^Those people think they know a lot about business but actually know very little.

 

They think everything is a lemonade stand.  But lemonade stands don't stay in business for very long. 

^ I think that is a pretty simple minded statement about looking at government from a business perspective. Depending on your perspective, you can see the benefits or lack there of from the Streetcar. If I were a property owner in OTR or area within a 2 block walk from the Streetcar, it is a huge benefit to my business, even without the ridership. However, if I look at it from someone in Bridgetown who works in BLue Ash, it does not do anything for me personally, and I don't want to spend tax dollars on it. From a business perspective, neither party is right or wrong, it is just perspective.  With something like the Streetcar, I don't think that answer will be determined for a period of years or decades. It is not as easy of an answer as say Council's mistake to give money to Mohaganey's. However, I think mistakes like that continually add ammunition to Streetcar foes because it provides tangible proof that Council is not a responsible steward of their tax money. I think a lot of this goes back to many of the previous mistakes made by Council with clearly bone headed ideas.

^ https://cincinnatiideas.com/2016/07/25/why-west-siders-should-be-rooting-for-streetcar-success-more-than-anyone/

^ https://cincinnatiideas.com/2016/07/25/why-west-siders-should-be-rooting-for-streetcar-success-more-than-anyone/

 

The "Giant sucking sound of jobs moving to Mason and Blue Ash" as Perot would say.

^ I think that is a pretty simple minded statement about looking at government from a business perspective. Depending on your perspective, you can see the benefits or lack there of from the Streetcar. If I were a property owner in OTR or area within a 2 block walk from the Streetcar, it is a huge benefit to my business, even without the ridership. However, if I look at it from someone in Bridgetown who works in BLue Ash, it does not do anything for me personally, and I don't want to spend tax dollars on it. From a business perspective, neither party is right or wrong, it is just perspective.  With something like the Streetcar, I don't think that answer will be determined for a period of years or decades. It is not as easy of an answer as say Council's mistake to give money to Mohaganey's. However, I think mistakes like that continually add ammunition to Streetcar foes because it provides tangible proof that Council is not a responsible steward of their tax money. I think a lot of this goes back to many of the previous mistakes made by Council with clearly bone headed ideas.

 

 

The private sector makes all sorts of dumb moves such as .com busts and sinking tons of money into companies with terrible fundamentals. They make me sarcastic. A friend of mine recently hooked up his TV antenna after 6 months of streaming everything. His takeaway after a week? "I am so much more sarcastic now. I can't help it with all these commercials for things nobody should ever buy." Besides car commercials (a very large portion of ads today) pretty much everything from pills to reverse mortgages is a bad idea. It's not like when we were kids where all the ads were for mops, soap and breakfast cereal.

 

 

http://www.seanbaby.com/stupid/sarcasm.htm

^But the private sector is allowed to take those chances. It is their money to blow. Elected officials have a fiduciary duty, it is not their job to take such risks.

The amount of money the city lost on Mohagany's is less than what Cranley blew on his streetcar crancellation & audit in December 2013.  He was pretending to be a fiduciary when really he was being an obstructionist.  And that sum was a fraction of the $50 million Cranley blew back in 2003 with the Anthem Demutualization.  $50 million from the pension fund found its way into donor's pockets.  He laid the groundwork for his 2013 campaign not just with public funds but with pension funds -- and ran on a platform to save the pension fund he helped erode! 

^But the private sector is allowed to take those chances. It is their money to blow. Elected officials have a fiduciary duty, it is not their job to take such risks.

 

I see where you're headed with this, but just playing devil's advocate...  that's not too far off from executives at publicly traded companies believing that their #1 responsibility is to return value to the shareholders.  So it's often not really their money to blow, either.

The amount of money the city lost on Mohagany's is less than what Cranley blew on his streetcar crancellation & audit in December 2013.  He was pretending to be a fiduciary when really he was being an obstructionist.  And that sum was a fraction of the $50 million Cranley blew back in 2003 with the Anthem Demutualization.  $50 million from the pension fund found its way into donor's pockets.  He laid the groundwork for his 2013 campaign not just with public funds but with pension funds -- and ran on a platform to save the pension fund he helped erode! 

 

And that doesn't even begin to bring up how much the city was ripped off by TKILBAG which was a known scam by the time Cincinnati got one.  This was not even reported, which is so disgusting and highlights that race was probably a factor with Mahogany's.

Shhh... Toby will put a boot in your ass

Plus, everyone acted like it was cute when The Waterfront broke loose with 100+ people aboard and hit a bridge pier.  For the second time. 

 

All Jeff Ruby has to do is offer a reward and the local media gives him a round of free publicity.  But I didn't hear him offer a reward for anyone who could figure out how his restaurant got loose and started drifting downriver. 

 

Over on John Schneider's facebook page the president of the local firefighters union expressed his desire to block the streetcar tracks as much as possible. This is absolutely insane and we should be blowing up the emails of the Mayor, City Manager and Councilmembers.

A brewery and distillery is planned for the large building immediately north of the streetcar's car barn on Henry St.  The Findlay Market area continues to build momentum:

http://www.wcpo.com/news/insider/historic-christian-moerlein-icehouse-new-distillery-and-brewery?sharedToken=fb86b4e0-bd2f-4e29-a243-15cb2ba753ac

Over on John Schneider's facebook page the president of the local firefighters union expressed his desire to block the streetcar tracks as much as possible. This is absolutely insane and we should be blowing up the emails of the Mayor, City Manager and Councilmembers.

 

Not only that, but the president of the local transit workers union was complimenting the police and fire departments on the blockages. That's right, the head of the transit union is in favor of rail transit being blocked.

Over on John Schneider's facebook page the president of the local firefighters union expressed his desire to block the streetcar tracks as much as possible. This is absolutely insane and we should be blowing up the emails of the Mayor, City Manager and Councilmembers.

 

Not only that, but the president of the local transit workers union was complimenting the police and fire departments on the blockages. That's right, the head of the transit union is in favor of rail transit being blocked.

 

Aren't the streetcar drivers in the union themselves?

They are.

A brewery and distillery is planned for the large building immediately north of the streetcar's car barn on Henry St.  The Findlay Market area continues to build momentum:

http://www.wcpo.com/news/insider/historic-christian-moerlein-icehouse-new-distillery-and-brewery?sharedToken=fb86b4e0-bd2f-4e29-a243-15cb2ba753ac

After reading that I think it'd be awesome if they utilized the head Brewers name and named the brewery part Boss Cox brewing.

Here's an idea I had for building apartments above the streetcar car barn.  The site is actually very large and the short piece of Pleasant St. north of Findlay Market could be used as the entrance to a parking garage ramp.  As shown there is space for about 100 cars per level of parking and about 30 apartments averaging 1,000 sq feet could be built on each residential level.  Obviously there is more space available per level if the NW corner of the block is used (directly above the streetcar barn entrances) or the notch above the streetcar turnaround loop.  Using all of that space would increase the floor plate from approximately 35,000 sq feet to approximately 45,000.  So it would be possible to do 100~ traditional apartments on two levels above a single deck of parking, so the whole thing wouldn't be very tall.

 

^They definitely need to get a parking ramp up by Findlay.  I am certain they are making plans for one, and actually I am pretty certain I read that the Findlay Market Association (sorry I know I am chopping that up I am sure) is asking the city for help and identifying one.  They will definitely need one soon with the way it is booming up there

"Contrary to a recent media report, there are no discussions between the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority and local tech firm Viaggi related to Wi-Fi on the Cincinnati Bell Connector."

 

http://cincinnatibellconnector.com/news/35/35/CLARIFICATION-WI-FI-NOT-BEING-DISCUSSED-WITH-VIAGGI

trips are usually short enough on the streetcar that I don't see why people want wifi on it. Maybe at the stations? But not on the streetcar itself.

I thought the title of that article yesterday specifically said buses.

trips are usually short enough on the streetcar that I don't see why people want wifi on it. Maybe at the stations? But not on the streetcar itself.

 

Now that every single wireless carrier offers unlimited data, wi-fi isn't really that much of a amenity.

Unlimited data is by no means universal for people. I imagine a vast majority don't have unlimited data.

Here's an idea I had for building apartments above the streetcar car barn.  The site is actually very large and the short piece of Pleasant St. north of Findlay Market could be used as the entrance to a parking garage ramp.  As shown there is space for about 100 cars per level of parking and about 30 apartments averaging 1,000 sq feet could be built on each residential level.  Obviously there is more space available per level if the NW corner of the block is used (directly above the streetcar barn entrances) or the notch above the streetcar turnaround loop.  Using all of that space would increase the floor plate from approximately 35,000 sq feet to approximately 45,000.  So it would be possible to do 100~ traditional apartments on two levels above a single deck of parking, so the whole thing wouldn't be very tall.

 

 

I like that idea, especially if it could include the streetcar barn (I assume you meant to write *NE* corner of the block not NW). ... but I'm skeptical that the City would be open to a proposal like this. To date they just haven't seemed very creative about finding ways to integrate development into public infrastructure projects. That being said, I'd love to see them get creative about these kinds of city-owned properties.

The four big potential development sites near Findlay Market are:

 

1. Findlay Market north parking lot -- the streetcar transformer would need to be moved underground and at least part of the site would need to remain open for the market's overflow summer vendors (although historically the market continued onto Elder between Race and Vine).

2. Findlay Playground -- probably the most controversial location for a parking garage and new development.

3. Volunteers of America + 1-story building at Henry & Elm -- if the VOA can be compelled to move their building could be combined with the 1-story brick building at Henry & Elm into a large development site

4. Streetcar car barn -- actually the largest of the four sites and there are no historic buildings to demolish or potential battles with "neighborhood advocates". 

At the latest streetcar update for City Council, it was revealed that if the city wants to implement a monthly streetcar-only pass, it will be an ~8 month long process since it will have to go to the feds for approval. As with any mention of the streetcar on Facebook recently, this started a name-calling match where some "bus advocates" asked, "Why do streetcar supporters want their own monthly pass? Why can't they buy a regular Zone 1 Metro pass and use that for riding the streetcar?"

 

Okay, so a Zone 1 pass is $70/month. And if I bought a one-day streetcar pass every single day, I would spend at most $62 on streetcar passes each month. But honestly it's not the price that matters to me. I would happily spend $70 on a monthly streetcar pass.

 

What bothers me is that if I buy a monthly Zone 1 pass, Metro doesn't know that I am only using it to ride the streetcar. I want my $70 to go into the streetcar operating fund, not into the Metro general fund. Not because I don't support Metro in general... but because we've been fighting for the streetcar for a long time, and I want Metro to know that I am voting with my wallet and supporting the streetcar.

Jake- I think this is the solution to Findlay Market's search for parking. I took a look and even just a two level structure could fit about 250 spaces, without even extending as far as over as where the tracks loop around the building. This would be the perfect fit for this area, hardly even noticeable to anyone besides the streetcars and Rhinegeist trucks, yet steps away from Findlay's current parking lot, the front door of Rhinegeist and the new brewery and several streetcar stops.

 

I would scrap the idea for apartments, because I think they would be quite awkward to fit there, and spark a contentious debate about market rate vs. affordable housing, either of which would be fine but both would probably be too costly compared to the opportunity cost of developing on another site (market rate or affordable.) especially given height limitations.

 

Solar panels forming a canopy on the top level would be a nice touch, perhaps we could claim our streetcar runs off of renewable energy in that case.

On Sunday Feb 19 I walked two miles from Rhinegeist south to Second St., then rode the streetcar back. 

 

You can guess how many streetcars are running by how many you see parked from the steps connecting Race and W. Clifton, but one streetcar is usually parked in the barn and sometimes another is running for training purposes. 

 

Findlay Market stop on Race St. around 2:30pm:

 

Entire block under renovation directly across the street:

 

 

 

 

Streetcar on Elm at Findlay Market:

 

On 12th:

 

On Main St.:

 

On Second St. at The Banks:

 

On 12th approaching Vine St.:

 

On 12th at Washington Park:

 

^ Nice!

At the latest streetcar update for City Council, it was revealed that if the city wants to implement a monthly streetcar-only pass, it will be an ~8 month long process since it will have to go to the feds for approval. As with any mention of the streetcar on Facebook recently, this started a name-calling match where some "bus advocates" asked, "Why do streetcar supporters want their own monthly pass? Why can't they buy a regular Zone 1 Metro pass and use that for riding the streetcar?"

 

Okay, so a Zone 1 pass is $70/month. And if I bought a one-day streetcar pass every single day, I would spend at most $62 on streetcar passes each month. But honestly it's not the price that matters to me. I would happily spend $70 on a monthly streetcar pass.

 

What bothers me is that if I buy a monthly Zone 1 pass, Metro doesn't know that I am only using it to ride the streetcar. I want my $70 to go into the streetcar operating fund, not into the Metro general fund. Not because I don't support Metro in general... but because we've been fighting for the streetcar for a long time, and I want Metro to know that I am voting with my wallet and supporting the streetcar.

 

What I proposed was we take the streetcar, route 1, route 85 and the South Bank Shuttle and combine those four circulator routes to be Zone 0 (or Zone C or whatever) and have them all be the same fare structure.

 

If the streetcar had it's own pass, it wouldn't be the only route with it's own pass. Routes 42X and 52X each have their own pass.

I should also clarify one thing. In my previous post I implied that if I bought a Zone 1 pass and used it to ride the streetcar, none of the money would go to the streetcar operating fund. That's not exactly true. When you have your fare inspected on the streetcar, they're supposed to keep track of what type of pass you have. So if they notice that I'm using a Zone 1 pass to ride the streetcar, they're supposed to keep track of that and ultimately some of the Zone 1 pass revenue will go towards streetcar operations in a proportional way.

 

But I do like Brad's idea. A "circulator pass" that went exclusively towards funding the streetcar, Southbank Shuttle, and circulator bus routes would be great.

Here are Kansas City's most recent ridership numbers:

http://kcstreetcar.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/KCStreetcar_Ridership-Trends_-Jan2017-1.pdf

 

They too are experiencing higher weekend ridership, especially Saturdays.  They too are experiencing about half the ridership during the winter that they had during the summer. 

 

Here are their Saturday high temperatures and corresponding ridership figures:

 

Jan 7    24F    3,800

Jan 14  36F    3,500

Jan 21  57F    8,100

Jan 28  48F    7,200

 

 

Every week Community Press asks readers a question they can reply to via email.

 

Feb. 22 question

 

Have you rode the Cincinnati streetcar yet? What were your thoughts? What do you like about it? What needs to be improved?

 

 

“Yes, I have ridden the perpetually unprofitable and poorly conceived streetcar. One time. And that one time was enough to prove to me that the streetcar for Cincinnati will be perpetually unprofitable, poorly conceived and a gargantuan drain on the already overtaxed citizens of Cincinnati and Hamilton County.

 

“The size of the economic disaster the streetcar will always be thought of, is overshadowed only by the Freedom Center. If we overlook the financials behind the streetcar we are left with a poorly operated public conveyance that cannot be relied upon to run on time or at all. I have seen many people bypass the ticket machines and steal rides. Good luck corralling that issue.

 

“If this were San Francisco a streetcar would be a good idea. Oh wait, they already have a great streetcar system in addition to the venerable cable cars. Their system actually goes from useful places to other useful places. Not so in Cincy. Our best bet would be to cut our losses, pawn the streetcars off to Pittsburgh, Boston or some other city we like to not like.”

M.J.F.

 

“No. I have, however, been almost in a collision with a motorist trying to avoid hitting one. It doesn’t go anywhere that I need to ride. Seems I have spoken with a few that have purposely driven their cars to a parking spot just to ride. That’s a little questionable when you try to apply the environmental savings it has created.”

 

D.B.

It's so useful to know what Clermont and Butler County residents think of the streetcar!

I spoke with an officer checking tickets on the streetcar the other day and he said almost everyone that rides has a ticket and he rarely every has to issue citations.

 

It appears fare evasion is low.

I heard a streetcar worker (had a badge and was going home from work) discussing with a cop how no one in Cincinnati violates fares. He was very impressed since he came from the Portland system where he said "everyone" rides without paying. Obviously he is using hyperbole, but still good to hear that we are not having issues.

Fast-growing logistics company to add dozens of jobs along streetcar line in OTR

Mar 1, 2017, 1:08pm EST

Chris Wetterich

Staff reporter and columnist

Cincinnati Business Courier

 

Custom Pro Logistics is set to add at least 40 jobs at a new location in Over-the-Rhine near Findlay Market and along the Cincinnati Bell Connector streetcar line.

 

The company will build its third Cincinnati office at 1707 Race St. for nearly $900,000 in total costs, according to documents filed with the city. Cincinnati competed with at least three other sites for the company’s latest expansion.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2017/03/01/fast-growing-logistics-company-to-add-dozens-of.html

I heard a streetcar worker (had a badge and was going home from work) discussing with a cop how no one in Cincinnati violates fares. He was very impressed since he came from the Portland system where he said "everyone" rides without paying. Obviously he is using hyperbole, but still good to hear that we are not having issues.

 

I wonder if the employee you overheard was the new streetcar maintenance manager. He just moved here to take that job, and he was previously a maintenance manager for the Portland Streetcar.

Fast-growing logistics company to add dozens of jobs along streetcar line in OTR

Mar 1, 2017, 1:08pm EST

Chris Wetterich

Staff reporter and columnist

Cincinnati Business Courier

 

Custom Pro Logistics is set to add at least 40 jobs at a new location in Over-the-Rhine near Findlay Market and along the Cincinnati Bell Connector streetcar line.

 

The company will build its third Cincinnati office at 1707 Race St. for nearly $900,000 in total costs, according to documents filed with the city. Cincinnati competed with at least three other sites for the company’s latest expansion.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2017/03/01/fast-growing-logistics-company-to-add-dozens-of.html

 

Those are the guys who bought the building at the corner of McMicken and Elm (former Doug's Tire) and converted it to office on the ground level and apartments above. Glad to see they're continuing to expand. This is something that the streetcar opponents will never understand: the streetcar is cool and people want to be near it.

Cincinnati streetcar to shut down temporarily - http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2017/03/01/cincinnati-streetcar-to-shut-down-temporarily.html

 

"The Cincinnati Bell Connector streetcar will have to shut down for several days soon so that crews can fix two slabs of concrete that have issues"

^Well hopefully they can get the digital signs to say something to that effect, instead of just showing the time or "delayed". 

I'm sure they will either (1) install signage at the stops indicating that the system is closed for 4 or 5 days; or (2) run Metro buses as a shuttle approximating the streetcar route, like they did on opening weekend.

It's interesting that this news hit the day after Cranley got embarrassed by Simpson and Richardson at the debate. 

The local media also tried to pretend that the streetcar was the primary topic of the first mayoral debate, when in reality it was barely discussed. Cranley brought it up multiple times and tried to say things like, "I want to spend money on buses, not streetcars," "My opponents want so spend more money taking the streetcar Uptown," etc. Simpson and Richardson both acted like adults and said things like, "We have the streetcar, it's no longer up for debate, let's move on," and "Let's stop trying to pit streetcar riders against bus riders, they're all transit riders." In reality neither Simpson or Richardson are pushing heavily for an Uptown extension, although Richardson said he'd be in favor of dusting off the old MetroMoves plan and updating it. Richardson also said that he's against Cranley's proposal to cut the SORTA income tax if the SORTA sales tax passes, as that scheme would not really provide much additional funding for SORTA.

 

 

 

“Yes, I have ridden the perpetually unprofitable and poorly conceived streetcar. One time. And that one time was enough to prove to me that the streetcar for Cincinnati will be perpetually unprofitable, poorly conceived and a gargantuan drain on the already overtaxed citizens of Cincinnati and Hamilton County.

 

“The size of the economic disaster the streetcar will always be thought of, is overshadowed only by the Freedom Center. If we overlook the financials behind the streetcar we are left with a poorly operated public conveyance that cannot be relied upon to run on time or at all. I have seen many people bypass the ticket machines and steal rides. Good luck corralling that issue.

 

“If this were San Francisco a streetcar would be a good idea. Oh wait, they already have a great streetcar system in addition to the venerable cable cars. Their system actually goes from useful places to other useful places. Not so in Cincy. Our best bet would be to cut our losses, pawn the streetcars off to Pittsburgh, Boston or some other city we like to not like.”

M.J.F.

 

 

 

I bet I could trick this guy into a reverse mortgage.

Every week Community Press asks readers a question they can reply to via email.

 

Feb. 22 question

 

Have you rode the Cincinnati streetcar yet? What were your thoughts? What do you like about it? What needs to be improved?

 

 

“Yes, I have ridden the perpetually unprofitable and poorly conceived streetcar. One time. And that one time was enough to prove to me that the streetcar for Cincinnati will be perpetually unprofitable, poorly conceived and a gargantuan drain on the already overtaxed citizens of Cincinnati and Hamilton County.

 

“The size of the economic disaster the streetcar will always be thought of, is overshadowed only by the Freedom Center. If we overlook the financials behind the streetcar we are left with a poorly operated public conveyance that cannot be relied upon to run on time or at all. I have seen many people bypass the ticket machines and steal rides. Good luck corralling that issue.

 

“If this were San Francisco a streetcar would be a good idea. Oh wait, they already have a great streetcar system in addition to the venerable cable cars. Their system actually goes from useful places to other useful places. Not so in Cincy. Our best bet would be to cut our losses, pawn the streetcars off to Pittsburgh, Boston or some other city we like to not like.”

M.J.F.

 

“No. I have, however, been almost in a collision with a motorist trying to avoid hitting one. It doesn’t go anywhere that I need to ride. Seems I have spoken with a few that have purposely driven their cars to a parking spot just to ride. That’s a little questionable when you try to apply the environmental savings it has created.”

 

D.B.

 

Just want to say the 2nd response can be said about any government service, example, when someone unsuccessfully tried to kick in my door last year I called the non emergency police number to report it, they said a cop would come to take a report, and 2 hrs later I called to have them not come at all because I was tired of waiting and realized they must be doing more important things, though I'm sure there was a cop somewhere writing a speeding ticket instead... But I don't go saying that police are a waste of taxpayers money.

Cincinnati recommends streetcar closure limited to downtown loop

 

 

The closure of the Cincinnati Bell Connector streetcar could be limited to only the downtown loop as crews repair broken slabs of concrete near the tracks.

 

The city administration has recommended to the City Council a repair option that would leave the loop in Over-the-Rhine open for service as the concrete is repaired, according to a memo signed by City Manager Harry Black.

 

More below:

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2017/03/02/cincinnati-recommends-streetcar-closure-limited-to.html

So if the streetcar closes due to concrete repairs for 4 days, what are the odds that the Enquirer runs a "Lowest ridership week ever, is this a trend!!" type of headline? :whip:

 

​Council members settle on streetcar closure plan

 

Cincinnati City Council members endorsed City Manager Harry Black’s plan to shut down the Cincinnati Bell Connector streetcar temporarily in downtown for about four days to repair broken concrete slabs in two locations.

 

The system's Over-the-Rhine loop will remain open during the closure. The streetcar can be operated in OTR while the downtown section is shuttered. Work could start as soon as March 20.

 

More below:

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2017/03/08/council-members-settle-on-streetcar-closure-plan.html