Last night 60 Minutes aired a segment on Amazon.com's "Prime" delivery by flying drones.  At the 2 minute mark, CEO Jeff Bazos walks over the Seattle streetcar tracks that serve Amazon.com's headquarters:

http://www.theverge.com/2013/12/1/5164340/delivery-drones-are-coming-jeff-bezos-previews-half-hour-shipping

Please alert everyone that coast is monitoring Facebook pages and have copied a quote from one person that could be construed as a threat to elected officials. It's on the COAST Facebook page.

It was a threat on someone's life. And the author defended it. It was captured with a screenshot and the authorities contacted. This is not worth someone's life. Idle threats are taken seriously - whether you are a streetcar supporter or not, and it was handled appropriately.

Wondering what happened to Mark Miller's www.wedemandavote.org website/organization?  That's right, he recently DELETED THE SITE.

 

Here is a screenshot from a few years ago:

Cincinnati: Shooting itself in the foot, just for pleasure.

 

I could go on a rant, but I won't. This whole saga where we now have a mayor who is running what he thinks is a dictatorship (reminds me of Kasich when he was elected) is troubling and makes me ill.

 

As a now non-resident of the city (I'm now in Amelia) I want to see the city succeed but this current Council is making it pretty damn difficult.

Even beyond the demise of the streetcar project, it is unsettling to realize that this mayor and council majority are now in charge of Cincinnati and will be for years.

Even beyond the demise of the streetcar project, it is unsettling to realize that this mayor and council majority are now in charge of Cincinnati and will be for years.

 

It really is disturbing how Mann and Flynn are so obviously doing what they've been told to do by Cranley.  What is being offered to them that makes them so willing to sacrifice their own beliefs on such an important issue?  Will they continue to parrot orders from Cranley all four years? It terrifies me that such blatant corruption and croneyism was on display day one in office.  This administration apparently thinks they are infallible.  What is going to happen when they finally have to confront all of the debt they are creating?  Does Cranley secretly have a genius fiscally responsible plan for the city?  I highly doubt it. 

 

I desperately want to embrace this new administration and back them up on their decisions.  All they have to do is move beyond this ridiculously shortsighted attack.

Yet another poll you should vote on: http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/poll/poll/13356552

Even beyond the demise of the streetcar project, it is unsettling to realize that this mayor and council majority are now in charge of Cincinnati and will be for years.

 

It is more than unsettling, it is vomit inducing. All of the positive things Cincinnati has been creating in the past 10 years are about to be set back 20. I do not live in the City and do not apologize for that, but you Idiots in Cincy hope you enjoy what you have put in motion.

 

And you have FOUR YEARS of it to endure.

Even beyond the demise of the streetcar project, it is unsettling to realize that this mayor and council majority are now in charge of Cincinnati and will be for years.

 

Welcome to Cranleystan. Seriously, Cincinnati and Ohio have SO much promise, but it's holding back itself.

Will there be more speakers today and tomorrow? I hope that supporters are able to review what was said yesterday by both sides and continue to bring additional fresh commentary to the argument.

Wondering what happened to Mark Miller's www.wedemandavote.org website/organization?  That's right, he recently DELETED THE SITE.

 

Here is a screenshot from a few years ago:

 

Why do so many of these right-wing sites look like they're going to give me a virus? They also look like the junk mail my grandma used to get in the '80s and '90s.

Will there be more speakers today and tomorrow? I hope that supporters are able to review what was said yesterday by both sides and continue to bring additional fresh commentary to the argument.

 

I hope it's even more of a circus today than it was yesterday.  This is stirring up something.  I was amazing by all of the pro-streetcar coverage yesterday, and was especially impressed by Eric Avner's (Haile Foundation) letter.  We need to keep the heat turned up.  Our best hope right now is that the detractors on council aren't as unified as they let on.  We need one of them to recognize the groundswell of support the streetcar is getting and/or that there is no benefit to cancelling the project at this stage.

For someone who hasn't kept up with the Cincinnati Streetcar project, and doesn't have time to read 626 pages!, can someone give me a brief summary of the project from the start to now? Thanks!

Even beyond the demise of the streetcar project, it is unsettling to realize that this mayor and council majority are now in charge of Cincinnati and will be for years.

 

It really is disturbing how Mann and Flynn are so obviously doing what they've been told to do by Cranley.  What is being offered to them that makes them so willing to sacrifice their own beliefs on such an important issue?  Will they continue to parrot orders from Cranley all four years? It terrifies me that such blatant corruption and croneyism was on display day one in office.  This administration apparently thinks they are infallible.  What is going to happen when they finally have to confront all of the debt they are creating?  Does Cranley secretly have a genius fiscally responsible plan for the city?  I highly doubt it. 

 

I desperately want to embrace this new administration and back them up on their decisions.  All they have to do is move beyond this ridiculously shortsighted attack.

 

Flynn and Mann are extremely disappointing. I suppose being Vice Mayor is Mann’s excuse, and although 99% of people don’t care about that position, I’m sure it’s marginally ego inflating for someone who is far past his prime. I can’t figure out what Flynn is getting, but as of now he’s coming off as full of more BS than even Smitherman, as he’s nowhere near as good as Smitherman at hiding the fact. His meandering rant about increasing rates over time made it rather apparent. He either doesn’t know what inflation is, doesn’t understand that future costs are typically calculated in today’s dollars to make sense, or was being purposely misleading while addressing a crowd that knows far better – he’s either ignorant or arrogant, a trait he has in common with the mayor. 

 

His other main point (before he accidentally voted for the streetcar), was that costs now are higher than the original 2007 plan, so the ROI is no longer valid. Again he illustrates a willful ignorance of inflation, coupled with what probably really is ignorance of the concept of cost escalation.

 

People can say what they want about Smitherman, Murray, Winburn, and even Cranley, but people voting for them know what they were getting. Flynn, in my opinion, is more full of crap than anyone on council. 

 

Will there be more speakers today and tomorrow? I hope that supporters are able to review what was said yesterday by both sides and continue to bring additional fresh commentary to the argument.

 

I hope it's even more of a circus today than it was yesterday.  This is stirring up something.  I was amazing by all of the pro-streetcar coverage yesterday, and was especially impressed by Eric Avner's (Haile Foundation) letter.  We need to keep the heat turned up.  Our best hope right now is that the detractors on council aren't as unified as they let on.  We need one of them to recognize the groundswell of support the streetcar is getting and/or that there is no benefit to cancelling the project at this stage.

 

I have to agree with your position. I only have one question, where were all of these supporters on election day?

 

I am reminded of the old saying - A Day Late and a Dollar Short. That may be the case here.

 

The only hope I have here is that Cranley has trained himself to be a career politician. So his sights are obviously beyond the Mayor of Cincinnati. My guess is the next step is the statehouse, possibly as Governor. Then it will either be the US Senate or directly as a Presidential candidate. Obviously he possesses the skills to flimflam people.

 

This is my best guess. After their independent audit, Cranley will come back and state due to the overcommitments by the prior administration. the cost to cancel is prohibitive so we are reluctantly obligied to continue with the streetcar so as to not to waste the citizens money. This does several things:

(1) They can claim we are saving a bad investment by the prior administration so it is not a total waste.

(2) Everytime a budget problem comes up, they can lay the blame on the excessive costs of the streetcar.

(3) If the streetcar proves successful, they can simply state it was the will of the people.

How can a politician lose in this environment?

 

He will gauge the public reaction and act accordingly. If his early feedback is negative, he will go ahead with the streetcar. He always has in his back pocket the See I Told You So if the final construction, operating costs, whatever exceed the projections. This is the sign of a professional politician which the public does not seem to understand. They care less about the public good, only their personal gain. But they are smart enough to convince you they give a damn about your situation.

Even beyond the demise of the streetcar project, it is unsettling to realize that this mayor and council majority are now in charge of Cincinnati and will be for years.

 

It is more than unsettling, it is vomit inducing. All of the positive things Cincinnati has been creating in the past 10 years are about to be set back 20. I do not live in the City and do not apologize for that, but you Idiots in Cincy hope you enjoy what you have put in motion.

 

And you have FOUR YEARS of it to endure.

 

Mayoral recall charter amendment should be drafted imo.

Mayoral recall charter amendment should be drafted imo.

 

Agreed.  We might want to see how this plays out first though.  I believe a recall requires a special election if the candidate doesn't step down immediately.  If we successfully get rail on the ballot, I'd rather the city be forced to continue construction until 2014, to make cancellation even more ludicrous.

He will gauge the public reaction and act accordingly. If his early feedback is negative, he will go ahead with the streetcar. He always has in his back pocket the See I Told You So if the final construction, operating costs, whatever exceed the projections. This is the sign of a professional politician which the public does not seem to understand. They care less about the public good, only their personal gain. But they are smart enough to convince you they give a damn about your situation.

 

I hope you're right.  But he seems to have trouble keeping his ego in check, and at this point he's already rolling.  A clear headed politician would work this situation to his benefit, but I don't think that's what we're dealing with here.

For someone who hasn't kept up with the Cincinnati Streetcar project, and doesn't have time to read 626 pages!, can someone give me a brief summary of the project from the start to now? Thanks!

 

It's a long story, but here are some of the key points (I'm definitely leaving something out and I'm not bothering with most dates because I don't want to misstate anything).

 

-Some time before 2007, the mayor and/or city manager commissioned a study, looking for ideas to revitalize downtown (which was a ghost town after 5PM) and Over The Rhine, which is an architectural gem that was crumbling (previous revitalization halted after a riot in 2001).

 

-The city manager and mayor announced that they were interested in a streetcar loop, based on the recommendations from that study.

 

-In 2007 another independent study was done that showed amazing potential and ROI.  This was later vetted by the University of Cincinnati, which agreed with the findings.

 

-The project received several grants and started to take shape.  It was to run from The Banks to Findlay Market (through downtown and OTR).

 

-Roxann Qualls joined city council and insisted that it go to Clifton as well.  This was a small delay to the project, but in hindsight, this might have helped lead to where we are now.

 

-After winning the governer's race, Kasich yanked funds from the project, which severed the connection to Clifton that Qualls wanted.  These were granted to road projects somewhere near Cleveland or Columbus (I don't remember).  State Republicans also manage to pass a measure forbidding state funds from being granted to the Cincinnati Streetcar project specifically.

 

-In 2009 and 2011, the local tea party group put anti-rail measures on the ballot, which would have halted the project.  Both were rejected, but introduced massive delays that have made costs rise.

 

-In 2013, city council had to vote on whether to spend $17M to fund the project, due to the increased costs thanks to our friends at COAST (tea party).

 

-Around the same time the city decided to have it's parking enforced by a corporation via a lease to the Port of Cincinnati.  This was met with a lot of hostility from small businesses and neighborhoods who were worried about enforcement and rate increases, partially due to fear mongering by Cranley and the local media.

 

-Cranley runs for mayor (and several candidates run for council) on the promise that they'll kill the parking lease and the streetcar.  They get elected, probably because of the former.  Despite a dismal voter turnout of 29%, they think they now have a mandate to kill the streetcar.

 

-Groups begin to organize to save the project.  Contracted companies start to talk about lawsuits if the city breaches contract.

 

-Various figures start being floated for cost of cancellation, repurcussions to the city, etc.  The estimates from an $8M to $400k gap between finishing and cancelling.  So basically, you can have a streetcar running for $133M, or you can spend about the same amount and have nothing but severed lawsuits, damaged reputation and business relationships, and debt.  The new mayor and council reject this advice.

 

-Today, they are trying to force through 11 ordinances that will pause/cancel the project.  All have spending attached, which they hope will put them into effect immediately and rob the citizens of the opportunity to ask for a vote on this.

 

I'm sure I've made a few mistakes and I've glossed over a lot, including the non-stop anti-streetcar material spread by most of the local media (which has strangely done a 180 in the last few weeks) that has pushed the emotion and tension surrounding this issue to an unbelievable height.  But to the best of my recollection, those are the more important events of how we got here.

 

Ramming through the pause is a clear sign that cancelation is next. If there was any political calculation going on where Cranley plans to say "damn the previous administration! we are forced to proceed..." then he would be taking the opportunity to do a quick audit without a pause.

 

Has any pause-yes vote said that if Deatrick's numbers turn out to be correct they will vote to continue the project?

For someone who hasn't kept up with the Cincinnati Streetcar project, and doesn't have time to read 626 pages!, can someone give me a brief summary of the project from the start to now? Thanks!

 

It's a long story, but here are some of the key points (I'm definitely leaving something out and I'm not bothering with most dates because I don't want to misstate anything).

 

-Some time before 2007, the mayor and/or city manager commissioned a study, looking for ideas to revitalize downtown (which was a ghost town after 5PM) and Over The Rhine, which is an architectural gem that was crumbling (previous revitalization halted after a riot in 2001).

 

-The city manager and mayor announced that they were interested in a streetcar loop, based on the recommendations from that study.

 

-In 2007 another independent study was done that showed amazing potential and ROI.  This was later vetted by the University of Cincinnati, which agreed with the findings.

 

-The project received several grants and started to take shape.  It was to run from The Banks to Findlay Market (through downtown and OTR).

 

-Roxann Qualls joined city council and insisted that it go to Clifton as well.  This was a small delay to the project, but in hindsight, this might have helped lead to where we are now.

 

-After winning the governer's race, Kasich yanked funds from the project, which severed the connection to Clifton that Qualls wanted.  These were granted to road projects somewhere near Cleveland or Columbus (I don't remember).  State Republicans also manage to pass a measure forbidding state funds from being granted to the Cincinnati Streetcar project specifically.

 

-In 2009 and 2011, the local tea party group put anti-rail measures on the ballot, which would have halted the project.  Both were rejected, but introduced massive delays that have made costs rise.

 

-In 2013, city council had to vote on whether to spend $17M to fund the project, due to the increased costs thanks to our friends at COAST (tea party).

 

-Around the same time the city decided to have it's parking enforced by a corporation via a lease to the Port of Cincinnati.  This was met with a lot of hostility from small businesses and neighborhoods who were worried about enforcement and rate increases, partially due to fear mongering by Cranley and the local media.

 

-Cranley runs for mayor (and several candidates run for council) on the promise that they'll kill the parking lease and the streetcar.  They get elected, probably because of the former.  Despite a dismal voter turnout of 29%, they think they now have a mandate to kill the streetcar.

 

-Groups begin to organize to save the project.  Contracted companies start to talk about lawsuits if the city breaches contract.

 

-Various figures start being floated for cost of cancellation, repurcussions to the city, etc.  The estimates from an $8M to $400k gap between finishing and cancelling.  So basically, you can have a streetcar running for $133M, or you can spend about the same amount and have nothing but severed lawsuits, damaged reputation and business relationships, and debt.  The new mayor and council reject this advice.

 

-Today, they are trying to force through 11 ordinances that will pause/cancel the project.  All have spending attached, which they hope will put them into effect immediately and rob the citizens of the opportunity to ask for a vote on this.

 

I'm sure I've made a few mistakes and I've glossed over a lot, including the non-stop anti-streetcar material spread by most of the local media (which has strangely done a 180 in the last few weeks) that has pushed the emotion and tension surrounding this issue to an unbelievable height.  But to the best of my recollection, those are the more important events of how we got here.

 

 

Wow, great summary.  I think you're right about the Roxanne Qualls delay leading to this current predicament.  If she had left the original loop alone and not insisted on adding the Clifton extension, construction could have started ALOT sooner in my opinion and may have never given Cranley the opportunity to do what he's doing now.  Oh well, can't dwell on the past too much I guess.

....those are the more important events of how we got here.

 

Thanks for the sum up.

Mayoral recall charter amendment should be drafted imo.

 

Perhaps a charter amendment that requires 6 votes from council to break signed contracts would be more important. That should stop anything like this happening again. I'm just worried a mayoral recall would be on the ballot after every election. I definitely don't want more uncertainty in city politics. I also hate specific charter amendments like banning rail, making trash fees illegal, forcing the city to build a streetcar, etc. It binds the councilmemebers to do things that they don't like (one trash can policy/dropping apartment buildings from automatic trash pick up, etc).

^I do too, in principle.  But I read the entire charter recently and found that it is fairly commonplace.  So if that's how things get done in this city, we might as well be open to the possibility.

Anybody who thinks Mayor Crancel is going to magically see the light on this issue and temper his outrageous stance is just as delusional as he is.  He wants the streetcar dead, and will do ANYTHING to see that happen. 

Continue to hammer council members.  Starving Cranley of the needed votes is the only way.  Well, it wouldn't hurt if a few large business interests in town would chime in with support like the Haile Foundation did.

Will there be more speakers today and tomorrow? I hope that supporters are able to review what was said yesterday by both sides and continue to bring additional fresh commentary to the argument.

 

I hope it's even more of a circus today than it was yesterday.  This is stirring up something.  I was amazing by all of the pro-streetcar coverage yesterday, and was especially impressed by Eric Avner's (Haile Foundation) letter.  We need to keep the heat turned up.  Our best hope right now is that the detractors on council aren't as unified as they let on.  We need one of them to recognize the groundswell of support the streetcar is getting and/or that there is no benefit to cancelling the project at this stage.

 

I have to agree with your position. I only have one question, where were all of these supporters on election day?

 

I am reminded of the old saying - A Day Late and a Dollar Short. That may be the case here.

 

The only hope I have here is that Cranley has trained himself to be a career politician. So his sights are obviously beyond the Mayor of Cincinnati. My guess is the next step is the statehouse, possibly as Governor. Then it will either be the US Senate or directly as a Presidential candidate. Obviously he possesses the skills to flimflam people.

 

This is my best guess. After their independent audit, Cranley will come back and state due to the overcommitments by the prior administration. the cost to cancel is prohibitive so we are reluctantly obligied to continue with the streetcar so as to not to waste the citizens money. This does several things:

(1) They can claim we are saving a bad investment by the prior administration so it is not a total waste.

(2) Everytime a budget problem comes up, they can lay the blame on the excessive costs of the streetcar.

(3) If the streetcar proves successful, they can simply state it was the will of the people.

How can a politician lose in this environment?

 

He will gauge the public reaction and act accordingly. If his early feedback is negative, he will go ahead with the streetcar. He always has in his back pocket the See I Told You So if the final construction, operating costs, whatever exceed the projections. This is the sign of a professional politician which the public does not seem to understand. They care less about the public good, only their personal gain. But they are smart enough to convince you they give a damn about your situation.

 

Unfortunately, I think this is wishful thinking to assume Cranley is actually going to do something reasonable.  He's going to cancel this thing no matter the costs or negative feedback, IF council lets him.  The ONLY hope for this project is for council to vote down his cancellation attempts.  That's my opinion/guess, but I just don't see it happening any other way. 

Anybody who thinks Mayor Crancel is going to magically see the light on this issue and temper his outrageous stance is just as delusional as he is.  He wants the streetcar dead, and will do ANYTHING to see that happen. 

Continue to hammer council members.  Starving Cranley of the needed votes is the only way.  Well, it wouldn't hurt if a few large business interests in town would chime in with support like the Haile Foundation did.

 

Yup.  Cranley is who he is.  He will never change his mind and never admit he was wrong.  Ever.  He's just like Smitherman. 

 

He's had numerous 'political outs' during this whole debate and he continued to plow ahead.  The man is ego driven

Well, it wouldn't hurt if a few large business interests in town would chime in with support like the Haile Foundation did.

 

Speaking of this, we should be sending thank you notes to Eric Avner of the Haile Foundation.  He should be told how much we appreciate his efforts.  Supporters like that are how we're going to change public opinion and hopefully 1 council member's opinion as well.

Mayoral recall charter amendment should be drafted imo.

 

Perhaps a charter amendment that requires 6 votes from council to break signed contracts would be more important. That should stop anything like this happening again. I'm just worried a mayoral recall would be on the ballot after every election. I definitely don't want more uncertainty in city politics. I also hate specific charter amendments like banning rail, making trash fees illegal, forcing the city to build a streetcar, etc. It binds the councilmemebers to do things that they don't like (one trash can policy/dropping apartment buildings from automatic trash pick up, etc).

 

A city shouldn't be able to cancel a contract, period, except when the terms have been broken or under extreme circumstances. This new administration represents people who are trying to win a battle they already lost.

Well, it wouldn't hurt if a few large business interests in town would chime in with support like the Haile Foundation did.

 

Speaking of this, we should be sending thank you notes to Eric Avner of the Haile Foundation.  He should be told how much we appreciate his efforts.  Supporters like that are how we're going to change public opinion and hopefully 1 council member's opinion as well.

 

I hope all UOers have all been spending time each day sending out email to our supporters and those who we need support from.

Young people who work at our big downtown businesses especially.....communicate up to your leadership how important this project is to your personal retention.  Encourage them to chime in PLEASE!!!  Do it NOW!

An ethics investigation complaint has been filed against Christopher Smitherman to John Curp

Did anyone at the meeting yesterday read Flynn's words on the streetcar from the last election and ask him why the change of heart?  I think there needs to be more specific calling out of individual members so they do not have safety in numbers.

 

Mann: If you are so certain that the federal funds will not be jeopardized by this delay then personally guarantee the money.

Murray: Is there any information you can hear that will convince you that this is a worthwhile project? 

Flynn:  Has the additional 17 million really changed this from a no-brainer must complete project or has something else happened?

Smitherman: As a responsible representative of the people of Cincinnati have you read the information provided on the streetcar?  If so how can you reasonable ask questions about 3 phases and 450 million dollars?  Are you genuinely concerned or is it a strawman's argument?

 

I am noticing those in favor of the streetcar are doing all the talking while the others just sit there.  Maybe if we get them to talk we can catch them.

^That's not a bad idea.  They'll certainly respond with answers we don't like, but why let they stay comfortably quiet?

^They might not answer. Yvette and PG both asked if those in favor of a pause would vote to continue the project if Dietrick's numbers are accurate. None of them offered a response.

Kudos to those of you who are putting in so much effort to make a difference. Keep the pressure on. If I lived in the city/region, I would definitely be offering my support.

 

If there's any possibility that you'd ever move back, and if the outcome of this influences your opinion on that, please take a moment to email city council about this.  They need to know far flung Cincinnati natives are still watching with interest.

Can we today ask Cranley to explain in detail why he is so again the streetcar, so we can directly respond positively to each  of his statements?

^ He says he believes the money could be better spent on other things.  Never mind that none of this money can be used for anything else of course. 

The letter @AllAboardOhio sent to John Cranley and other city officials two weeks ago about the @CincyStreetcar.

 

http://freepdfhosting.com/aab45cab5b.pdf

KJP,

 

      All Aboard Ohio's letter to Cranley is very well written - and persuasive - but was totally wasted on him. Not even God could stop this egocentric

man from carrying out his destructive impulses on his community.

 

Cranley thinks he has a divine obligation to terminate the Streetcar. Never mind the financial cost to Cincinnati and the harm to its reputation that will inevitably result from canceling this project.

 

It's impossible to reason with John Cranley. I shudder to think what Cincinnati will be like after it has suffered through four long years of his dogmatic "leadership."

 

There is very little good that I see coming from this debacle.

Jos Callinet, thanks for joining the discussion here at UrbanOhio.

 

Regarding All Aboard Ohio's letter, one must attempt all reasonable efforts to make a difference to show that we tried. There will be those in the future who say we did not try hard enough. That's why it's important to show we tried, and to be able to document it in order to learn from it and find a new way around, over, under or through the barriers that stand before us.

John Deitrick has just ordered construction workers to 'wind down the streetcar project'

 

 

John Deitrick has just ordered construction workers to 'wind down the streetcar project'

 

 

 

Thereby throwing 200 people out of work. Merry Christmas from Mayor Cranley.

Don't you have to notify(7 days) the state of Ohio before you layoff 50 or more people?

Watch Cranley spin the true costs of canceling this project.  The true costs will approach the number cited by Deatrick, but Cranley will convince everyone that it was a fraction of that. 

I keep trying to work out how they're going to justify cancelling when their independent study mirrors John Deatrick's assessment.  Unless they're going to bring in someone who will intentionally "cook the books".  Up until now, they've fallen back on "we don't believe someone that is actively involved in the project".  They're going to look pretty bad if they kill this thing after spending $250k to find out that the initial assessment was accurate.

Don't you have to notify(7 days) the state of Ohio before you layoff 50 or more people?

 

I'm sure Prus will, and pay their workers to do nothing for 7 days, then start unemployment pay, and then send that massive bill to the City, amongst the myriad of other change orders and outstanding balances.

I bet it will play out like this:

The Feds will pull the funding during the "pause"

The independent financial review will be released saying that Deatrick's numbers were more or less correct

Flynn, Mann, maybe the others will say they would have voted to continue, but without the Federal money it's impossible

Cranley/TOAST will blame Obama for acting rashly

 

After watching yesterday's proceedings, I can honestly understand why our riots occurred in 2001.  When there are dozens of people making pleas for rationality and sensibility, and the politicians that are supposed to represent you are sitting there unwilling to listen, much less do anything, what are the real options? To feel like you are unheard and ignored is a miserable feeling.  Seeing Cranley sit up in his chair and smirk at the commenters that he had to 'endure' was just infuriating.

I keep trying to work out how they're going to justify cancelling when their independent study mirrors John Deatrick's assessment.  Unless they're going to bring in someone who will intentionally "cook the books".  Up until now, they've fallen back on "we don't believe someone that is actively involved in the project".  They're going to look pretty bad if they kill this thing after spending $250k to find out that the initial assessment was accurate.

Just an audit wouldn't take a month, that's how long it takes to do the cooking.

I bet it will play out like this:

The Feds will pull the funding during the "pause"

The independent financial review will be released saying that Deatrick's numbers were more or less correct

Flynn, Mann, maybe the others will say they would have voted to continue, but without the Federal money it's impossible

Cranley/TOAST will blame Obama for acting rashly

 

After watching yesterday's proceedings, I can honestly understand why our riots occurred in 2001.  When there are dozens of people making pleas for rationality and sensibility, and the politicians that are supposed to represent you are sitting there unwilling to listen, much less do anything, what are the real options? To feel like you are unheard and ignored is a miserable feeling.  Seeing Cranley sit up in his chair and smirk at the commenters that he had to 'endure' was just infuriating.

 

Cranley wants chaos.  He knows when he blames something he caused on someone else the media in this town can never figure stuff out.