^Kasich revoked $52M in State funds. The Feds awarded a $25M Urban Circulator Grant to the City.

 

They're actually state-administered federal transportation funds, which the state wants spent on roads instead. Ohio is not allowed by its Constitution to spend state gas tax dollars collected from road/highway users on anything other than roads/highways.

 

FYI, although some state gas taxes -- about $40 million to $50 million per year -- are collected from activities that have nothing to do with roads/highways such as landscaping, construction, farming, recreational vehicles, etc. and could be used for trains and transit if we had a ruling from the Ohio Attorney General saying its was legal and a DOT director who was not previously a lobbyist for the asphalt industry! But all it might take is a lawsuit from a disabled rights activist or low-income advocacy group to require that ODOT spent a portion of its budget on transit that's equal to the percentage of households without cars (8.5%).

 

If ODOT was forced to do that, it would be spending $250 million per year on transit, not $17 million. The $40-50M in non-highway state gas taxes could then leverage up to an 80 percent federal match for transit.

 

OK, back to our regularly scheduled program.

Many of us work in places where someone has 700WLW playing on their desk radio for the entire workday (this is my second job in a row where this is the case).  I used to carpool with a guy who listened to it every minute he was in his car.  My grandparents have listened to 700WLW almost every day of their lives since it went on the air back in the 1930s, although they hate Cunningham so much they listen to Lincoln Ware instead.  Also my grandma thinks the fake callers like Richard from Indian Hill and Ron in Norwood are real people. 

FYI, although some state gas taxes -- about $40 million to $50 million per year -- are collected from activities that have nothing to do with roads/highways such as landscaping, construction, farming, recreational vehicles, etc. and could be used for trains and transit if we had a ruling from the Ohio Attorney General saying its was legal and a DOT director who was not previously a lobbyist for the asphalt industry!

 

Just a clarification about farming -- most farmers get heating oil delivered to big tanks at their farms which is just diesel without highway taxes and a different color of dye. They can even use it in their semis and pickups if they have farm tags. You have to watch out though, guys in semis will pull up in the middle of the night and try to steal it.

I'm referring to documented uses of gasoline and diesel fuel for farming that are paid at a gas station and pay fuel taxes that go into funding the highway system. Undocumented uses are not accounted for in that $40-50M figure.

 

But let's discuss this further in the ODOT thread in the general transportation section. I was interested in correcting a prior posting and then using my post to encourage further discussion in the appropriate thread...

http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,4500.0.html

The Enquirer published yet another letter to the editor calling for a bus painted like a trolley.  The writer was from Loveland. 

 

I am tempted to spend a weekend down at the main library collecting every piece of streetcar coverage since 2007, including letters to the editor.  But if you were place such results in the hands of a streetcar hater, they would simply see the bias as a reflection of public opinion. 

 

Letter categories would be something like this (10 or more of each of these letters has been printed):

-calls for bus painted like trolley

-old guy recalling technical problems with old streetcars, especially kids yanking the trolley pole

-claims that streetcar will be shot at

-money should be spent on jail instead

-claims that walking is faster

-calls for some other mode, like monorail

 

Then, a map of the metro area, with marks for location of each letter.

 

Then, a map of the metro area, with marks for location of each letter.

 

That's the best part!

 

And then develop a map showing where their editors live.

Don't know who this person is but, "DanB" wrote me a PM after my last post and wrote: "I haven't heard one lie on WLW.  The entire streetcar is a joke.  There is no money for it, and not enough people will ride it to pay for it."

 

Don't know why he's afraid to have a civil discussion about this subject on this board, but he probably realizes that he can't back up his claims with facts and data like we can.

 

 

^I think they repeat that to themselves when they wake up in the morning and before bed.

^^ I would not respond. I'm not sure if he is even allowed to post in these sections anymore.

DanB isn't permitted to post on this forum. If he's harassing you via PM, contact an Admin.

This search query landed somebody on my blog.

"cincinnati streetcar used to seize property"

Google directed the search here, too. Apparently somebody is desperate.

Some of these idiots seriously think the Streetcar Mafia is going to come seize their cars and womenfolk.

Mark Miller needs a job.

 

Don't know how any grown man with a family can sit around all day every day and just tweet/post on message boards hundreds of times a day

Is it true that Cincinnati got turned down for the extra money for the streetcar?

^ huh? The decision is in December.

^ huh? The decision is in December.

 

I don't know, it was something I read.  That's why I asked the question here because I wasn't sure.

Taken from Smitherman's facebook.  The opponents just never give up:

 

Smitherman for Cincinnati City Council

The Cincinnati NAACP will consider 2 or 3 petitions for the November 2012 election. The first petition being how to spend the estimated $20 million per year in Casino revenue. City Council has already outlined how these dollars should be spent before the casino has been built. Another petition might be a "2nd chance" petition to allow a person with a low level felony to get a job with the City of Cincinnati. All the people in Cincinnati should benefit from any casino revenue! People deserve a 2nd chance in life! Politics 101.

"2 or 3." Let me guess the third: banning rail development.

In five years, after the streetcar has been built and seen by all to be a success, Smitherman will tell his people that he fought for it.  And they will believe him. 

In five years, after the streetcar has been built and seen by all to be a success, Smitherman will tell his people that he fought for it.  And they will believe him. 

 

Who are his people?

People who make throat-slitting gestures at streetcar supporters. 

 

Smitherman's campaign could have been stopped if the news channels had simply aired footage of his city hall freakout back in the spring.  The whole thing was a publicity stunt to begin with, then the real story didn't get reported. 

In five years, after the streetcar has been built and seen by all to be a success, Smitherman will tell his people that he fought for it.  And they will believe him. 

More accurately, he can tell people he was part of the council that got it built.

The only thing Smitherman is qualified for is to be the guy on the Ricola commercials that toots the alpine horn.  His blowhard experience is second to none

Now that Smitherman is NAACP president again, best way to nail him will be to barrage his office with public records requests- if he is ever doing ANY NAACP work from a city computer it could be a huge scandal.

Yet another anti-streetcar letter today.  Somehow Mallory visiting Israel has something to do with the streetcar.

Since people obsess over a select few, I present a photo from a certain somebody's last trip to Chicago:

 

^ I'm confused...

^ It's Mark Miller from COAST

Ha Ha Ha, what a douche bag.

Somebody should post this all over the web with captions about Mark Miller and his obscene behavior in the presence of children.  I mean, look at the little girl who's watching him while he's doing that. 

^ that's his daughter.

 

but, back to the streetcar.... Someone had mentioned that bids are out to streetcar builders- is there a timeline on those?

^ It's Mark Miller from COAST

 

I know who it is. I'm just confused by Sherman's caption.

Letter in today's Enquirer suggests that Portune's proposed stadium ticket tax might be diverted to pay for...cue ominous music...The Cincinnati Streetcar. 

How can a respectable newspaper publish letters that report unsubstantiated speculations? Since the editors and reporters can't do that and still be considered respectable journalists, are they publishing these letters as an out to say what the reporters and editors wish they could say? And who is writing these letters?

 

Are they unsolicited? Are they representing the cross-section of other letters they're receiving on the subject? Have they been fact-checked before publication? If not, then you don't publish them.

Tom Luken was at city Council again today begging them to stop the streetcar.  Said 'it will bankrupt the city'.

 

Chris Bortz said in response '"Having you here, Mr. Luken, is like a little ray of sunshine."

^That's old-school. Newspapers are competing with internet discussion forums and weblogs, both for readers and for writers as well as advertisers.  Newspapers are a step away from making everything automatic, just like this forum. No one fact-checks posts on this forum before broadcasting it to the world.

 

Who says that professional editors and reporters have to be respectable journalists? Anyone with a press can publish a paper in this country.  I think they are publishing for the entertainment value.

Who says that professional editors and reporters have to be respectable journalists? Anyone with a press can publish a paper in this country.  I think they are publishing for the entertainment value.

 

I do. Most journalists I worked with were very serious in doing good research before writing and publishing something that had their name attached to it. Yes, anyone with a press can publish. And some do publish for entertainment value. But most I've met believe very strongly in the pursuit of truth. Until you've worked at a newspaper where that's the M.O., then your posting carries no more value than many of the letters to the editor published by the Enquirer.

Why did Bortz say he was a ray of sunshine.  ISn't Chris pro streetcar still? 

Why did Bortz say he was a ray of sunshine.  ISn't Chris pro streetcar still? 

 

sar·casm/ˈsärˌkazəm/

Noun:

The use of irony to mock or convey contempt.

Until you've worked at a newspaper where that's the M.O., then your posting carries no more value than many of the letters to the editor published by the Enquirer.

 

Well, I guess you get what you pay for. 

 

The Enquirer is a popular newspaper, with entertainment being a major part of their business. It's good for basic news such as weather, accidents, and events, and they have good sports coverage. If you are looking for original research on political and technical topics, you are looking in the wrong newspaper.

How can a respectable newspaper publish letters that report unsubstantiated speculations? Since the editors and reporters can't do that and still be considered respectable journalists, are they publishing these letters as an out to say what the reporters and editors wish they could say? And who is writing these letters?

 

Are they unsolicited? Are they representing the cross-section of other letters they're receiving on the subject? Have they been fact-checked before publication? If not, then you don't publish them.

 

They do this all the time. A few months ago they asked Leslie Ghiz to speculate on some city issue, upon which she said "well, I don't know for sure," and then they took that single quote and printed a two paragraph article about it.

 

A lot of times I think there just isn't much to say on a certain day, so they just print little turds like that.

 

Maybe it will end up going to a once a week paper with a digital presence that is updated daily. Maybe that would actually increase its quality.

So...Channel 9 is now using its Transit Center story in its I-Team promo pieces.  So Cincinnatians are getting hit with false transit center information at least once an hour, 24 hours a day. 

^ What I hated most about that story was talking about how the brick streetscape on 2nd street against Ft. Washington Way was crumbling/sinking "due to the transit center being below" yet they IGNORED the fact that the same brick on 3rd street, with no transit center below, IS ALSO SINKING!!!   

At Thanksgiving had a suburbanite wondering about "the food trucks", thinking they roam the city like ice cream trucks.  These sort of people are easy prey for The I-Team. 

 

New I-Team report coming out Monday said they have proof the Cincinnati Streetcar plan was a key contributor to the rise of Ivan the Terrible and The Boubonic Plague. 

 

Tom Luken, Dusty Rhodes, Mark Miller, Tom Brinkman, Chris Finney, Chris Smitherman, Doc Thompson, Bill Cunningham, and Dan Carroll were all interviewed

^ Nice haha.

 

 

Also, Can John S or someone very informed confirm with me what the $58 million grant is for?  I've heard we will only be doing Fountain Square to Corryville with the money- NOT to the Banks.  Is this true? 

 

With the third block of the Banks now planned to break ground a year earlier than the deadline, it would be awesome to get the Streetcar down there!!!

^ Nice haha.

 

 

Also, Can John S or someone very informed confirm with me what the $58 million grant is for?  I've heard we will only be doing Fountain Square to Corryville with the money- NOT to the Banks.  Is this true? 

 

With the third block of the Banks now planned to break ground a year earlier than the deadline, it would be awesome to get the Streetcar down there!!!

 

 

Agreed. If the city is serious about encouraging the next phases of development at the Banks, the streetcar ought to reach the project. If the streetcar is going to be a development engine, what better way to illustrate that point than by having a rapidly developing Banks as one bookend of the line.

^ Nice haha.

 

 

Also, Can John S or someone very informed confirm with me what the $58 million grant is for?  I've heard we will only be doing Fountain Square to Corryville with the money- NOT to the Banks.  Is this true? 

 

With the third block of the Banks now planned to break ground a year earlier than the deadline, it would be awesome to get the Streetcar down there!!!

 

 

Agreed. If the city is serious about encouraging the next phases of development at the Banks, the streetcar ought to reach the project. If the streetcar is going to be a development engine, what better way to illustrate that point than by having a rapidly developing Banks as one bookend of the line.

 

The current route plan extends from 5th St at Gov Square north to Henry St (just north of Findlay Mkt). The grant the city applied for will be to return the route to its original plan from the Banks north to Henry St. with the Clifton Heights/Corryville Spur up Vine St. I'm not sure where you got your info, but even the Enquirer was accurately reporting this fact, and it was explained in this thread over several posts.

^ I heard from several friends at City Hall that depending on the final costs for Utility relocation (estimated to be between 10 and 30 million beyond the budget) they may only end up having enough money to do the route up to Corryville, but not to the Banks.

^ I heard from several friends at City Hall that depending on the final costs for Utility relocation (estimated to be between 10 and 30 million beyond the budget) they may only end up having enough money to do the route up to Corryville, but not to the Banks.

 

And I would argue that the Banks connection is more important for development, though Uptown is probably more important for ridership.