November 9, 201212 yr COAST got clobbered. Spanked. Chabot & Wenstrup won, but since they were running essentially unopposed and in heavily gerrymandered districts that's not really much of an accomplishment. COAST was adamantly opposed to Issue 4, and since it passed it's likely that we are going to have a pro-streetcar super-majority on Council for the foreseeable future. COAST and their Council puppet will remain marginalized and powerless in Cincinnati. Yay for the good guys!!
November 9, 201212 yr And we still have plenty of chances to pass something like Issue 2 again, which would end the gerrymandering, in time for the next census. Unfortunately, we're probably stuck with Chabot and Wenstrup until then.
November 9, 201212 yr COAST got clobbered. Spanked. Chabot & Wenstrup won, but since they were running essentially unopposed and in heavily gerrymandered districts that's not really much of an accomplishment. COAST was adamantly opposed to Issue 4, and since it passed it's likely that we are going to have a pro-streetcar super-majority on Council for the foreseeable future. COAST and their Council puppet will remain marginalized and powerless in Cincinnati. Yay for the good guys!! They still need to get reelected next year.
November 9, 201212 yr ^So it goes into efect after the next election? Still, as Blue as Cincinnati has been at the ballot box over recent years it should be OK.
November 9, 201212 yr Yes, next year's election will be huge in Cincinnati politics and ultimately for the streetcar. The Mayor's seat and all nine City Council seats will be on the line for four-year terms. We already have support at a federal level with Obama and Brown's reelection. Next would be removing Kasich in the 2014 election. "It's just fate, as usual, keeping its bargain and screwing us in the fine print..." - John Crichton
November 9, 201212 yr Yes, next year's election will be huge in Cincinnati politics and ultimately for the streetcar. The Mayor's seat and all nine City Council seats will be on the line for four-year terms. We already have support at a federal level with Obama and Brown's reelection. Next would be removing Kasich in the 2014 election. Exactly. The stakes are high in terms of this project. Smitherman and Murray have stated numerous times they would stop the streetcar if they have the votes regardless of how far along construction was
November 9, 201212 yr I voted for every Republican president since Gerald Ford and in 2000 hosted George W. Bush's southwest Ohio campaign HQ's in one of my buildings. The R's eventually lost me for good over the Iraq War in 2003, but my experience as chairman of MetroMoves started to push me over the edge a year earlier. The Reagan Administration or the Red Congress of the 90's did nothing to make you feel as if the party was taking political duplicity to heights that even a tolerant public couldn't ignore?
November 9, 201212 yr A lot of people didn't know how ridiculous Reagan's policies were at the time. It took years for their poisons to become effective.
November 9, 201212 yr Moderator Note Let's try to keep this thread on topic, please. Unless it's directly related to the streetcar project, general political discussions belong elsewhere.
November 12, 201212 yr I hope this open politician eyes. http://www.wcpo.com/dpp/news/national/New-Orleans-streetcar-line-to-get-Super-Bowl-debut
November 13, 201212 yr I just wanted to say that... This thread is the first in UrbanOhio history to have over 1 million views! :clap: "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
November 13, 201212 yr We'll have to hit another million to get that ;). "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
November 14, 201212 yr Bill Cunningham just had a Warren County commissioner on to talk about the future racino near Lebanon so, naturally, the discussion evolved into a streetcar bash fest. Cunningham lamented that Warren County has real leadership while in Cincinnati we focus on things like a streetcar that only runs a mile from Fountain Square to Findlay Market. The commissioner then chimes in to ask what will happen to ridership the first time someone gets shot or mugged on the streetcar ... who's going to ride it then? After laughing at the potential for a shooting, Cunningham then asks what will happen on this "open-air streetcar" when it's five below zero and snowing, or in the summer when it's 100 degrees outside. The commissioner then says that Hamilton County is becoming a blue county and electing Democrats because all of the responsible Republican voters are fleeing the county in droves for Warren, Clermont, Butler, etc. Cunningham then rips the stadiums and what he says is a plan to use taxpayer money to build sculptures all over Cincinnati, while praising Warren County as a shining example and the best run county government in the history of man. You just can't make some of this stuff up.
November 14, 201212 yr I just wanted to say that... This thread is the first in UrbanOhio history to have over 1 million views! :clap: Amazing. Bill Cunningham just had a Warren County commissioner on to talk about the future racino near Lebanon so, naturally, the discussion evolved into a streetcar bash fest. Cunningham lamented that Warren County has real leadership while in Cincinnati we focus on things like a streetcar that only runs a mile from Fountain Square to Findlay Market. The commissioner then chimes in to ask what will happen to ridership the first time someone gets shot or mugged on the streetcar ... who's going to ride it then? After laughing at the potential for a shooting, Cunningham then asks what will happen on this "open-air streetcar" when it's five below zero and snowing, or in the summer when it's 100 degrees outside. The commissioner then says that Hamilton County is becoming a blue county and electing Democrats because all of the responsible Republican voters are fleeing the county in droves for Warren, Clermont, Butler, etc. Cunningham then rips the stadiums and what he says is a plan to use taxpayer money to build sculptures all over Cincinnati, while praising Warren County as a shining example and the best run county government in the history of man. You just can't make some of this stuff up. (Amazing)2 "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
November 14, 201212 yr Did Smitherman support/endorse Obama? Where does he stand on the national scene. I cannot figure his politics/position out other than the fact that he seems like a Coast stooge.
November 14, 201212 yr I just wanted to say that... This thread is the first in UrbanOhio history to have over 1 million views! :clap: Amazing. Bill Cunningham just had a Warren County commissioner on to talk about the future racino near Lebanon so, naturally, the discussion evolved into a streetcar bash fest. Cunningham lamented that Warren County has real leadership while in Cincinnati we focus on things like a streetcar that only runs a mile from Fountain Square to Findlay Market. The commissioner then chimes in to ask what will happen to ridership the first time someone gets shot or mugged on the streetcar ... who's going to ride it then? After laughing at the potential for a shooting, Cunningham then asks what will happen on this "open-air streetcar" when it's five below zero and snowing, or in the summer when it's 100 degrees outside. The commissioner then says that Hamilton County is becoming a blue county and electing Democrats because all of the responsible Republican voters are fleeing the county in droves for Warren, Clermont, Butler, etc. Cunningham then rips the stadiums and what he says is a plan to use taxpayer money to build sculptures all over Cincinnati, while praising Warren County as a shining example and the best run county government in the history of man. You just can't make some of this stuff up. (Amazing)2 Every time I trudged across a snowblasted parking lot outside a strip mall in Warren County, with the excitement brewing in anticipation of the 20 minutes I got to spend sitting on Mason Montgomery, I couldn't help but think fondly of Warren County's innovative county government.
November 14, 201212 yr The commissioner then says that Hamilton County is becoming a blue county and electing Democrats because all of the responsible Republican voters are fleeing the county in droves for Warren, Clermont, Butler, etc. Please, please, please keep thinking that! It's beautiful!
November 14, 201212 yr The commissioner then says that Hamilton County is becoming a blue county and electing Democrats because all of the responsible Republican voters are fleeing the county in droves for Warren, Clermont, Butler, etc. Please, please, please keep thinking that! It's beautiful! "Fleeing in droves for Warren, Clermont, Butler, etc." This is not beautiful. It's the reason why Cincinnati is losing population.
November 14, 201212 yr That is one way to look at it, but the political shift is helpful. Anti-urban residents might be good for tax revenues, but they are a long-term cancer for the city, since they will readily vote against positive momentum. The pro-urban conservatives are not leaving in droves. The people who would support leveling OTR for acre plots and cul-de-sacs are taking their tax-dodging butts to the exurbs.
November 15, 201212 yr The average family that's moving to West Chester isn't republican. They just want a government that isn't in the news with something stupid all the time (10% raise for the City Manager) or whatever else the media wants to drum up. Also, as a side note, I've noticed that what feels like 90% of streetcar opponents... STILL DON"T KNOW THE STREETCAR GOES TO THE BANKS. Blows my mind.
November 15, 201212 yr Banks to Findlay Market. Banks to Findlay Market. Banks to Findlay Market. Banks to Findlay Market. Banks to Findlay Market. Banks to Findlay Market. Banks to Findlay Market. Banks to Findlay Market. Banks to Findlay Market. Banks to Findlay Market. Banks to Findlay Market. Banks to Findlay Market. Banks to Findlay Market. Banks to Findlay Market. Banks to Findlay Market. Banks to Findlay Market. Banks to Findlay Market. Banks to Findlay Market. Banks to Findlay Market. Banks to Findlay Market. Banks to Findlay Market. Banks to Findlay Market. Banks to Findlay Market. Banks to Findlay Market. Banks to Findlay Market. Banks to Findlay Market. Banks to Findlay Market. Banks to Findlay Market. Banks to Findlay Market. Banks to Findlay Market. Banks to Findlay Market. Banks to Findlay Market. Banks to Findlay Market. Banks to Findlay Market. Banks to Findlay Market. Banks to Findlay Market. Banks to Findlay Market. Banks to Findlay Market. Banks to Findlay Market. With plans to expand into Uptown. (Thanks, Kasich.)
November 15, 201212 yr A little birdie told me some good streetcar news is likely today. Crossing my fingers.
November 15, 201212 yr A little birdie told me some good streetcar news is likely today. Crossing my fingers. Hopefully duke related. They are being ridiculous. In other news, COAST just issued a press release calling your little birdie a "socialist boondoggle of a bird"
November 15, 201212 yr A little birdie told me some good streetcar news is likely today. Crossing my fingers. No details? I hate you. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
November 15, 201212 yr A socialist communist marxist fascist boondoggle bird who likes to spread the shit around... how socialist of him.
November 15, 201212 yr Also, as a side note, I've noticed that what feels like 90% of streetcar opponents... STILL DON"T KNOW THE STREETCAR GOES TO THE BANKS. Blows my mind. It seems streetcar opponents usually have don't know very much about the project in terms of facts.
November 15, 201212 yr Also, as a side note, I've noticed that what feels like 90% of streetcar opponents... STILL DON"T KNOW THE STREETCAR GOES TO THE BANKS. Blows my mind. It seems streetcar opponents usually have don't know very much about the project in terms of facts. What they lack in facts, they more than make up for in falsehoods....and speedwalking.
November 15, 201212 yr Also, as a side note, I've noticed that what feels like 90% of streetcar opponents... STILL DON"T KNOW THE STREETCAR GOES TO THE BANKS. Blows my mind. It seems streetcar opponents usually have don't know very much about the project in terms of facts. What they lack in facts, they more than make up for in falsehoods....and speedwalking. and hairstyles
November 15, 201212 yr I thought they were already bid. One company was suing because they didn't want the public to know what their bid was.
November 15, 201212 yr The actual vehicles have already gone out to bid. And a decision was made. This is apparently for the entire construction of the line. Though I haven't seen any evidence that it went out to bid...
November 16, 201212 yr My source is very reputable, I'm sure it will be in the news eventually. And yes, this is the roughly $60 million construction contract that includes rail, electric, stops, carbarn, etc. Utilities are funded separately and apparently all are good to go except duke. Streetcar purchase agreement to be signed in the next few weeks meaning cars will begin being built in January.
November 17, 201212 yr I'm surprised Eighth and State hasn't mentioned the Ohio Supreme Court's decision this week on moving utilities.
November 17, 201212 yr I'm surprised Eighth and State hasn't mentioned the Ohio Supreme Court's decision this week on moving utilities. "This week" as in this past week or the coming week?
November 17, 201212 yr I'm surprised Eighth and State hasn't mentioned the Ohio Supreme Court's decision this week on moving utilities. What? Details please!!
November 17, 201212 yr http://courtnewsohio.gov/cases/2012/SCO/1115/111274.asp This decision is not applicable to the Cincinnati/Duke case as it involves a prior rate tariff (rate and service agreement) by Columbus Southern Power that had been approved by PUCO in 1992. The Supreme Court held that the 1992 CSP tariff at issue is both lawful and reasonable. To my knowledge there is no similar Duke tariff in place, so the decision is moot in regard to Cincinnati's situation.
November 19, 201212 yr Sorry, I didn't see the responses till just now. Capell with a nice job finding the link. (Real world getting in the way of my Urban Ohio time...not fun.)
November 22, 201212 yr So here's Newsmakers last Sunday. Worth watching the whole thing but can someone isolate the couple of minutes Cranley spends talking about the streetcar, starting at 6:00 minutes from the end, and can we determine the truthfulness of what he says on tape? http://www.local12.com/content/newsmakers/story/Newsmakers-November-18-2012/DYwFn1IDUEmSnoIiZFs3oA.cspx
November 23, 201212 yr ^ how the hell do you navigate to the 2nd part of the show? You don't. Pretty much have to watch to whole thing.
November 24, 201212 yr Using Safari, I expanded the window to full screen and was able to skip forward/backward at will. You will need to allow for the entire video to load. "It's just fate, as usual, keeping its bargain and screwing us in the fine print..." - John Crichton
November 27, 201212 yr Excellent piece over at Urban Cincy by Jake Mecklenborg about the ten year anniversary of "Metro Moves" failing at the polls: http://www.urbancincy.com/2012/11/metromoves-a-decade-later/ Looking at the planning for the Metro Moves system, it's interesting to see what potential the current streetcar construction could have for the future. Maybe there wasn't an entire sales tax to fund the whole system, but at least we've made a step in the right direction. Also, I recommend the comments section. ;)
November 27, 201212 yr Yeah the streetcar opponents kept acting like the streetcar project was some spontaneous decision, when by 2007 the plan had already been around for 5 or 6 years and in fact would have been built by then if the tax had passed. Of course Mark Miller would have a shiny new light rail line either under construction or already open if Metromoves had passed, significantly raising the value of his home, which stands just a block from a station.
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