyond what can be imagined.  It's big-time.  I couldn't figure out why people were willing to ride something that's no faster than a bus, but they do, and they do by the thousands.   

 

What I'm upset about is if this silly vote comes along and this fails, over the next ten years or so the streetcar-haters will one-by-one have occasion to visit Portland, and one-by-one they'll realize how wrong they were.  It'll be one of those moments in literature like the unmasking of O'Brian in 1984 or when Malcom X rejected Elijah Mohammad.     

So... is there are formal group working to get the message across?

 

Also:

1) A fare must be charged.

2) Saying that it won't cost us any taxes may help, but I suspect that most people will respond with, "Yeah right".  A lot of folks don't really get that Downtown and Clifton bring in the vast majority of the City's revenue.

 

Whoever is selling this thing need to sell it by getting people to want it.  I also think that people are looking for people to ask questions about the issue, which is why personal voter contact is so crucial.  Registering UC students to vote in the City may help and is not a bad idea.

Probably a good way to get face time is hitl the festivals, farmer's markets, parades & stuff that will be occurring around town in the next 8 months. Bockfest is next Friday, but those guys are probably onboard already.

As far as printing anything, one way to kinda spread the cost around would be to distribute a PDF online and let people print the document on their own printer (or their boss').

Publishing "talking points" is a good idea to get everyone on the same page.

Back to payment and tickets.  In Munich and most of the rest of Germany it's honor system -- with penalties (this is Germany, after all).  Undercover and uniformed agents routinely ask to see your tickets, and if you don't have a valid ticket, it's a 40 Euro fine. 

 

http://www.mvg-mobil.de/images/sf-kampagne/mvg-sf_okt06_01.jpg

>>You think it's a trifle?  But it is fraud.<<

"Black riding" (riding without a ticket)? - No thanks!

 

edit: Oh yeah, my point...  this system works.  I haven't been stopped by ticket-checkers in months, but I always have a ticket, via subscription automatically deducted from my checking account; convenience is important.  I see people getting nailed from time to time, and they ultimately fork over the penalty, which helps pay for the ticket checkers. 

 

During events (such as Oktoberfest) I've seen uniformed officers nail a Schwarzfahrer, and then simply make him hop off the train (not a streetcar in this case) and buy a ticket instead of him getting a 40 Euro fine.  Here there are ticket machines on the streetcars that only accept coins (1 and 2 Euro coins are standard), plus most streetcar stops (but not all) have ticket machines that take coins as well as Euro notes (5 and higher). 

I'll admit to being Schwarzfahrer a time or two.

Plan to attend a streetcar event in or around downtown after work on March 25th. More later.

Bockfest is next Friday, but those guys are probably onboard already.

 

Yes most are, but I am bringing a few who argue with me about this.  They are not totally convinced yet and any exposure this next weekend would definitely be a help.  Last year was cool and had alot of streetcar info on the Prohibition tour.

Bockfest is next Friday, but those guys are probably onboard already.

 

Yes most are, but I am bringing a few who argue with me about this. They are not totally convinced yet and any exposure this next weekend would definitely be a help. Last year was cool and had alot of streetcar info on the Prohibition tour.

 

There should be some streetcar posters displayed in Bockfest hall

^Good, that will help!

Of all of things in the whole wide world to stand against and these days my list is really long, I just don't get picking this one thing. Arguing from aren't cars great or Cincinnati is already a sh@thole so why waste money, doesn't fly. It isn't like we are trying to build another stadium or something and folks feel guilty about the mistake we made the first time, I'd understand that. This is a pretty simple and highly effective mode of transit through our urban core that would be a value added for the parts of the city that provide most of the economic activity. I'd love it if the Mill Creek Valley near CIncinnati would suddenly become one of America's great industrial corridors again, but between the massive rail lines and I-75, it likely isn't going to happen anytime soon. This project seems to build on what we do have, which is a stable to growing core that remains the cultural and economic center of a world-class region.

Chamber group to pitch big projects

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090303/BIZ01/303030005/1055/NEWS

 

Transportation projects are top priority for 30 members of the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber who descend on Capitol Hill today to pitch a wish list to the region’s legislators.

 

The group will advocate for more than $800 million in road, bridge and public transportation projects during an annual, daylong lobbying effort called the Washington Fly-In.

Your Coc is pretty progressive as they are asking for these mass transit things as well as the usual highway work.  Here in Dayton its' all about highway infrastructure. 

i love my coc

SoapBlog 1 - Cincinnati Streetcar

Posted By: Mayor Mark Mallory, 3/3/2009

http://www.soapboxmedia.com/blogs/posts/1mayormallory.aspx

 

I want to thank Soapbox for the opportunity to be the guest columnist this week after my State of the City Address last Wednesday.  It will be a great opportunity to expand on some of the key priorities that I discussed, and hopefully, get some great feedback and spark further discussion.

 

Let's start with the topic that got some of the loudest applause at the State of the City and has also drawn some of the harshest criticism: The Cincinnati Streetcar.

 

In the address, I made it clear that the Streetcar is absolutely crucial to the future of Cincinnati.  Over the last few years, we have moved forward on major projects all over the city. 

 

• The Banks is rising out of ground.
  
• The construction of the new Riverfront Park is underway.
  
• We are building a new tallest skyscraper, the Great American Building at Queen City Square.
  
• Over-the-Rhine is undergoing a dramatic transformation with new businesses, hundreds of new condos, a beautiful new school, and expanded park.
  
• And in Uptown, we are seeing lots of new development around the University and hospitals.

 

The Streetcar is the project that links them all together and fuels the next round of development.

 

Now, some have suggested that we cannot do all of these projects at once.  I reject that notion.  Across the country, the cities that are seen as thriving, growing, and hot, are the cities that are doing big, bold, dynamic projects.  We are no different in Cincinnati.  In fact, we have a history of tackling big projects that have shaped our landscape and made Cincinnati such a vibrant city.

 

The other criticism that is leveled at the Streetcar plan is that it diverts millions of dollars from neighborhood projects.  The truth is that much of the funding for the Streetcar will come from non-city sources, including state and federal funding and private investment.  That funding is only available for a big transit project such as the Streetcar.  It would not be available for other projects if we do not build the Streetcar.  It would simply vanish.

 

However, rather than divert funds from other neighborhood projects, by generating as much as $1.4 billion in investment from the first phase alone, the Streetcar will generate increased tax revenue that will be available to spend on programs and projects that will benefit every neighborhood in the city.  The increased revenue will help provide more police officers and fire fighters, more money for garbage collection, more money for street repair, more money for parks and recreation, and more money for everything that makes Cincinnati a special place to live.

 

As I said in the State of the City, the Streetcar will have a dramatic and lasting impact on the future of Cincinnati.  It will grow our local economy by spurring economic development by creating new jobs.  We have a history of big projects in Cincinnati, and we need to embrace that history and chart a course for a vibrant future for our city.

 

Now, let me know what you think.  We are always looking for feedback.  Hopefully, you are a Streetcar supporter, but if not, I am looking forward to making our case and winning your support.

Your Coc is pretty progressive as they are asking for these mass transit things as well as the usual highway work. Here in Dayton its' all about highway infrastructure.

 

That's because our COC is bigger than yours'.

Your Coc is pretty progressive as they are asking for these mass transit things as well as the usual highway work.  Here in Dayton its' all about highway infrastructure. 

 

That's because our COC is bigger than yours'.

 

 

HAHAHA, awesome. 

 

I'm glad Mallory is on board.  We are talking about the same man that got a miniature Roebling bridge built in China, right?

 

 

 

I challenged the Dean to take a trip to Portland, at which point he demanded that I pay for it and the trip should be "at his convenience".  To which I responded:

 

Dean, how much do you care about the issue?  If you don't care enough to plunk down the $500 to take a weekend trip out there, then shouldn't you be paying attention to people who have actually been there instead of just imagining things?  You keep telling people to "do their research", but you won't do what it takes to be informed on this issue. 

 

Almost everyone on council has been there, Milton Dahoney has been there, and reps from P&G, 5/3, US Bank, etc. have all been there either on their own or on trips organized by the Alliance for Regional Transit.  It's not a coincidence that Seattle, due to its proximity to Portland, was the first city to open a line on Portland's model.  For everyone in the midwest, Portland is an obscure city that they wouldn't visit before San Francisco, Seattle, or LA, but it's undeniably the model for successful mass transit in a mid-sized American city.  You speak of the "next big fix" -- downtown Portland does not have a stadium or sports arena and doesn't have a convention center -- they're across the river and almost out of sight of downtown.  The Portland streetcar runs from a former abandoned rail yard to a former shipyard.  Downtown is in the middle.  What is proposed for Cincinnati will run from the region's two most active areas -- downtown and UC/Hospitals, through a largely empty area (Over-the-Rhine).  The ridership is already there in the Cincinnati plan.  Portland by contrast took a huge risk by building a line from one empty area to another and it worked because there was a huge unmet demand for people who wanted to live in walkable neighborhoods and either not own a car or leave their car parked in a garage most of the time.  Cincinnati has a similar unmet demand -- and we're losing those people either in the form of brain drain or people who refuse to relocate here. 

^ Well said!

it worked because there was a huge unmet demand for people who wanted to live in walkable neighborhoods and either not own a car or leave their car parked in a garage most of the time.  Cincinnati has a similar unmet demand -- and we're losing those people either in the form of brain drain or people who refuse to relocate here.

 

Great retort! That last part is particularly striking.

 

My wife and I are basically the type of young professionals Cincinnati is supposedly trying to attract. We almost didn't move here because of negative reputation, and although we like it alright, it's doubtful that Cincy will be our permanent home the way things currently are. (And that seems to be a very common sentiment among the friends we've made here)

 

But a streetcar system that gentrifies OTR and invigorates the center city into something like Portland would change all that. My wife is about as intolerant of grit and decay as any person I've ever met, and yet she was in absolute awe of OTR's potential and the latent beauty of the neighborhood.

 

I don't understand why critics like the dean can't understand this. Just TALK to any professional in their 20s or 30s. They desperately want to live in gentrified urban places like Portland. The streetcar would be an amazing magnet for affluence. It's stunning that the city has come so far with its plans, yet people want to throw it all away.

it worked because there was a huge unmet demand for people who wanted to live in walkable neighborhoods and either not own a car or leave their car parked in a garage most of the time. Cincinnati has a similar unmet demand -- and we're losing those people either in the form of brain drain or people who refuse to relocate here.

 

Great retort! That last part is particularly striking.

 

My wife and I are basically the type of young professionals Cincinnati is supposedly trying to attract. We almost didn't move here because of negative reputation, and although we like it alright, it's doubtful that Cincy will be our permanent home the way things currently are. (And that seems to be a very common sentiment among the friends we've made here)

 

But a streetcar system that gentrifies OTR and invigorates the center city into something like Portland would change all that. My wife is about as intolerant of grit and decay as any person I've ever met, and yet she was in absolute awe of OTR's potential and the latent beauty of the neighborhood.

 

I don't understand why critics like the dean can't understand this. Just TALK to any professional in their 20s or 30s. They desperately want to live in gentrified urban places like Portland. The streetcar would be an amazing magnet for affluence. It's stunning that the city has come so far with its plans, yet people want to throw it all away.

 

PLEASE please please send your story out to the decision makers in this city. Attracting YPs is so crucial to the success of this city in the future and they need to hear this kind of feedback.

City Blights, name a major world city without rail transit.  I'll help you, there aren't any.

 

The modern streetcar has revolutionized urban rail transit planning because, to repeat it yet again, it achieves the majority of what a regional transit system (so far as promoting development and activity in a core area -- it certainly does not help suburban commuters commute) does for a fraction of the capital cost of light rail or heavy rail transit.  Groups from all over the country visit Portland on a regular basis and are attempting to get this going in their cities.  It sells itself, in person, instantly.  All technical questions are answered within minutes and the money doesn't seem so much of a concern.  But Portland is remote and few people have familiarity with it.  It's no coincidence that Seattle, which is a 3 hour drive north, was the first to start building its own system after seeing Portland's example.  I myself was quite skeptical of the modern streetcars but after having visited it's safe to say that it's way beyond what can be imagined.  It's big-time.  I couldn't figure out why people were willing to ride something that's no faster than a bus, but they do, and they do by the thousands.   

 

What I'm upset about is if this silly vote comes along and this fails, over the next ten years or so the streetcar-haters will one-by-one have occasion to visit Portland, and one-by-one they'll realize how wrong they were.  It'll be one of those moments in literature like the unmasking of O'Brian in 1984 or when Malcom X rejected Elijah Mohammad.     

 

'cept Cincinnati....once again my argument for a broader system and politicians not worried about climbing the conservative Cincinnati ladder has been turned into anti-streetcar, anti-city, anti-transit rhetoric.  The streetcar is necessary and nothing short of vital.  Operating under the assumption that the issues outside of downtown contribute heavily to the decline of our city is useful when planning economic growth and social integration that could be spurred by a streetcar. 

 

Randy, thanks for your recent comments!!!

My error, it was Mallory's comments that you put on this blog...thanks for doing this.