Bortz now needs to go. Before, it didn't really matter that he couldn't vote on one of the most important, and recurring (in terms of votes), issues in the city. Now it does.

 

Be careful what you wish for--if Bortz goes and is replaced by someone who is anti-Streetcar, it's far worse.

Berding will be irrelevant within the next week or so. What matters is Bortz, who is apparently chosing Berding's replacement. If Bortz really cares about the streetcar, then he'll pick somebody who will support the project. If Berding's replacement is anti-streetcar, then Bortz should either start casting actual votes for the project, or resign from council and make sure his seat gets filled by a streetcar supporter. This project is too important to be tied to the political fortunes of any single politician.

^ After talking with people today, I am not especially worried. On the other hand, I have a thick skin from years of disappointments trying to bring rail to Cincinnati.

The fishwrap is once again milking it with their latest Opinionati post.  I'm not even going to bother linking it for fear it would drive up their page views.

There have always been forces wanting Americans not to have transportation choices. For instance, tomorrow is the anniversary of an important finding by a Federal court:

 

Title:  1949: National City Lines conspirators convicted of colluding to put streetcar companies out of business

 

Date:  Saturday March 19, 2011

Time:  All Day 

Repeats:  This event repeats every year.

Location:  United States Federal Court

Notes:  Following a nearly two-year court process, on March 19th, 1949 nine American corporations and seven individuals were convicted under federal charges of one count each of conspiring to monopolize part of American trade and commerce: National City Lines (and E. Roy Fitzgerald & Foster C. Beamsley) American City Lines, Pacific City Lines, General Motors (and H.C. Grossman)Standard Oil of California (and Henry C. Judd), Federal Engineering Corporation, Phillips Petroleum Corporation (and A.M. Hughes & Frank B. Stradley), Firestone Tire and Rubber Company (and L.R. Jackson), and Mack (Truck) Mfg.

 

Bortz now needs to go. Before, it didn't really matter that he couldn't vote on one of the most important, and recurring (in terms of votes), issues in the city. Now it does.

Be careful what you wish for--if Bortz goes and is replaced by someone who is anti-Streetcar, it's far worse.

 

I would assume it would be arranged that his replacement would have similar views to Bortz on the important issues -- that's usually the way it works.

Man, this project just keeps getting more and more bad news every week!  I mean several months ago we were told we had the money and we were just sitting around waiting for construction to start and now its like we're back to the drawing board with absolutely no hope of anything ever happening!  When will this just end?  I guess April 12 will be the deciding date.  It appears as if with out state funding the project is going to lose support and probably never happen?

I don't see why a large part of the streetcar loop can't be built.  It's not like a withdrawl of state support means there'd be zero funds in place - quite the contrary. 

 

Getting up the hill out of the basin has been a problematic aspect from the start, plus the total length of the plan was ambitious -- longer than any other first phase so far.  A downtown-only circulator would still achieve economic development in OTR, would still address downtown parking problems, would still connect most of downtown's major attractions, etc.     

What is the budget for the downtown-otr loop?  $108 million?  Don't we have $90 something in place?

 

I wish someone had the headline:

 

Census results show Cincinnati population loses almost 10% of population since failure of MetroMoves Rail initiative. 

I wish someone had the headline:

 

Census results show Cincinnati population loses almost 10% of population since failure of MetroMoves Rail initiative. 

 

Lol, could you imagine the comments on that story?

I moved down to Atlanta for work in early January and was excited about how smoothly the streetcar was panning out. I was looking forward to coming back this spring and see the start of construction. Everything has been looking up after a rough past 3 years or so...finally we see the opening of the first Banks phase, OTR finally coming together steadily and solid plans to start construction Uptown.

 

I move back to Cincinnati next week and I am incredibly frustrated and actually pretty disgusted with the turns this project has taken in basically a ten week time frame.

 

It's things like this that make me confident that leaving Ohio (and specifically Cincinnati) when I graduate in a few months is the right choice all the way.

Man, this project just keeps getting more and more bad news every week!  I mean several months ago we were told we had the money and we were just sitting around waiting for construction to start and now its like we're back to the drawing board with absolutely no hope of anything ever happening!  When will this just end?  I guess April 12 will be the deciding date.  It appears as if with out state funding the project is going to lose support and probably never happen?

 

It will happen with or without the federal pass-through funds that the state (TRAC) will decide next month.

I moved down to Atlanta for work in early January and was excited about how smoothly the streetcar was panning out. I was looking forward to coming back this spring and see the start of construction. Everything has been looking up after a rough past 3 years or so...finally we see the opening of the first Banks phase, OTR finally coming together steadily and solid plans to start construction Uptown.

 

I move back to Cincinnati next week and I am incredibly frustrated and actually pretty disgusted with the turns this project has taken in basically a ten week time frame.

 

It's things like this that make me confident that leaving Ohio (and specifically Cincinnati) when I graduate in a few months is the right choice all the way.

 

Email Berding and CC the other council members to tell them.

I just attended a press conference where reporters were pounding Kasich with questions about the Streetcar.  Kasich continued to dance around the questions and not give a straight answer.  When asked if he'd take the state money away, he asked the reporter, "Do you subscribe to the Enquirer? They wrote an article with all the details."

 

Kasich said that Jerry Wray doesn't like the project but TRAC still has to vote on it.  He said nothing about whether anyone else on the TRAC board would vote against it.  Nor did he imply that he has some "veto" or other way to overrule TRAC's decision.

 

Another reporter asked him, "If you take away funding for the highest-rated TRAC project, what does that say about TRAC's ranking system?"  Kasich said the criteria for scoring the projects was created by the previous administration and "there's a new sheriff in town."

 

The press conference was not supposed to be about the streetcar, so it was pretty interesting that it ended up being the main topic discussed.  In other news, Kasich threw around a town of buzzwords, "creating jobs," "cutting red tape," "eliminating regulations," without laying out any specifics.  He did mention that the Brent Spence Bridge and privatizing the Ohio Turnpike are some of his top transportation priorities.

How many times do they need to vote on it?

"there's a new sheriff in town."

 

Kasich probably loves watching reruns of Walker: Texas Ranger.

I feel the exact same way... I'm always Cincinnati's biggest cheerleader... to the point where my peers tell to move back... but Cincy has turned in to Liz Taylor... once stunning.... once progressive... once relavent... but now just some old lady that past her prime.... he still speak highly of her only out of respect. Ohio needs to wake up.  Being conservative and middle of the road leads you to ruin, as it has for centuries... yesterdays news

 

I moved down to Atlanta for work in early January and was excited about how smoothly the streetcar was panning out. I was looking forward to coming back this spring and see the start of construction. Everything has been looking up after a rough past 3 years or so...finally we see the opening of the first Banks phase, OTR finally coming together steadily and solid plans to start construction Uptown.

 

I move back to Cincinnati next week and I am incredibly frustrated and actually pretty disgusted with the turns this project has taken in basically a ten week time frame.

 

It's things like this that make me confident that leaving Ohio (and specifically Cincinnati) when I graduate in a few months is the right choice all the way.

I wish there was better news, but oh well:

 

Kasich: Streetcar not a 'job creator,' so state plans to pull funding

Written by Barry M. Horstman, Cincinnati Enquirer, Mar. 18, 2011

 

Doubt that the Cincinnati streetcar would create the thousands of jobs that supporters and economic studies predict is the major reason his administration wants to withhold nearly $52 million in funding for the project, Gov. John Kasich said Friday.

 

Kasich, in town to meet with University of Cincinnati officials, also had a blunt answer as to why his transportation department is expected to rescind the funding recommendation made in 2010 by that of his Democratic predecessor: "There's a new sheriff in town."

 

Although Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory has told Kasich he would like to continue to try to sell him on the $128 million Downtown-to-Uptown streetcar project before state transit officials make their final funding decision next month, Kasich said the matter is "pretty much past that point."

"There's a new sheriff in town."

 

This guy has been on some power trip ever since he took office. He must think he's playing SimState. How can he not listen to TRAC, or the economic impact studies that have already been done, or anybody else on this issue? Purely ideologically driven decision.

It's crazy that how anyone that worked for Lehman Brothers can be in a position of power now.

If the criteria for the TRAC ranking system is changed can the federal government pull funding its funding from it since it was awarded with a certain formula in mind? Also, if they chose to fund a lower ranked project can the city really sue?

Here's what Kasich doesn't understand and what most people don't understand.

 

Those job numbers floating around - 1,800 construction jobs and 9,000 permanent jobs, those are expressions of new employment in "job-years," which is the standard unit of measurement in economic development projects.

 

So, the 1,800 constuction jobs is really more like 900 people being employed for two years. The 9,000 permanent jobs over the life of the project is more like 300 people being employed for 30 years, say. The latter sounds very reasonable given the likelihood of redensification and repopulation along the route.

 

The 1,800 job-years of construction are not all local jobs. We don't build streetcar vehicles or girder rail here, for example. But there is a lot of local, labor-intensive, well-paid work associated with these projects. And there are spin-offs -- I'm sure a food truck or two will always be around wherever they're working.

 

The irony is, the streetcar was never designed to be a "jobs project" any more than a new Brent Spence Bridge is meant to be a "jobs project." Both happen to be infrastructure projects that employ people to build them, and they both have employment impacts well beyond their completion. Yet, the governor has now managed to re-define the Cincinnati Streetcar solely in terms of the jobs it produces while ignoring the other benefits. Shame on the city if it lets him get away with it.

I wish there was better news, but oh well:

 

Kasich: Streetcar not a 'job creator,' so state plans to pull funding

Written by Barry M. Horstman, Cincinnati Enquirer, Mar. 18, 2011

 

The key phrases from Kasich:

 

- Wray and he apparently decided against the project because "much of the local business community believes the streetcar 'doesn't make any sense.'"

 

- "I just don't see anything that's going to change. What they do in Portland - we're not living in Portland. And by the way, I don't want to live in Portland."

 

This is a war not against cities, but against a mythical group of people they have dreamed up who they think want to live in cities.  Selling the streetcar should be the same as changing the context and the actors in that dream, so that it's more like reality.  Once they see themselves in the dream, they'll be able to be convinced by Cost/Benefit ratios... but not now.

 

I'd like for the Mayor to put away old economic arguments that aren't working, and old recycled arguments a-la Richard Florida, about repopulating the center city with the "creative class" (God, what an awful way to market an idea to anyone not in that group...).  He needs to focus on who he needs to convince, and then gather his own group of the "local business community" and talk in concrete terms about why they are for the project.  P&G won't do that, but frankly its even better if they represent "small business".  Just make sure they're older than 35, and keep them in suits, please...

 

Kasich and Wray keep calling these "state dollars", when they are actually federal transportation funds that were awarded by ODOT's Transportation Review Advisory Commission (TRAC).  So how can they pull these dollars away? :wtf:

Yeah, why would we want to live in a city with growing population and improving economic prospects, like Portland?  Better to have your cities lose 10% of population every decade.  Yeesh.

Yeah, why would we want to live in a city with growing population and improving economic prospects, like Portland?  Better to have your cities lose 10% of population every decade.  Yeesh.

 

That's what this joker wants, because it means power is shifting to the craphole suburbs of the state like the one he's from (Dublin).

^That's it.  If the economics and demographics of Ohio's cities versus suburbs change, then the political act has to change. 

What sucks is that Kasich basically knows he's a one termer and that he feels the need to rush his agenda at warp speed since republicans control everything at the moment.  He knows the democrats will probably make strong gains in the upcoming elections.  But what's truly amazing to me that a project can take years to develop, all the time waiting for loans and grants and such, long waits for completed studies, and at a moments whim can be ax'd by one person almost immediately

Predictably, in the print edition of today's Enquirer, the first and lengthiest letter to the editor was written by COAST's Mark Miller. 

Kasich and Wray keep calling these "state dollars", when they are actually federal transportation funds that were awarded by ODOT's Transportation Review Advisory Commission (TRAC).  So how can they pull these dollars away? :wtf:

 

Wonder what the Obama Administraion or Sen. Brown might have to say about this.

5-6 years of hard work and planning and now it comes down everything taken away by one person's belief that it won't work. Because of what he believes in. 

 

What businesses told him they didn't support it? He didn't mention names.

>one person's belief that it won't work

 

No, he knows it will work, which is why he's opposed to it.  Kasich, Tom Luken, Smitherman, etc. play the politics of decline. 

If the criteria for the TRAC ranking system is changed can the federal government pull funding its funding from it since it was awarded with a certain formula in mind? Also, if they chose to fund a lower ranked project can the city really sue?

 

The criteria is not going to be reviewed until later this year as part of a routine, scheduled review. Maybe it will change. Maybe not. But it cannot change too dramatically or it won't align with the federal guidance attached to federal funds -- and THESE ARE FEDERAL FUNDS, NOT STATE FUNDS. If a state wants to change its criteria to use federal transportation funds for massive new-capacity road projects that displace lower-income residents without consideration for them, or will worsen air quality in an EPA non-attainment area (which Cincinnati is), the feds may not permit it. So the reason why the streetcar is scored by TRAC as the #1 ranking transportation project in Ohio is, in part, because it is conforming to federal transportation requirements and goals.

 

Again......... The reason why TRAC was created by state law (http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/5512) was to create a merit-based project scoring process to rein in the political influence over the selection of transportation projects for funding. I supported this law because it would create the merit-based system. Too often in Ohio prior to 1997, projects were chosen for funding because individual politicians wanted them. It didn't matter if projects would provide long-term economic and environmental benefits or not. If a governor, state senator or state representative flexed their political muscle, they could get the project approved. It's one reason why we have so many empty four lane highways into rural areas that we can't afford to maintain all our roads and bridges. So let's build more of them! Another reason is Article XII Sec. 5a in Ohio's Constitution which prohibits gas taxes from being used for anything other than more highways whether taxpayers want them used that way or not. That provision may be unconstitutional under federal civil rights laws.

 

So Gov. Kasich's bully tactics to intimidate the TRAC into going back on its 8-0 vote in December to award $36.8 million in new federal funds is in violation of the spirit of the law which created TRAC. The TRAC scored the Cincinnati Streetcar with an 84 -- the highest score among any pending transportation project in Ohio, using criteria aligned with federal requirements. The streetcar is winning on merit and that pissed off people like Gov. Kasich whose only recourse is to stomp his feet like a spoiled child and pound his fists on a table because his highway-building sugar daddies want him to spend streetcar money on road projects that are in want for this federal money. I'm aware of two low-ranking road projects just in SW Ohio that are languishing on TRAC's to-do list for want of about $30 million to round out their funding packages. Coincidence? I think not.....

 

But federal highways are so 20th century Soviet Union. ;-) Even communist China today uses more private money for roads than America does. So Johnny, if your highway zombies really hunger for government sustenance so badly, tell them to beg for scraps of private money like you tell the rail cult to do. Try to be something other than an uninformed, hypocrite, spoiled bully -- for a change -- rather than trying to bury the state under more government cheese, er, pavement and more subsidized sprawl.

A couple of stories that relate to what is written above ...

 

Ever wonder why the southbound 7th Street exit from I-75 is on the right side of the road, while the 5th Street exit to the heart of the city is on the left? When the IHS was being planned in the Fifties, the plan was to bring I-75 down along the Mill Creek and cross the Ohio River at a "cut in the hill" to the west of where it now travels through Covington. The story is, Fred Lazarus II called President Eisenhower and said, "I don't know about this highway system you want to build, but for damn sure, if it's coming through Cincinnati, it's coming by my store." That store, the old Shillito/Lazarus store at Seventh and Race, is the reason that exit is there and why Fifth Street (where his main competitor, Pogue's, had a store) got the crappy left-hand exit from the freeway. Because of this, I-75 was shifted east to its present alignment, wiping out much of the West End. Imagine if I-75 were way west of where it is today. Look at the pictures of the old West End, another OTR-quality neighborhood and virtually intact until the freeway came through. Plus the forced expulsion of African-Americans from the West End to Mt. Auburn, Avondale, Corryville to make room for the re-aligned highway, pushed-out to sometimes worse housing than what they had, this caused racial tensions that first bubbled up the the Avondale riots of 1967 and to some extent continues today.

 

You know that I-71 interchange that serves Kings Island? I've heard that was similarly handled by a phone call to Governor Rhodes.

 

These are the kinds of abuses that the corridor planning processes first developed under ISTEA about twenty years ago, and later under TRAC, were designed to prohibit. Kasich is undoing a lot of history here. Revisiting it, actually. Just watch him try to switch the streetcar money to the final design of the Ohio access ramps to the new Brent Spence Bridge. And, of course, most of that design work, unlike the streetcar construction work, will be done out-of-state. And he's the guy worried about Ohio jobs?

KJP,

 

So I assume that you are implying that the city could take legal action against the state or Kasich, to stop the money from being spent on lesser ranking projects because it will not be in the faith in which the federal money was awarded? If he influences the TRAC I would think he is violating the law. If he appropriates money to a less worthy project, then he would be in violation of the federal grant. It seems like either a citizen, group, or the city could file papers in court challenging either of these, especially with the ridiculous comments he is making in public. If this happens I hope it ends up in court. If he is allowed to continuously make decisions that are illegal or muddled and no one challenges him, then he will never stop. Although, I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't stop regardless, and if a court case ruled against him he would find some way to give the money back to the federal government just out of spite. I think he thinks he is John Wayne. To use his own words, "he's an idiot".

 

I feel better now.

Anyone who believed or had a measure of faith in Bortz or Berding was sadly mistaken to begin with.  These are human calculators, constantly counting the money they take from others.

I'd bet one of the opponents is the Cincinnati Enquirer, who, according to an earlier post, ran a letter by COAST in response to the Kasich article.

 

People, these old media types are holding us back. They lie, distort and do whatever is in their power to sway public opinion in their favor. I say it's time for a boycott! Let's put up a "boycott the Enquirer" page on facebook and see what happens. If we do this, we should distribute a link to the page as far and wide as possible.

 

I am sick to death of the s*** being perpetrated on us by these guys! :whip:

I'm sure that will work. We should start an online petition!

I'm not up on Facebook, so one of the more tech-savvy people out there from the Cincy area really should do this. I hope it gets done. I am really tired of the Columbus Dispatch Pravda and the Cincinnati Enquirer Izvestia telling us what to think.

I'd bet one of the opponents is the Cincinnati Enquirer, who, according to an earlier post, ran a letter by COAST in response to the Kasich article.

 

People, these old media types are holding us back. They lie, distort and do whatever is in their power to sway public opinion in their favor. I say it's time for a boycott! Let's put up a "boycott the Enquirer" page on facebook and see what happens. If we do this, we should distribute a link to the page as far and wide as possible.

 

I am sick to death of the s*** being perpetrated on us by these guys! :whip:

 

The new head hauncho at the Enquirer (forgot her name) made it a priority to oppose the streetcar.  She has not been subtle about ordering anti city articles

The new head hauncho at the Enquirer (forgot her name) made it a priority to oppose the streetcar.  She has not been subtle about ordering anti city articles

 

XUMelanie and I (and the little one) were to be in a positive article in the Fish Wrap about the increase in downtown population.  However, they decided not to run it.  I guess if the evidence conflicts with the dogma they won't publish it.

Kasich should put his money where his considerable mouth is and refuse to take tax money from any development that occurs along the streetcar route.

I'd bet one of the opponents is the Cincinnati Enquirer, who, according to an earlier post, ran a letter by COAST in response to the Kasich article.

 

People, these old media types are holding us back. They lie, distort and do whatever is in their power to sway public opinion in their favor. I say it's time for a boycott! Let's put up a "boycott the Enquirer" page on facebook and see what happens. If we do this, we should distribute a link to the page as far and wide as possible.

 

I am sick to death of the s*** being perpetrated on us by these guys! :whip:

 

The new head hauncho at the Enquirer (forgot her name) made it a priority to oppose the streetcar.  She has not been subtle about ordering anti city articles

 

I rest my case. I'd bet this anti-urban, anti-streetcar bias comes from living in the suburbs. I know that's the case with the Cleveland Plain Dealer, where most reporters and editors live in the 'Burbs. It'd be interesting to know  those who work at the Enquirer live...and who the paper made donations to.

I'd bet one of the opponents is the Cincinnati Enquirer, who, according to an earlier post, ran a letter by COAST in response to the Kasich article.

 

People, these old media types are holding us back. They lie, distort and do whatever is in their power to sway public opinion in their favor. I say it's time for a boycott! Let's put up a "boycott the Enquirer" page on facebook and see what happens. If we do this, we should distribute a link to the page as far and wide as possible.

 

I am sick to death of the s*** being perpetrated on us by these guys! :whip:

 

I wouldn't worry about it starting a petition to boycott it.  The Enquirer's circulation is already in a death spiral. 

 

And for what it's worth, their reputation is not good in journalist circles.  I have a friend who works for the Lexington paper, who has described the Enquirer as a "joke" on more than one occasion. 

I'd bet one of the opponents is the Cincinnati Enquirer, who, according to an earlier post, ran a letter by COAST in response to the Kasich article.

 

People, these old media types are holding us back. They lie, distort and do whatever is in their power to sway public opinion in their favor. I say it's time for a boycott! Let's put up a "boycott the Enquirer" page on facebook and see what happens. If we do this, we should distribute a link to the page as far and wide as possible.

 

I am sick to death of the s*** being perpetrated on us by these guys! :whip:

 

I wouldn't worry about it starting a petition to boycott it.  The Enquirer's circulation is already in a death spiral.

 

Then drive a stake thru its heart and put it out of its misery.

KJP and John,

You should both write letters to the editor explaining exactly what you did above.  Who knows, maybe one or two people will read and listen to what you have to say.  We need to keep trying to battle all the moronic commentary in the enquirer.

Did you see the letter from Dusty Rhodes today?

A couple of stories that relate to what is written above ...

 

Ever wonder why the southbound 7th Street exit from I-75 is on the right side of the road, while the 5th Street exit to the heart of the city is on the left? When the IHS was being planned in the Fifties, the plan was to bring I-75 down along the Mill Creek and cross the Ohio River at a "cut in the hill" to the west of where it now travels through Covington. The story is, Fred Lazarus II called President Eisenhower and said, "I don't know about this highway system you want to build, but for damn sure, if it's coming through Cincinnati, it's coming by my store." That store, the old Shillito/Lazarus store at Seventh and Race, is the reason that exit is there and why Fifth Street (where his main competitor, Pogue's, had a store) got the crappy left-hand exit from the freeway. Because of this, I-75 was shifted east to its present alignment, wiping out much of the West End. Imagine if I-75 were way west of where it is today. Look at the pictures of the old West End, another OTR-quality neighborhood and virtually intact until the freeway came through. Plus the forced expulsion of African-Americans from the West End to Mt. Auburn, Avondale, Corryville to make room for the re-aligned highway, pushed-out to sometimes worse housing than what they had, this caused racial tensions that first bubbled up the the Avondale riots of 1967 and to some extent continues today.

 

You know that I-71 interchange that serves Kings Island? I've heard that was similarly handled by a phone call to Governor Rhodes.

 

These are the kinds of abuses that the corridor planning processes first developed under ISTEA about twenty years ago, and later under TRAC, were designed to prohibit. Kasich is undoing a lot of history here. Revisiting it, actually. Just watch him try to switch the streetcar money to the final design of the Ohio access ramps to the new Brent Spence Bridge. And, of course, most of that design work, unlike the streetcar construction work, will be done out-of-state. And he's the guy worried about Ohio jobs?

 

One thing that tempers my frustration about what could have been in Cincinnati if the West End survived the freeways a little better is that there's no gurantee that downtown wouldn't just be a more dense and potentially, more dangerous slum than it currently is.  The city hasn't shown the ability to make the right moves even when the stiffs in Columbus or Washington weren't standing in the way.  I believe the city would be in a much stronger position for things such as the streetcar but as far as gentrification goes, I'm just not sure it would have taken off much sooner than it did in the Gateway.

Finally got around to reading about the things that the gov said.

 

This dude sounds like a real clown. Even if he doesn't believe in the streetcar, he has to know that he is only infuriating people even more by the nature of his remarks. Perhaps that is his tactic?

 

  His campaign promise was to shake things up, and that's not limited to the Cincinnati Streetcar and the 3-C line. 

^^That's why his poll numbers are so low so early in his term.