OneUChoopsfan Wrote:Back when Union Terminal was being converted to museum, a west side real estate person (Wilson?) wanted to build a monorail to connect it to downtown and the river front. If we had listend to him, we would be there by now and @1980's dollars.

I believe I read the estimate is only 9,500 riders a day which we all know is jacked up considerably for effect. The grafitti removal bills alone will be huge, not to mention broken window replacements and hazard duty for the operators.

It is a wonderful dream but not a viable reality. The people who want to live in an urban setting will move to Newport which already has the urban living plan in place & where it is way much safer and the view is terrific.

Without a Benevolent Dictator form of governmen, it'll never happen anyway. So fogettaboutit.

Go back 20 years and think about the statement you just made about Newport. It would have been laughable.

Things do change over time, and those who have vision will be the ones to take advantage of it. At one point, Mount Adams was a beaten down, blue-collar type neighborhood. Then somebody saw its potential and acted on it and it took off.

Could the same thing happen with OTR and downtown via a streetcar line? The newspaper stories keep citing Portland putting in such a system and generating $2 billion in new economic development all along those routes. You can either go forward saying OTR is a failed neighborhood where change is impossible, or you can try to improve things. And there is evidence out there that streetcars can be a catalyst for change and improvement in urban environments.

Wasnt one of the reasons the suburbs were against the light rail was because of the limited travel to N Ky, the westside and the north? I remember the proposal as pretty much just going through the east side of town up to Mason.

As far as the subway, one of the reasons it didnt work was the engineering - there were right angles. Typical Cincinnati planning.

Agree with Socko on this one. Richmond, VA took an area east of downtown populated by old tobacco warehouses and where no one would venture after dark and turned the warehouses into trendy lofts now inhabited by yuppies. There was also talk of relocating the Richmond Braves (AAA) to a new ball park in the same area (bad idea). Economic development should include everyone. If it can happen in Newport, it can happen in OTR. Incremental steps are the way to go - you have to try or you condemn the area to blight.

Shenandoah Cat Wrote:Incremental steps are the way to go - you have to try or you condemn the area to blight.

But is a $102 mil trolley really the best first increment? It seems there would be better ways to spend the money even if you're still putting it to revitalizing OTR.

I think another issue is the city council. Their track record (or in some cases lack thereof) doesn't inspire a whole lot of confidence.

This plan is a waste of money on a scale we have not seen since the Freedom Center got crammed down our collective throats. As a result, I bet it gets full approval.

rath v2.0 Wrote:This plan is a waste of money on a scale we have not seen since the Freedom Center got crammed down our collective throats. As a result, I bet it gets full approval.

I thought the Freedom Center in its original plan wasn't a bad idea. It was mismanagement, poor marketing, and incredible over-estimations of projected revenue that destoyed it.

righthook Wrote:I thought the Freedom Center in its original plan wasn't a bad idea. It was mismanagement, poor marketing, and incredible over-estimations of projected revenue that destoyed it.

The Freedom Center would have been a good idea if it was built after The Banks was done. That would have given a great amount of people a reason to come down to the area with their whole family to spend the day having fun and visiting the Center. Unfortunately, as City Council has found out, the Freedom Center alone isn't a big enough draw on its own.

Looks like the streetcar plan has hit a snag:

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a...310180049/

Duke was the most likely to put up big money due to the obvious rewards that an electric run street car would provide. I want this to work, but I don't see private sources ponying up 31 mil without Duke.

Edit: After re-reading the article, it sounds like Duke isn't against putting up some dollars, just not 20 million of them.

oleskl Wrote:Looks like the streetcar plan has hit a snag:

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a...310180049/

What...did common sense break out?

rath v2.0 Wrote:

oleskl Wrote:Looks like the streetcar plan has hit a snag:

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a...310180049/

What...did common sense break out?

looks to be the case.

That is damn funny Ty. :)