That was bad! I'd LOVE to know what neighborhood they live in.. If they even live in the city.

Get a subscription to publicdata.com and look up their driver's license records and other information.

Eric Deters doesn't even live in Ohio.  He lives in Independence, KY, where his sports bar recently failed, and he blamed it on "government", because they allowed a BW3's to set up shop right across the street and wouldn't allow him to have live music on his patio, which he believed would have put him back in the black.

 

So of all the anti-streetcar people, only two live in the city of Cincinnati: Chris Smitherman and Mark Miller.  Smitherman lives in an old mansion (I call it Castle Smitherman) which he somehow bought with his zero-salary NAACP presidency, and Mark Miller lives in the most poorly maintained home in Hyde Park, which I suspect he inherited.  Last time I was by there he literally had one of those crooked wooden porches with missing planks.  Meanwhile, he was being sued by his son's high school for non-payment of tuition.       

I think Tom Luken lives in the city.

Get a subscription to publicdata.com and look up their driver's license records and other information.

 

You can check public voting records for free, by county. 

 

Here's the link for anyone interested: http://www2.sos.state.oh.us/pls/voter/f?p=111:1:661832202408220

 

Note that the larger counties end up being absolutely huge files, so don't try downloading on an old/slow computer.

Does bill cunningham live in the city??

Does bill cunningham live in the city??

 

I think he lives in Blue Ash, if I remember correctly he says it on the show quite a bit.

I think Tom Luken lives in the city.

Affirmative. He lives on Hamilton between Northside & College Hill. He's essentially a neighbor. He was on the SORTA board for years yet I NEVER saw him on the bus.

His condo has a bus stop out front. That's not for the "good people", tho, it's for the underpaid help.

You might say he's an elitist.

So I've been watching what's been going on with the CASS Facebook page. They have now begun a letter-writing campaign to stop the $35M in TRAC funding from being approved. This is some serious BS.

 

Mary Kuhl posted the following on the CASS Facebook page:

 

Mary Kuhl

Hi Everyone,

We are again asking for your help!!

Below you will find a bit of information regarding the streetcar the majority of City Council continues to force upon us. Whether you personally love or hate the streetcar the simple math tells us we CAN'T AFFORD it!

WE MUST stop the streetcar NOW!!

 

The city continues to tell us they have all the money for this venture yet that is far from true. There is $35 MILLION of state of Ohio money they are counting on yet have not received and we mean to stop this money from coming their way.

We have sent a letter to the new Governor of Ohio asking for the money to NOT come to Cincinnati and now we are asking you to do your part.

 

This $35 Million is in the "public input" are which allows our voices to be heard.

So, below you will find a sample letter you may wish to send or please feel free to write you own. You will also find the address to email or send via post office or both your comment son this project. You will also find what we call "talking points" or why this streetcar is something our city CAN'T AFFORD! Also below you will find a link to a youtube video that lays out the case against the streetcar!

 

Please join us in helping to STOP the STREETCAR NOW!!

 

Mary Kuhl

Westwood Concern

 

 

I am writing you to urgently request that you promptly address an e-mail or letter opposing the Cincinnati Streetcar project to:

 

TRAC@dot,state.oh.us

Ohio Department of Transportation

attn: Ed Kagel TRAC Coordinator

1980 W. Broad Street

Columbus, OH 43223

Please copy: [email protected]

 

Please take just a few minutes to do this and copy me on the e-mail so that I know it went.

 

Here are the talking points for your e-mail:

 

1) Cincinnati Streetcar project will run 3 miles (6-mile loop) (from National Underground Railroad Freedom Center to top of Vine Street Hill, Corryville);

2) Initial projected cost of $128 million for construction only. The City already has identified cost overruns of $15 million for Duke Energy to move utility lines, bringing total projected costs to $143 million. More cost overruns are to follow.

3) There is NO PLAN at all to fund the cost of operations of the project, which former SORTA Board Memebr Stephan Louis estimates to be $10-$12 million per year.

4) The City has no room in its operating budget for this additional cost, having papered over a $52 million deficit this year and facing police and fire layoffs by this summer.

5) A broad coalition has formed to oppose the project, including the Cincinnati TEA Party, COAST, the Cincinnati Chapter of the NAACP, The Baptist Ministers Conference of Cincinnati Vicinity, the Ohio Green Party, Westwood Concern, the FOP, the Firefighters union and the CODE Labor Union.

6) A petition drive started this week to put the Streetcar to a vote by a second proposed charter amendment to stop the foolishness.

 

~~~SAMPLE LETTER~~~

 

 

All too frequently really foolish ideas advance through our administrative and legislative processes and even are funded to the tune of millions and billions of dollars, all because no intelligent person actually asked the fundamental questions that would have stopped the foolishness or because well-connected special interest groups are moving the ball forward while no one is really watching.

 

Such is the case with the Cincinnati Streetcar project. The State of Ohio is on the verge of finalizing $50 million of funding for the $143 million project. If Governor Kasich simply pulled the plug on this waste of money, at a time when the state is facing an $8 billion deficit, the whole problem would disappear. Indeed, I am certain that if we could get Governor Kasich to analyze the proposal in light of the values he has expressed on the campaign trail and after the election (see this video:

), he would kill this thing without the need for input from any of us.

 

The problem is that this is a man who certainly is overwhelmed with organizing his administration and addressing the gaping deficit. (Fortunately, cutting these fund will go a little way toward solving the deficit problem Kasich is facing.)

 

Please write your e-mail or letter to get this on the front burner in Columbus. The deadline for comments and a decision is February 11.

 

Thank you.

 

Kasich Train Cult.mov

www.youtube.com

Ohio Gov.-elect John Kasich and incoming ODOT Director Jerry Wray answers questions about the potential for passenger rail in Ohio. Kasich coins a new phrase, Train Cult.

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

Can we organize pro-streetcar letters to the same people?

...some of this reads as if  the anti-3C sentiment is now finding an outlet against the streetcar? 

 

@@@

 

5) A broad coalition has formed to oppose the project, including the Cincinnati TEA Party, COAST, the Cincinnati Chapter of the NAACP, The Baptist Ministers Conference of Cincinnati Vicinity, the Ohio Green Party, Westwood Concern, the FOP, the Firefighters union and the CODE Labor Union.

 

 

...this sounds like a fairly robust coalition; now they have some public employees unions against it.  Why would that be?

 

The Greens being opposed to this is slightly batty, though.

I'm going to start referring to this group as the Gas Cult..

 

The Gas Cult must be happy today!

 

Gas may hit $3.75 by spring

What is the CODE Labor Union? (Google won't tell me.)

 

Police and fire unions oppose it on the false premise that capital funds used for the streetcar could stave off the crisis with the operational budget which threatens police and fire jobs.

 

The Greens, well, you'd have to get to know these fools, Jason Haap and Justin Jeffre (of the boy band 98 Degrees). From what I can tell, they take issue with the fact that streetcar power would come from coal plants. That and the official NAACP line that money would better be spent directly on social services.

CODE - Cincinnati Organized and Dedicated Employees

 

I believe they represent all those not represented by fire and police unions with the city.

Can we organize pro-streetcar letters to the same people?

 

Yes, please send them.

The Greens, well, you'd have to get to know these fools, Jason Haap and Justin Jeffre (of the boy band 98 Degrees). From what I can tell, they take issue with the fact that streetcar power would come from coal plants. That and the official NAACP line that money would better be spent directly on social services.

I think the Greens oppose the "genrification" aspect, too.

I sent a letter to the same email addresses provided-

 

Let's use something like Support Cincinnati Streetcar in the Subject line so our letters are all noticed together.

 

Please, everyone, take 5 minutes and write a letter in support.  It will make a difference.

Would anyone care to post a generic letter with some good points that can be adapted for our own use?

Since the opposition reads this forum, here is something I just sent out to All Aboard Ohio's members, funders and friends.....

 

FYI: A broad coalition has formed to oppose the Cincinnati Streetcar project, including the Cincinnati TEA Party, COAST, the Cincinnati Chapter of the NAACP, The Baptist Ministers Conference of Cincinnati Vicinity, the Ohio Green Party, Westwood Concern, the FOP, the Firefighters union and the CODE Labor Union.

 

All Aboard Ohio will support the existing pro-streetcar effort led by the city, chamber of commerce, Cincinnatians for Progress and others. Please do what you can to support this effort to grow the city's taxbase through more jobs, economic development and energy-efficient connectivity, rather than by continually raising taxes to sustain city services. We elect our local leaders to oversee such civic improvement projects and if we don't like what they do, then we elect someone else.

 

If anti-streetcar forces push this project to the ballot, then all publicly funded highway capacity expansions in Cincinnati should similarly be forced to appear on the ballot, as should any safety forces' pay raises or capital improvements (new fire trucks, rebuilt fire/police stations, etc), any recreation or community centers for youths, seniors and other city residents, plus other city initiatives.

 

I don't support government by the ballot box because it strangles governance and ultimately, economic growth and prosperity. But it may be our only recourse to counter the worsening self-interest in America by giving them some of the hair of the dog.

Can we organize pro-streetcar letters to the same people?

 

Sure...everyone write a letter. I have sent several.

What is the link for the CASS Facebook page?

 

I used to be on it, but suspect I may have been blocked.

^ http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=129608613761969

 

 

Would anyone care to post a generic letter with some good points that can be adapted for our own use?

 

Yes, please post!

>If anti-streetcar forces push this project to the ballot, then all publicly funded highway capacity expansions in Cincinnati should similarly be forced to appear on the ballot,

 

I've asked them that and their answer is always "we're waiting for you to do that".  Which means they're waiting for you to start it, then hijack the issue, saying you're anti-road and you're going to take people's cars away.

 

I don't know if anyone here has ever listened to the nationally syndicated talk radio guy Mark Levin, but he always rants about "how they want to tell you what kind of car to drive" but makes fun of bicycling.  Somehow buying a gas-guzzling vehicle is an expression of freedom, but bicycling is communist.   

 

 

 

^ http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=129608613761969

 

 

Would anyone care to post a generic letter with some good points that can be adapted for our own use?

 

Yes, please post!

 

Looks like it's blocked.  Seems they're not interested in being transparent and public, but rather secretive and sketchy.  I wonder why that is? If people really don't want a streetcar, you think they'd be actively publicizing their groups and events.  I don't get why they're being secretive and defensive.

COAST is tweeting: Voters to have say on streetcar and their petition is online. Note, the amendment would be valid until the end of 2020.

 

I've asked them that and their answer is always "we're waiting for you to do that". Which means they're waiting for you to start it, then hijack the issue, saying you're anti-road and you're going to take people's cars away.

 

I don't know if anyone here has ever listened to the nationally syndicated talk radio guy Mark Levin, but he always rants about "how they want to tell you what kind of car to drive" but makes fun of bicycling. Somehow buying a gas-guzzling vehicle is an expression of freedom, but bicycling is communist.

 

 

I have innate belief that what goes around comes around, and/or that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Thieves ultimately get arrested. Liars are ultimately exposed. Sinners are ultimately punished. And cities that fail to make basic infrastructural investments (high-quality public transportation is a basic urban need -- especially when competing with other cities that have it) to sustain their economies lose out to those that do. Unfortunately, not only does the city's economic failure erode the jobs and incomes of those who prevented the city from competing with other cities, but many others who are innocent residents are equally victimized. If these selfish, short-sighted pieces of garbage "succeed," I hope a special place is reserved for them in hell.

^ http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=129608613761969

 

 

Would anyone care to post a generic letter with some good points that can be adapted for our own use?

 

Yes, please post!

 

Looks like it's blocked.  Seems they're not interested in being transparent and public, but rather secretive and sketchy.  I wonder why that is? If people really don't want a streetcar, you think they'd be actively publicizing their groups and events.  I don't get why they're being secretive and defensive.

 

 

The fact they are selective on their social media networks says, to me at least, that they aren't confident in their own arguments.  That they know their arguments would not hold up against any rational person from the opposing side so they silence all arguments from the opposing side just in case.  They do not want their followers knowing the full truth.  It's ironic since they accuse rail supporters of being a cult, yet all information and members from their side is closed off to any arguments that could be a threat to their propaganda.

 

It also shows how willing and desperate they are to "use" their own people for their own agenda. 

 

 

Is there anything legally that prevents someone from putting essentially the same ballot initiative twice in a short period of time? 

 

I mean they had their chance to word the ballot initiative exactly how they wanted to, they failed, and now they want a redo for the mistake they made?  This would be like the Jets wanting a redo against the Steelers because they lost. 

^ I think the thinking goes...if it's that ridiculous an issue, they won't be able to get the signatures.

 

It's an abuse of democracy, IMO.

wow-- I just viewed their FB Page... those people are craaazzy.  Not just what they're saying. but the way they're speaking.. so over the top- As if they were attending a sporting event and cheering for one team over the other.  It's like it's all a big game and they don't want to lose

Wahhh, I wanna see their page, but it says page not found...wonder why others can see it??

The streetcar opposition has moved beyond rational thinking some time ago. 

Wahhh, I wanna see their page, but it says page not found...wonder why others can see it??

 

I just FB searched Citizens against streetcar swindle.

I don't know if anyone here has ever listened to the nationally syndicated talk radio guy Mark Levin, but he always rants about "how they want to tell you what kind of car to drive" but makes fun of bicycling. Somehow buying a gas-guzzling vehicle is an expression of freedom, but bicycling is communist.

 

"Nothing says "rugged individualist" like the exhaust emitted from 10,000 cars at rush hour."

-Dave Hoppe - NUVO (Indianapolis)

this is the real group.  The other one was just an event page.

 

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_132664010122735

Where are they getting their signatures from?

 

Also, where is Cincinnatians For Progress and how can we help?

Also, where is Cincinnatians For Progress and how can we help?

 

I asked that days ago... and nothing. :-(

Supporters should be pressuring the city to get started on construction asap.  Nothing else matters right now

Where are they getting their signatures from?

I heard they are sending "little old ladies" to do door-to-door work.

Supporters should be pressuring the city to get started on construction asap. Nothing else matters right now

Solid point.  They need to get the construction contracts signed, sealed and delivered. 

I hope the silence from the higher ups in this movement means they are working diligently on countering this "opposition". 

 

Regardless, sounds like the next city council meeting is gonna be a circus with all the non city Tea Partiers.  Hopefully we have a good chunk there as well.  Meeting starts at 2 so I would get there around 1:30

I hope the silence from the higher ups in this movement means they are working diligently on countering this "opposition".

 

 

That's what many of us thought that the "leaders" in the Strickland Administration were doing about 3C when confronted by the anti-progress troglodytes. Instead, the scared governor's staff was just hunkering down. Don't make the same mistaken assumption we made.

 

And can someone please provide contact information for Cincinnatians for Progress? Sheesh, are they the secret service or something???

CfP: http://www.cincinnatiansforprogress.com/

Thank you.

They will get the signatures, and we will have another vote in May.

 

You should tell everyone in your network to be careful about what they're signing. Have them read the actual text, because it's as bad as the last one.

 

A campaign to defeat this initiative is being organized. More news soon.

 

We'll beat this.

That's the way we need to think at this point. Basically this issue is going to come down to who wants it more. It's going to come down to just a few dozen votes. We can do this, but we need to start aggressively campaigning and going door to door very soon (as soon as we get confirmation that it's definitely in the ballot)

I can't wait to rub this in their faces when they lose again!!!!

Well there's the issue, what's stopping them, after their upcoming defeat, from simply rewording yet another charter amendment?  These people are political zombies. 

My email is [email protected]. (I know. I'm sorry)

And they don't care how many tax-payer dollars they waste in the process.