February 18, 201312 yr At the rate they're currently going, I think there is going to be some serious voter fatigue on this issue by November. Does Smitherman expect to be on talk radio four times a week for the next six months talking about the streetcar?
February 18, 201312 yr ^^Someone should compile a list of all of the events council typically attends (council meetings, groundbreakings, neighborhood summits, etc.) and track Smitherman's attendance. Then a corresponding list of his radio appearances. Publish those when he's up for re-election and we'll see if he keeps his seat. It's obvious that he cares more about publicity than in actually being on council, and it seems like he is completely disinterested in improving this city. I did it before and stopped after opponents lost for the 2nd time. May have to find the old statistics and start up again. They are staggering
February 18, 201312 yr Since this is one of the most-visited threads here at UO, this is a probably as good place to remind everyone that UO will not be available from Tuesday into Wednesday while the site is moved to the new server. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
February 18, 201312 yr They have jobs. That is part of their job. I didn't exactly mean it that way; what I was saying is that there's no way that they can dedicate the amount of time defending the project in the media that the fanatical opponents who have dedicated their entire existence to stopping the project have.
February 18, 201312 yr They have jobs. That is part of their job. I didn't exactly mean it that way; what I was saying is that there's no way that they can dedicate the amount of time defending the project in the media that the fanatical opponents who have dedicated their entire existence to stopping the project have. I agree with that. But I do think we could/should hear from them more often.
February 19, 201312 yr They have jobs. That is part of their job. and they are getting paid a full time wage for being on council.
February 19, 201312 yr Uncovering some fascinating smitherman 700wlw results...I haven't even gotten to 55krc or The Buzz
February 19, 201312 yr Barry didn't write this one but of course the enquirer let Coast give a quote. http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20130218/BIZ/302180144/Duke-rate-request-What-s-really-stake
February 19, 201312 yr Did they give an opposing viewpoint a quote? Or say that they tried? If not, start complaining to the Society of Professional Journalists. Does Cincinnati have a Press Club? If so, start contacting them too. You may even consider contacting the BBB, FCC or Federal Trade Commission. If a media outlet claims to be an entertainment medium, then that's one thing. If it claims to be journalism, then they need to adhere to certain standards. Call them out on it and make them adhere. It might even be as simple as false advertising. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
February 19, 201312 yr Channel 12's report from Feb 14: http://www.clipsyndicate.com/video/play/3942021
February 19, 201312 yr Remember, these numbers just reflect what 700wlw describes on their podcasts. They don't even include the number of calls/discussions not listed in the description. These numbers are all LOWER than actual reality *Since 2/10/2011, Christopher Smitherman has appeared on 67 known podcasts on 700wlw...67 *Of the 260 known Podcasts that 700wlw has described as being a streetcar segment, Christopher Smitherman has accounted for 25.7% of them. 135 of them featured anti-streetcar guests not named Chris Smitherman, 23 of them had pro streetcar guests, 67 with Smitherman, and the rest featured the host bashing the project *Of the 260 known Podcasts that 700wlw has described as being a streetcar segment, 23 had 'pro' streetcar guests(8.8%) *Christopher Smitherman has appeared on Bill Cunningham 33 times(as described on the podcasts) since 2/24/11 *On Bill Cunningham's show alone, there are 104 known described Segment Hours devoted to the streetcar since 6/7/2010(Including guests and solo). Chris Smitherman accounted for 33 of them or 31.7%. Leslie Ghiz accounted for 24 of them or 23% of them. There have been 75 anti streetcar related guests out of the 104, 11 pro streetcar guests, and 18 Cunningham solo bashing Segments I have every segment logged by date and show from that stats before but they are so long that I hesitate to copy and paste them
February 19, 201312 yr Fake cincy enquirer, save everything you have. Great job collecting the data! Jimmy James -Smitherman did not attend the Washington Park grand opening. Of course he wants that to fail because the Streetcar route flanks it on 3 sides. In other news, here is the Duke Vs. City Utility Complaint Duke v Cincinnati Complaint
February 19, 201312 yr Fake cincy enquirer, save everything you have. Great job collecting the data! Jimmy James -Smitherman did not attend the Washington Park grand opening. Of course he wants that to fail because the Streetcar route flanks it on 3 sides. In other news, here is the Duke Vs. City Utility Complaint Duke v Cincinnati Complaint Smitherman hasn't attended a thing that I'm aware of, as far as groundbreakings. He certainly hasn't been at any Banks events or at the dunnhumby centre groundbreaking. It'll be interesting to see if he's at the casino grand opening. The dude is nothing short of a political loser.
February 19, 201312 yr >Smitherman hasn't attended a thing that I'm aware of, as far as groundbreakings During the streetcar groundbreaking he was in City Hall with Charlie Windburn holding one of his emergency meetings, except the media didn't cover it at all. Would be amazing to see some video from it.
February 19, 201312 yr >Smitherman hasn't attended a thing that I'm aware of, as far as groundbreakings During the streetcar groundbreaking he was in City Hall with Charlie Windburn holding one of his emergency meetings, except the media didn't cover it at all. Would be amazing to see some video from it. Sounds like the guy who goes to bed at 9 p.m. on New Years Eve because he has no friends to hang out with.
February 19, 201312 yr There was a funny exchange on Twitter tonight between Chris Seelbach and Barry Horstman. Biased Barry was covering the Mt Lookout hearing about the parking assets lease when he tweeted about the Streetcar. Apparently Councilman Seelbach (who wasn't there because he had to take his cat to the emergency after hours vet) couldn't stand it anymore. I love that Horstman and the Enquirer finally getting called out by someone in City Government:
February 19, 201312 yr Hell just froze over. The Enquirer wrote a balanced and informative story about the Duke rate increase as related to the Streetcar work. And no, Barry Horstman didn't write it: Duke rate request: What's really at stake? http://news.cincinnati.com/article/AB/20130218/BIZ/302180144/Duke-rate-request-What-s-really-stake- "The tussle over who’s going to pay to move utility lines for Cincinnati’s planned streetcar has prompted Duke Energy to ask for the power – unprecedented in Ohio – to pass costs of large public projects directly to customers. Duke’s proposal before the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio would not increase rates to pay for the $15 million cost of relocating utility lines for the streetcar. [snip] However, even if approved, the facility relocation rider would no longer apply to the current streetcar project because of a recent agreement between Duke and the city, he said. They agreed earlier this month to let a judge decide whether Duke ratepayers or the city of Cincinnati will pay the relocation costs. Even if Duke is held responsible, the rider would not apply, according to the agreement. The rider, if approved, could still be applied to any future streetcar expansions and other projects in Duke’s Ohio territory. Approval also could prompt other utilities in the state to ask for the same power."
July 10, 201311 yr Does that mean that bids haven't come back yet, the emergency clause is still being used and Duke hasn't started utility work!?! OH NO!!! A heck of a lot has happened in 5 months. Geez.
July 10, 201311 yr Does that mean that bids haven't come back yet, the emergency clause is still being used and Duke hasn't started utility work!?! OH NO!!! A heck of a lot has happened in 5 months. Geez. What emergency clause? Duke has started.
July 10, 201311 yr Does that mean that bids haven't come back yet, the emergency clause is still being used and Duke hasn't started utility work!?! OH NO!!! A heck of a lot has happened in 5 months. Geez. What emergency clause? Duke has started. What'd you do for Valentine's Day?
July 10, 201311 yr Man, a lot has happened in a few months. Barry Horstman passed away, there have been untold numbers of articles and LTE's on the streetcar, Cranley moved full bore against it, the 17 million was appropriated....
July 10, 201311 yr Jake Mecklenborg, if you want to write a new book, I feel like the Cincinnati Streetcar could be a great one for you. I also feel like it would be a great drama on hbo or showtime or basic cable: Long Time Supporters: Mayor Mallory Roxanne Qualls Wendall Young Cecil Thomas Laure Quinlivan Milton Dohoney The Feds John Schneider One Time supporters that flipped for political reasons: John Cranley Chris Bortz Jeff Berding Laketa Cole Pamula Thomas Leslie Ghiz Todd Portune People who will not take a position one way or another publicly but are against it: PG Sittenfeld Newer Supporters: Yvette Simpson Chris Seelbach Simon Leis Distributors of misinformation purposefully: Enquirer WLWT Fox19 WKRC WCPO 700wlw 55krc Trying to tell the whole story(Good or bad): City beat Anti everythings: Scott Sloan Lisa Wells Eddie and Tracy Charlie Luken Dusty Rhodes Tom Luken Darryl Parks Chris Monzel Greg Hartmann Steve Chabot Brad Wenstrup Paid to write negative pieces: Randall O'Toole Barry Horstman Crazies that are anti city: Bill Cunningham Chris Smitherman Chris Finney Mark Miller Jeff Cappell Doc Thompson Brian Thomas Then you add the drama of: -Two Ballot initiatives -Both of which Smitherman/COAST lied about it being only about the streetcar when it was really about all rail -Two city council elections(soon to be 3) -One mayoral election(soon to be 2) -The Blue Ash Airport misinformation campaign by opponents and COAST/700wlw's outrage at the meeting -The Chris Smitherman antics - Ordering the destruction of city beat magazines that talk about real amendment language (http://cincyvoices.com/2011/08/05/smitherman-campaign-literally-hates-free-speech/) - Being restrained from attacking a woman at city hall during streetcar hearing (http://metro-cincinnati.org/?p=2183) - Yelling "I'll kill you, punk" to a streetcar supporter at city hall during same meeting - Bodyguards giving throat slashing gestures to streetcar supporters at city hall meeting - Berating homeless people for signatures on one of his anti rail ballot initiatives - Going on 700wlw 97 KNOWN times(probably more) to promote misinformation about the streetcar - Going on 55KRC just as much if not more - Saying the 1st phase of the streetcar could and will probably cost "Billions" back in 2009 in 700wlw -The COAST antics - Using the following words to describe the streetcar: -Communist - Socialist - Marxist - Sacreligious - Satanic - Libtard - Boondoggle - Trolley folly - Crime Train - Choo Choo - Train to nowhere - Photoshop of a trolley saying "Cincinnati Streetcar" filled with African American men with guns (http://www.citybeat.com/cincinnati/blog-2402-does_naacp_approve_of_coast_hijinks.html) - Calling, knocking on doors, and harassing Blue Ash council/residents at all hours of the day to oppose airport deal - Two 'anti streetcar' ballot initiatives that were really anti all rail but they mislead anyways - Comparing the streetcar as "Worse than 9/11" (http://wonkette.com/452974/ohio-tea-party-group-public-transit-still-worse-than-911) - Juvenile tweets about how people fart, masturbate, and other things on streetcars - Still tweeting about how the streetcar is causing brownouts - Saying you can use capital funds for operating funds and vice versa - Going to court to preserve their right to intentionally mislead and flat out lie in their tweets (http://5chw4r7z.blogspot.com/2011/11/coast-demands-right-to-lie.html) -John Kasich politically corrupting TRAC by appointing oil men on the board to take money from their highest rated project and use it for bus lines in his hometown (http://www.urbancincy.com/2011/04/analysis-kasich-trac-played-politics-burned-cincinnati/) -Rep Shannon Jones, who has no relation to Cincinnati, inserting a streetcar funding ban at the state level(http://www.soapboxmedia.com/features/0329soapdishstreetcarunderattack.aspx) -Duke Energy purposefully delaying the project(I still think at the pressure of local and state politicians) with their demands on feet from manholes and cost (http://www.citybeat.com/cincinnati/article-25052-the_great_eight_debate.html) -Steve Chabot inserting a ridiculous last second amendment into a budget bill at the federal level banning streetcar funds from the federal government to Cincinnati(fail)(http://www.citybeat.com/cincinnati/blog-3677-mallory_calls_chabot%E2%80%99s_streetcar_amendment.html) -The Bids coming in over budget -The new 17 million appropriation -John Cranley and Chris Smitherman boasting that they will kill the project at any stage of construction even if it means losing 100 million dollars -A minimum 356 podcasts(Hours) on 700wlw(with many more not listed on their website) devoted solely on the streetcar with an overwhelming majority yelling against -Enquirer publishing a ridiculous amount of LTE against the project Think of all the story lines!
July 10, 201311 yr WKRC Newsmakers (recently banished to Sunday @ 6AM) should be there under telling the whole story
July 10, 201311 yr I know we lost a bunch of posts re: the politics of the streetcar, but I did want to mention here again (original lost to the ether) that I am hosting an upcoming fundraiser for Laure Quinlivan if anyone is interested. PM or email me and I can get you more information; the fundraiser is next Wednesday, July 17. (MODS, my apologies if this is not the appropriate format for that.)
July 10, 201311 yr Through all of the excitement of the server failure no one has posted this City Beat article from today: Top 10 misrepresentations of the Cincinnati Streetcar project
July 11, 201311 yr Through all of the excitement of the server failure no one has posted this City Beat article from today: Top 10 misrepresentations of the Cincinnati Streetcar project Anybody have a link to the "doctored picture of armed black people riding a smashed-up streetcar labeled 'Cincinnati trolley'"
July 11, 201311 yr Here you go... http://www.citybeat.com/cincinnati/blog-2402-does_naacp_approve_of_coast_hijinks.html
July 11, 201311 yr >Think of all the story lines! You forgot the bullet hole stickers. And the additional $5 million in federal funds. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
July 12, 201311 yr It's kind of scary to think that Messer essentially can singlehandedly decide if the City is going to move forward with public transit construction anytime soon. Messer holds all of the cards in this negotiation with the city. If Messer decides they're not going to honor their bid, the City is basically SOL on this issue. Like many have said on here previously, you would think that Dahoney and the Messer folks had ongoing talks over the past couple months or else Council wouldn't have gone through with approving additional funds. Messer is a very good (and profitable company). I had the benefit to co-op with them about 10 years ago. They have great leaders running that company. If they have any hesitation that they cannot make a profit based on their submitted bid, then there's no point in them taking on the liability/risk of this project. They were $10 million lower than the 2nd lowest bidder. You don't think that Messer hasn't been doing their homework over the past couple months to go over every single part of this contract to make sure they didn't miss anything? You don't think that Messer hasn't internally identified potential loopholes in the bid documents that could turn into change orders for them (resulting in additional money to them)? I kind of wonder if Messer is negotiating some sort of tax incentives with the city. Messer's headquarters is within the city limits (Bond Hill), so they do provide a fair amount of income tax revenue to the city. While Messer likely realizes they can't go to Dahoney and say that their bid is now $73 million instead of $70 million, I wonder if there's other ways that Messer can get some financial incentives to sign the streetcar contractor without the public outcry of revising their streetcar bid. I'm hoping the silence over the past couple weeks isn't anything to be alarmed about, but rather, I'm hoping everything is moving forward with the contract behind the scenes and that we'll hear good news very soon on this.
July 12, 201311 yr Kevin Osborne at WCPO just tweeted that Messer is quoting an additional $500,000 to complete the streetcar bid. what does this mean? is this where the backup fund comes into play? Or does this kill it?
July 12, 201311 yr I've heard the contract may have just been signed and a notice to proceed is about to go out. Finally, some good news that sounds like good news.
July 12, 201311 yr Messer bid covered by contingency fund: http://cincinnati.com/blogs/politics/2013/07/12/messer-we-need-less-than-500k-more-to-build-streetcar/
July 12, 201311 yr Does that mean they would have went up even if the bid was signed months ago? Would be scary if it went up 500k every 2 months.
July 12, 201311 yr Just got press release from the City covering all the recent posts. Issuing of construction contract imminent. About damn time
July 12, 201311 yr Here it is . . . CONSTRUCTION CONTRACT IMMINENT With City Council’s approval of $17.4 million, as well as the award of an additional $5 million in federal dollars in funding to the streetcar project, the streetcar project is sufficiently funded to proceed with the award of a construction contract to Messer/Prus/Delta Railroad JV (MPD), the low bidder. The Administration is in the final stages of those discussions and we expect that to be executed in the immediate future. The project team has been meeting regularly with MPD to discuss additional cost and schedule changes related to the delay between the anticipated Notice to Proceed (NTP) date of April 8, 2013 and the new award date. MPD has requested additional funding in the amount of $492,933 related to increased costs for materials and labor resulting from this delay. This is covered in the current project budget. As discussed before Council, the Administration was not able to negotiate the final contract provisions and associated costs until the money was available. No reductions to contract scope are included in this contract. We’re very glad that the MPD team has remained committed over the last few months and it underscores our confidence that they are the right choice for our project. The project team has reviewed MPD’s request and has concluded that the costs are reasonable and represent estimated costs associated with the delay in contract award, as well as the risk that Messer and City are willing to take due to this delay.
July 12, 201311 yr This is huge news 5+ years in the making. Great work against almost insurmountable odds. Well done council and supporters Duke moving utilities, rail construction immanent. All that's left is the Duke settlement and the HUGE November election
July 12, 201311 yr I can only imagine how much the haters are cringing that the re-bid came in as expected. 55krc is going to have a meltdown.
July 12, 201311 yr We now have it on record that two months of delay added $500,000 to the project cost. Anyone care to calculate how much COAST's delay tactics added to the project cost? (Coalition Okay with Additional Spending and Taxes)
July 12, 201311 yr We now have it on record that two months of delay added $500,000 to the project cost. Anyone care to calculate how much COAST's delay tactics added to the project cost? (Coalition Okay with Additional Spending and Taxes) Don't give them any satisfaction of incurring higher governmental costs on taxpayers. They want government to be just as fiscally responsible as they are in their personal lives.... Instead, just enjoy the day. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
July 12, 201311 yr If the contract is signed by then, the next Streetcar Social is going to be one big celebration.
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