Topic: Cincinnati Streetcar News

[The_Cincinnati_Kid]

Your company has written more than 70 articles on the streetcar, yet you still have no idea of the definition of a streetcar system or how it works, way to make yourself look like you put two minutes into researching your stories!

[jmecklenborg]

The guy looked nervous, like he was put up to tell those lies. 

[neilworms]

^-Or maybe he was nervous at the wraith of the streetcar fans 

[Quimbob]

If you're a big Brian Patrick fan, you can catch him on EWTN from time to time.

[dmerkow]

He hosts a morning show on the Catholic radio station in town as I recall.

[mattsledge]

it doesn't go anywhere.... wow

Good to see he's been sticking to WLW's talking points. Sheesh.

[John Schneider]

It's been interesting to watch the anti-streetcar arguments being taken away one-by-one.

First, the streetcar was supposed to die when the governor took $50 million from the project. Didn't happen.

Second, it was said there are no funds to operate it. That's been debunked.

They said people were opposed to it, but Cincinnatians supported it twice.

Then Duke's demands were going to kill the whole thing.

With the opening of Washington Park, the continuous improvement of Findlay Market, and the investment in Music Hall, OTR is now viewed by more Cincinnatians as a worthy destination.

Finally, add the explosion of investment at The Banks plus all the new residents in Downtown and OTR, and it's tough to imagine where the opponents go from here, but I'm happy to watch them continue to spin their wheels.

The more they leave their fingerprints on the record, the less they will be listened to in the future. Kind of looking forward to seeing this play out over the next few years.

[FakeCinEnquirer]

^^

COAST/700wlw/Chris Smitherman make an outrageous statement, get called out on said statements, and then evolve to make another outrageous statement.  For instance:

Tom Luken "The streetcar will cost 1-2 billion dollars".  He gets called out and proven wrong.  Now he's spewing nonsense.

The media continues to let them get away with this.  Now, COAST and everyone aren't even arguing the project itself, they are arguing hypothetical/hyperbole conspiracy theories.

BTW, everyday Mark Miller of COAST keeps tweeting  12.5% of fire stations are 'browned out because of *Insert childish stupid streetcar phrase here*'.  Does anyone have any statistics to prove he's just making this up?

[CincyCapell]

^^Better question: Does the lying deadbeat have any statitics to prove his tweets? Of course he doesn't. Mark Miller is a proven liar.

[jmecklenborg]

Also, I just ran into this nonsense in a Barry Horstman article about Music Hall:


There are numerous differences between the two sides’ proposed leases – among them, Budig’s group’s preference for a 99-year term, a period City Hall wants to shorten by half. The city also opposes various clauses that could leave the city financially liable for everything from Music Hall’s sewer bills to abating streetcar noise outside to the renovation group’s possible failure to secure $38 million in tax credits.

[CincyCapell]

Biased Barry Horstman will go to any length to include a jab at the Streetcar in one of his hackneyed articles.

[Living in Gin]

Funny how dozens of diesel buses on a cobblestone street apparently cause no noise issues at Music Hall, but an electric streetcar on metal rails is suddenly an issue.

[ProkNo5]

Check out page 6 of this gem.  I wish we were able to comment on these photo montages.

http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?NoCache=1&Avis=AB&Dato=20120509&Kategori=NEWS06&Lopenr=205090801&Ref=PH&odyssey=mod|dnmiss|umbrella|3

What Will Cincinnati Look Like in 2015?

While federal funding for the streetcar is currently up in the air, here's how it might fold into the city's landscape.

By 2015, the $110 million Cincinnati streetcar should be in its second year of operation along a 3.8-mile route stretching from Downtown’s central riverfront to Over-the-Rhine.

Current construction targets call for the streetcar to begin carrying passengers in the spring of 2014. From Second Street on The Banks to just north of Findlay Market, the streetcars will travel an elongated figure-eight route, primarily along Race, Elm, Main and Walnut streets.

Major points of interest along or near the route include the sports stadiums and U.S. Bank Arena on the riverfront, Fountain Square, the Contemporary Arts Center, the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, the under-construction Horseshoe Casino, the Aronoff Center, the School for the Creative & Performing Arts, Music Hall and Washington Park.

[natininja]

The picture isn't from 1890!

And not of a streetcar from 1890 either!

[jmecklenborg]

Well, more than 24 hours after Cincinnati's wealthiest philanthropist died, her tribute article in the Enquirer has only 19 posts, of which only one attempts to kick any dirt:
http://news.cincinnati.com/comments/article/20120723/NEWS/307230035/Louise-Dieterle-Nippert-arts-patron-dies-100

Meanwhile, streetcar articles often attract hundreds of responses. 

[CincyInDC]

I just noticed this blurb on Slashdot which made me think of Cincinnati's efforts to retain young talent...

but now, more and more, the center of gravity is shifting to San Francisco [from Silicon Valley], and the move seems to be hitting a tipping point. The reason: the young talent companies want to attract would rather live in a hip city than in suburban sprawl, and don't want to commute 45 minutes to work."

http://www.itworld.com/software/286835/techs-center-gravity-shifts-north-san-francisco

[John Schneider]

So I guess COAST will have to stop tweeting that the streetcar is starving the Cincinnati Fire Department of funds. See:

http://www.building-cincinnati.com/2012/07/new-station-to-bring-cfd-engine-35-into.html

[northsider]

So I guess COAST will have to stop tweeting that the streetcar is starving the Cincinnati Fire Department of funds. See:

http://www.building-cincinnati.com/2012/07/new-station-to-bring-cfd-engine-35-into.html

They're pretty fact-allergic, so that seems optimistic to me.

[CincyGuy45202]

Recent post about COAST lays out their newest attack: Construction "started" 6 months ago but nothing has happened yet.  Will seem true for about 2-3 more months (until contractor is announced) but then they'll need a new argument.

Additionally-  I've decided that by posting peoples supposed complaints about random streetcar systems constantly, they have shown that streetcars get great ridership.

[FakeCinEnquirer]

I thought the streetcar was "Worse than 9/11"?

[FakeCinEnquirer]

http://www.wlwt.com/news/local-news/cincinnati/-3-7-million-approved-for-streetcar-line/-/13549970/15837390/-/10vvdbu/-/index.html?absolute=true&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=wlwt

$3.7 million approved for streetcar line

[Eighth and State]

^"This is a very complicated project. It is the first time our city has done this project. We're learning a lot of new territory here."     

[FakeCinEnquirer]

^"This is a very complicated project. It is the first time our city has done this project. We're learning a lot of new territory here."     

I liked how they wrote "Tom Lunken"

[KJP]

http://www.wlwt.com/news/local-news/cincinnati/-3-7-million-approved-for-streetcar-line/-/13549970/15837390/-/10vvdbu/-/index.html?absolute=true&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=wlwt

$3.7 million approved for streetcar line

Who writes this crap?

[John Schneider]

^ John London.

I checked with a contact at the city. I feel pretty good about things.

[FakeCinEnquirer]

^ John London.

I checked with a contact at the city. I feel pretty good about things.

About the Duke Energy negotiations?

[KJP]

^ John London.

That's shocking. He's always been a good guy to me and supportive of rail, and yet he writes this piece with an extremely negative slant.

[natininja]

It reads like an echo from a forgotten time when such an article would have attracted a ton of interest. I think people are bored of the subject. It reads like a half-assed article from a time when the word streetcar would get a local news story thousands of page views and hundreds of comments.

[Civvik]

I didn't know people even really read TV station websites...

[Living in Gin]

Tom Luken is too senile to even remember his own name, and yet he's the go-to man whenever a media outlet needs a token quote from the opposition. Gotta love that hard-hitting journalism.

[Cygnus]

The Enquirer's piece on today's vote: City moving money in place for streetcar

[ryanlammi]

^ surprisingly neutral article by Barry! And no quote from coast!

[seanian513]

^"This is a very complicated project. It is the first time our city has done this project. We're learning a lot of new territory here."     

I liked how they wrote "Tom Lunken"

Hahaha, I didn't read it yet, but I find so many errors in the Enquirer on a regular basis.  It's just plain sad, from words not being spelled correctly, to poor sentence structure.   

[John Schneider]

^ John London.

That's shocking. He's always been a good guy to me and supportive of rail, and yet he writes this piece with an extremely negative slant.

I'm assuming it was written by John London because he called me today to pick my brain about what's going on. I told him that he should call the city.

Duke is the last obstacle. There's agreement on the three feet of separation but disagreement on the costs to achieve that separation. The essence of the disagreement likley results from the fact that Duke didn't lift a finger to do any planning until the results of last November's election were known, and so its design work is behind the rest of the project.

A complete set of construction drawings was delivered to the city a week ago. Now city staffers are going over them and are about to hire a construction cost estimator. Rail will be ordered soon.

The city is moving forward on vehicle procurement and selecting a contractor -- there are many contractors interested, apparently -- and so at some point Duke's dragging its feet will be very apparent to everyone. 

[CincyCapell]

The Enquirer's piece on today's vote: City moving money in place for streetcar

The interesting bit from that article:

"Of the two actions, the revision of Cincinnati’s 2006 sale of about 130 acres to the city of Blue Ash could have the more significant impact on the streetcar project....City officials previously said they hoped to use the airport sale proceeds to cover payments on about $11 million in streetcar bonds...The Federal Aviation Administration, however, raised objections, telling City Hall it would have to keep the sale revenue within its airport system, which includes Lunken Airport in the East End....But by rescinding the original sale and approving a new deal with some procedural changes, the city can sidestep that potential restriction on use of the Blue Ash revenue, which will be paid over 24 years.

“If the agreement was not restructured, the proceeds probably couldn’t be used (for the streetcar) without the risk of litigation,” said City Solicitor John Curp."

It seems that the City has found a creative way around Finney's threatened lawsuit regarding the use of the BAA sale to fund the Streetcar.