CSNbbs

Kasich: Passenger rail 'is dead'

By Jon Craig • jcraig@enquirer.com • November 3, 2010


The Associated Press/Jay LaPrete
Ohio Gov.-elect John Kasich (left) answers questions during Wednesday's news conference in Columbus, as his newly appointed chief of staff, Beth Hansen, listens.

COLUMBUS - Barely twelve hours after winning office, Gov.-elect John Kasich said Wednesday that creating jobs, halting the statewide passenger rail project and reining in labor unions are his top priorities.

"Passenger rail is not in Ohio's future,'' the Republican said at his first news conference after Tuesday's win over Gov. Ted Strickland. "That train is dead."

He was referring to the $400 million federally subsidized project to restore passenger rail between Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland, along the so-called 3-C corridor. Kasich has said it would be too costly to reactivate freight lines for passengers and that the trains would be too slow and underused.

Kasich held his briefing at the headquarters of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, which broke a 117-year tradition by endorsing the former congressman from Westerville.

Other highlights:

Kasich called the current system requiring that labor unions get a share of public projects "flawed (and) really hurting cities.'' He suggested finding ways to keep construction costs competitive.

He criticized teachers' unions for not supporting him during the campaign, and joked that school unions should take out full-page newspaper ads apologizing for what they said about him during the campaign. Unions said Kasich favors merging many of Ohio's 613 school districts and might reverse school-funding progress made during Strickland's term. Kasich denied ever saying he wants to consolidate school districts down to about 400.

He said "nothing will be left off the table" as he crafts the two-year state budget due out early next year.

But he stopped short of threatening job cuts to unionized public employees before getting even a first glimpse at the latest budget figures.

"I'm not going to get into trying to pick on anybody right now," Kasich said. "I'm very confident that we'll have a very good reform-oriented budget that will restore the tax cut," he told reporters invited in after a meeting with his key advisers.

In order to balance the last state budget, Strickland delayed for two years a planned 4.3-percent cut to Ohioans' personal income taxes.

Strickland spokeswoman Amanda Wurst said the governor is committed to assuring a smooth transition.

The Associated Press contributed.

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20101...rail-dead-

His first good decision!

And he is rejecting the federal pork, er "stimulus" money that comes with it <GASP>.

He's already one for one in my scorebook.

Very good decision. Hopefully he will follow Mitch Daniel's lead in Indiana and lease Ohio's Toll/Turnpike
to an investor/operator. Indiana, which never made a profit from their toll road, leased their toll road for
3.8 Billion. Of course the Democrats in Indiana all voted against it.

Way to hit a home run with his first at bat. Great start.

This is outrageous. I was looking forward to weekly 6 hour rail trips to Cleveland.

At least I still have the streetcar.

Rail stalled but not off the tracks, yet
Posted by jcraig November 4th, 2010, 5:16 pm

Ini his first briefing with reporters Wednesday, Gov.-elect John Kasich said passenger rail is not in Ohio’s future. “That train is dead.”

But officials within departing Gov. Ted Strickland’s administration said that doesn’t mean $400 million in federal stimulus money earmarked for passenger rail will return to Washington, D.C., or a rail-hungrier state any time soon.

Today, Strickland spokeswoman Amanda Wurst said, “The governor fears that if we do not take advantage of this opportunity Ohio will become an island, disconnected from the rest of the country. Governor Strickland will not return the $400 million for rail on his watch. If Governor-Elect Kasich wants to return the $400 million for the rail startup and send 16,000 jobs to another state, that will be his decision to make when he becomes governor.”

Scott Varner, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Transportation, said ODOT staff hopes to make a pitch to save the rail to Kasich’s transition team:

“What ODOT has undertaken under this administration was not simply ‘change for change’s sake,’ ” Varner said. “Over these next several weeks, our team hopes to share with the incoming administration the importance of these transformations and the major projects we have initiated, including our commitment to invest additional federal dollars into transit, our historic efforts to restore passenger rail, and the advances we have made in innovation and energy with new technologies and public-private partnerships.”

State Sen. Bill Seitz, a Republican from Green Township, said there’s no reason to return the $400 million if Congress amends its rules mandating the money go to passenger rail. Much of the cost involves upgrading existing freight rail lines, Seitz said. And with John Boehner taking over as the next U.S. House Speaker, who knows?

“It can’t hurt to ask,” Seitz said. “John Boehner is a friend of mine.”

While Kasich opposes restoring passenger rail between Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland, along the so-called 3-C corridor, he’s very supportive of expanding freight rail investments, according to his spokesman Rob Nichols.

These projects include the Rickenbacher Airport “intermodal” plan in Central Ohio and a rail line running through Northwest Ohio, including North Baltimore, because Kasich thinks those projects will fuel commerce, according to Nichols.

http://cincinnati.com/blogs/politics/201...racks-yet/

Seitz is a RINO.

The new Wisconsin gov is just as foolish and wants to kill the rail line from chicago through milwaukee and madison on its way to minneapolis. So the new route may go through Iowa; I admit it would be funny to see Dubuque become a transit center. Oh well, I guess we don't need people from other states going through this one to and spend money. I just hope Indiana isn't as inept and we can get a decent rail from chicago to cincy.

-fortunately the previous administration started the contracts going before this clown was in office; but I'm sure there will be alot of court cases coming up to delay everything

Is Kasich opposed to passenger rail because he thinks it is all around a bad idea not worth the money or because he believes the current plan is dumb considering it would take 6.5 hours to get from Cincinnati to Cleveland?

(11-04-2010 06:53 PM)Fanatical Wrote: [ -> ]The new Wisconsin gov is just as foolish and wants to kill the rail line from chicago through milwaukee and madison on its way to minneapolis. So the new route may go through Iowa; I admit it would be funny to see Dubuque become a transit center. Oh well, I guess we don't need people from other states going through this one to and spend money. I just hope Indiana isn't as inept and we can get a decent rail from chicago to cincy.

-fortunately the previous administration started the contracts going before this clown was in office; but I'm sure there will be alot of court cases coming up to delay everything

The megabus to Chicago is fine.

(11-04-2010 07:44 PM)Overrated Wrote: [ -> ]Is Kasich opposed to passenger rail because he thinks it is all around a bad idea not worth the money or because he believes the current plan is dumb considering it would take 6.5 hours to get from Cincinnati to Cleveland?

More than likely
1) Nobody is going to be on the train
2) It is a waste of 400 Million
3) Other costs Ohio has to cover
4) Cost of a roundtrip ticket is too high
5) There is almost zero traffic congestion between Cincy,
Columbus and Cleveland.
6) The 6.5 hours is down lower on the list
7) This isn't NYC, Philly DC corridor and wasting $ on rail thinking
we are the above is foolish.

Also, we need $ to replace the bridge, 1-75, over the river.

Superfly, I Love Megabus! My son uses it regularly for trips to Chicago... we drop off and pick up... fast, cheap and I think privately run with zero Government $$$

(11-04-2010 08:21 PM)SuperFlyBCat Wrote: [ -> ]Also, we need $ to replace the bridge, 1-75, over the river.

i always thought that was kentucky's quarrel? they "own" the river, don't they? i recently spent a little over a week in portland (was only planning on being there for three days max, but ya know) and nobody gives a damn about the street car. and i was staying with a bunch of free love dread locked liberal arts students. they said as much. here's a quote, "dude, you can like, walk faster." mallory should have interviewed them, as they are their usual suspects.

what is great about portland public transport though is a commuter rail that connects from the suburbs and all parts of the city. that is what we should be using the $400 million for. i'm off the streetcar bandwagon after seeing it firsthand function in futility. a streetcar could be useful, if we were a tourist city, then again portland is a tourist city. i dunno. linking the 'burbs to the city center is a more useful endeavor.

with much chagrin, 3C probably ain't the best of ideas. i know i've been an advocate in the past, but i'll be honest, i don't know the specifics of what i'm about to say. was there a study about how many people traversed the 3C by automobile? what cities were they going to, what was the nature of their travel..... in my mind i have no idea how to quantify it. if you could build and sell people on a 125 mph train, would it still work? i love the trains, they are romantic, nostalgic, but sadly probably not worthwhile. i feel like a pragmatist who suddenly cannot dream. i'm comfortably ok justifying that.

X2, Lush. A spoke system from outside 275 into downtown would actually accomplish something. The streetcar to nowhere is a complete loser of an idea. The not so high speed rail to Cleveland is also a loser.

I agree, but whoever said there is no congestion between here and the lake,that is a reach. I am not opposed to the idea of a rail system but I just think there is far more to do in Ohio right now. I think this is a tad of political grandstanding but I think it is a common sense decision.

Obama came in like a house afire and wanted to race hellbent over the political landscape, changing everything in the first six months. Let's all relax and look at each piece of the agenda on an individual basis, and let's spend only where there will be a return.

(11-04-2010 08:12 PM)SuperFlyBCat Wrote: [ -> ]The megabus to Chicago is fine.

I know; I use it all the time when traveling to Cincy. But it would be much better to have a rail. I don't use the Megabus between Milwaukee and Chicago because there is an excellent rail line between them that never has to wait through the daily traffic jams. As the Megabus has shown us there is an excellent market for travel between these cities, but the infrastructure is sitting on old ignorant hands.

And the worst part is losing on out of state traffic going to New York, New England or Chicago, oh well.

(11-10-2010 07:19 AM)Fanatical Wrote: [ -> ]

(11-04-2010 08:12 PM)SuperFlyBCat Wrote: [ -> ]The megabus to Chicago is fine.

I know; I use it all the time when traveling to Cincy. But it would be much better to have a rail. I don't use the Megabus between Milwaukee and Chicago because there is an excellent rail line between them that never has to wait through the daily traffic jams. As the Megabus has shown us there is an excellent market for travel between these cities, but the infrastructure is sitting on old ignorant hands.

And the worst part is losing on out of state traffic going to New York, New England or Chicago, oh well.

There is rail service between Cincy and Chicago but it takes forever and the departure times are bad.