Tag: public policy

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Development News Politics Transportation

Cincinnati commits $64M to build modern streetcar system

City Council’s Budget & Finance Committee voted yesterday 6-2 to approve $64 million in bonds that will fund Cincinnati’s modern streetcar system.  The move comes on the heels of a $2.6 million bond approval and now sends a clear message to the Federal government that Cincinnati is committed to this project financially.

The local commitment covers about half of the total $128 million streetcar system that will run from Cincinnati’s riverfront, through Downtown and Over-the-Rhine, and up the hill into the Uptown neighborhoods.  The Cincinnati Streetcar was also recently recommended for $15 million in State funds.

The Finance & Budget Committee meeting held yesterday attracted fewer people and public comments, but the breakdown was much the same.  Of the 10 people to speak, only one person, COAST’s lawyer, spoke against the project.  The other public comments were made by residents all over the city, business owners and students.  Over the course of the past two meetings that brings the public comment tally to 38 in favor, 4 opposed.

The City of Cincinnati will now wait to hear back from the Feds next month about another $25 million for the transportation project.  The Federal funding is considered to be critical for the project, but has been out-of-reach due to the lack of a local financial commitment to the project.  Streetcar supporters say that with this approval Cincinnati stands a much greater chance at receiving Federal funds that passed over Cincinnati during the first round of TIGER grants.

Roxanne Qualls, Laure Quinlinvan, Chris Bortz, Jeff Berding, Cecil Thomas and Laketa Cole voted in favor of approving the bonds for the Cincinnati Streetcar while Chris Monzel and Charlie Winburn voted in opposition.  Leslie Ghiz was absent.  The full City Council, which is made up of the same body, will vote on the measure this Wednesday, May 12 and is expected to pass with a 6-3 majority after Ghiz casts her opposition vote.

You can stay up-to-date on the Cincinnati Streetcar project by reading its blog, or by following the City’s official webpage where you can also make contributions online to help make the project become reality.  Follow @CincyStreetcar on Twitter for even more information.

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News Transportation

Cincinnati hosts EACC high-speed rail conference

The 2010 Urban and Regional Public Transportation Conference, held May 5 at The Westin Hotel and sponsored by the European-American Chamber of Commerce, featured presentations by over a dozen industry experts including a keynote speech by John D. Porcari, Deputy Secretary of Transportation of the U.S. Department of Transportation.

“America’s rail infrastructure is in shambles”, said Porcari, whose department is shifting policy away from a decades-old process that considered road or rail projects individually but could not easily approve multi-modal projects.

In working to rebuild “the squandered investments of our grandparents”, Porcari described a profound turnaround in federal transportation policy from one that encouraged sprawl to one that will promote walkable smart growth. He promised that America’s new generation of passenger trains will not be assembled here from components manufactured overseas, but rather be “100% American” in order to “capture every piece of the high speed rail value chain”.

Although the announced policy changes portend an increased opportunity for federal assistance for local rail transit projects, Porcari stressed that in the short term those places with their “act together” will be first to benefit from these changes.

Speaking on the matter of the $400 3C’s grant, Matt Dietrich, Executive Director of the Ohio Rail Development Commission, remarked that early in the planning of the 3C’s line, Amtrak offered to sell Ohio a variety of retired and surplus locomotives and passenger cars for $10-$15 million. But after grants were awarded to projects in other regions, that equipment has been directed elsewhere, and Ohio has now budgeted $175 million – almost half of the 3C’s grant – for new passenger trains.

The constricted budget means grant funds are presently unavailable for construction of a track connection to Cincinnati Union Terminal. A permanent suburban station is planned for Sharonville and a temporary terminal station is planned for Cincinnati in Bond Hill.

Cleveland’s station will be located on that city’s lakefront, with a convenient connection to its Waterfront light rail line. Both Dayton and Columbus will have stations located in their respective downtowns.

Dietrich also discussed plans for a station at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, possibly within walking distance of the National Museum of the United States Air Force. The base is the state’s largest single-site employer and the museum is, aside from King’s Island and Cedar Point, the state’s most popular tourist attraction.

The conference also featured speakers from France, Spain, Germany, and England, each of whom discussed not only the technical aspects of their high speed trains, but also how their networks are funded and administered.

Tom Stables, Senior Vice President of Commercial Development for First Group, discussed how England awards franchises to approximately a dozen different companies who for periods of seven to ten years operate the county’s various commuter and intercity train lines.

Juergen Wilder, representing industry giant Siemens, described how a ticketing and revenue sharing agreement was achieved with Lufthansa after a high speed rail line extended to Frankfurt’s airport drew significant patronage away from the airline. In the face of competition from passenger rail, Wilder suggested that American carriers might seek similar arrangements or even bid to operate the country’s envisioned high speed rail lines.

Herve Le Caignec, representing SNCF, the company that operates the French TGV network, discussed attempts at private-public partnerships in the construction of new TGV lines. He also offered evidence of the TGV’s staggering success – every day trains seating 750 to 1,100 passengers leave the French capital bound for Lyon and Marseilles every five minutes and do not just sell out individually, but all trains – more than 300 of them — often sell out each weekend as Parisians escape their drizzle and migrate en masse to the Mediterranean coast.

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News Transportation

Cincinnati Aims to Double Number of Cyclists by 2015

Cincinnati has been making bold efforts recently to establish itself a more bicycle friendly city. New bike lanes, sharrows, on-street bicycle parking, bicycle parking development requirements, a bike share program, a bicycle commuter station and a bold new Bicycle Transportation Plan are all helping to change Cincinnati’s bicycling community for the better.

So far, the City’s Department of Transportation & Engineering has made bicycle infrastructure improvements in several city neighborhoods including Clifton, University Heights, O’Bryonville, Walnut Hills and Northside. City officials hope that the new bicycle infrastructure and public policy will double the number of people bicycling regularly for transportation in five years. Many local bicycling advocated believe that some of those future improvements need to start happening now.

“We’re urging the City to immediately begin putting bike lanes and other improvements in place on Riverside Drive, Madison Road and Spring Grove Avenue,” stated Gary Wright, President, Queen City Bike. “Those three streets must be a critical part of any serious bike network in the City, and doing this now will show that this is not a plan that will sit on the shelf.”

Of those three streets Wright mentioned, Madison Road is scheduled to be repaved this year making for a perfect opportunity to install bike lanes at the least possible cost to a major transportation route between eastern neighborhoods like Hyde Park to the center city.

Wright adds that Spring Grove Avenue runs right through the epicenter of Cincinnati’s bike culture in Northside and that additional investment along Riverside Drive could bolster that corridor from the popular recreation route it is now to something much more.

“Adding bike lanes now and making other changes to slow traffic through the East End community will encourage more people to give street riding a try while also doing a lot to enhance the neighborhood,” Wright explained. “Bike lanes along Riverside will not serve as a substitute for completing the Ohio River Trail, but they will also make the Little Miami Trail connection planned for Lunken more accessible to a few more riders right away.”

Following eight months of surveys, open houses and on-the-street focus groups, the City is ready to release a draft of the plan and receive final comments from the public. The release of this plan will take place on Wednesday, May 5 from 6:30pm to 8:30pm at the Clifton Cultural Arts Center (map).

The Bicycle Transportation Plan calls for additional infrastructure improvements, educational and encouragement efforts, and enforcement programs. Those interested in providing feedback may do so by contacting the City with comments online or by calling (513) 591-6000 prior to Friday, May 14.

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Development News

Cincinnati finally in compliance with 1997 federal air regulations

The Cincinnati-Hamilton Metropolitan Statistical Area has been recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for finally meeting 1997 federal air quality standards. The achievement by Hamilton, Butler, Clermont and Warren counties now puts all of Ohio in compliance with the 1997 federal ozone standard for the first time.

“Today we celebrate that the entire state of Ohio, for the first time, is meeting the 1997 ozone standard,” said Ohio EPA Director Chris Korleski. “Air quality in the Cincinnati area and throughout the state has improved, but our work is not done.”

The U.S. EPA first proposed the redesignation in March, 2010 that also included Dearborn County in Indiana. The Cincinnati MSA had to undergo air quality tests between 2007 and 2009, and prove it can maintain that status for 10 years in order to earn the redesignation from the U.S. EPA. But while all of Ohio and Cincinnati’s MSA are now meeting the 1997 standard, this is not the case for newly proposed ozone standards that are more stringent and will be enforced starting in 2011.

“Ohio has achieved this milestone through sound air quality planning and effective pollution control programs,” explained Bharat Mathur, EPA Acting Regional Administrator. “With this accomplishment, Ohio has helped to ensure that its residents are breathing cleaner air.”

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Development News

Historic structures threatened by wrecking ball in OTR

Early yesterday morning several buildings in the 1400 block of Vine Street were badly damaged by fire. The collection of buildings included the long-standing Smitty’s clothing store and several apartments above where the residents lost just about everything.

The risk now is losing additional historic structures in one of the most at-risk and important historic districts in the nation. One building was already demolished yesterday following the fire clean up, and others are scheduled to be demolished today – including the building that houses Smitty’s.

The Over-the-Rhine Foundation is asking residents to call Amit Ghosh (513-352-3433) from the City of Cincinnati immediately and ask that these buildings not be torn down, and instead be examined to see if they could be saved.

Danny Klinger, known for helping save the historic Meiner Flats building down the street recently, states that the City is required by ordinance to first attempt to preserve these buildings rather than demolishing them.

In historic districts, the administration will encourage the use of demolition funds to repair buildings rather than demolish them. At the very least, repair of a building will be funded for the same amount that it would cost to demolish the building.

“The City is ignoring its own laws by going straight for the demolition option rather than at least considering using the demo money to preserve these structures,” Klinger implored. “Mr. Ghosh and his department must understand that those of us who care about preservation and about OTR are not ok with this. We expect that preservation be given full consideration.”

UPDATE: Danny Klingler has just confirmed that the City has backed off of demolishing the remaining two structures for now, but he encourages everyone to continue to call to inform the City on their stance on preserving Over-the-Rhine’s historic building stock, and to thank them for saving these structures for now.