Tag: streetcars

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Development News Opinion Politics Transportation

Looking to LA: Could a Rail Transit Tax Transform Cincinnati?

America’s anti-tax zealots assert that local taxes are prime motivators in the relocation of people and businesses from one part of the country to another. By their reasoning, the Cincinnati region should be flooded with newcomers, as Cincinnatians enjoy lower rates of taxation than the citizens of nearly any major American metropolitan area.

Case in point is Los Angeles, where LA County voters have approved three separate .5% sales taxes since 1980 to support public transportation and road improvements above and beyond what is budgeted by Caltrans, California’s DOT. This 1.5% combined sales tax funds an enormous bus system and construction of a rail transit network that will soon surpass 100 route miles. Meanwhile in low-tax Cincinnati, we operate a threadbare bus system which in its entirety carries just one-third the daily ridership of Los Angeles’ Red Line subway.


The 23rd Street Station is part of the Expo Line Phase 1 segment which opened earlier this year. Construction work progresses on the Phase 2 segment, and will be completed by 2015. Photograph by Jake Mecklenborg for UrbanCincy.

The revival of rail transit in Los Angeles is an important lesson to Cincinnati: if new rail transit lines can be successful in the city where the world’s largest streetcar system was scrapped and replaced by the world’s largest expressway system, it can certainly be successful here. Moreover, if a city can attract millions of newcomers while taxing them at a higher rate than the places where they originated, the anti-tax argument prevalent in the Cincinnati area is revealed to be a fraud.

Propositions A, C, and Measure R
Public transportation in Los Angeles County is funded by three .5% sales taxes approved in 1980, 1990, and 2008.

Although these three taxes total 1.5%, only .85% can fund rail transit construction projects. Of that sum, .1% is restricted to commuter rail, and only .25% can fund subway tunnel construction. This bizarre stipulation came into effect when the electorate approved the Act of 1998, which prohibited the use of Proposition A funds for subway construction. This act is still effect, but after passage of Measure R in 2008, construction of subway tunnels could resume.

Of the three taxes, Measure R is the most important as it pertains to Cincinnati’s current situation. The additional funds made available by Measure R allowed Los Angeles to accelerate its construction schedule – since 2008 two new light rail lines have opened, the south branch of the Gold Line and the all-new Expo Line. An extension of the Expo Line to Santa Monica is currently under construction, the all-new Crenshaw line broke ground in June 2012, and the long-awaited extension of the Wilshire Boulevard. subway might begin in 2013.


An Expo Line train waits at a recently opened station. Photograph by Jake Mecklenborg for UrbanCincy.

Future Transit and Quality-of-Life Ballot Issues for Cincinnati
Most metropolitan areas around the country are now introducing taxes larger than the half-cent sales tax MetroMoves proposal voted on in Hamilton County in 2002. Such a tax would have generated an estimated $60 million annually split equally between improved bus service and rail construction and operation.

Should Cincinnati use Los Angeles as a model, the $120 million generated by a one-cent tax could fund much more, much faster than the 2002 MetroMoves plan which would have required 30 years to build out the system envisioned.

What’s more, with excess revenue, the FTA federal match process could be bypassed and Cincinnati could break ground quickly on the sort of construction appropriate for our city. Specifically, subway tunnels that might not win federal matching funds could become a reality in just a few years instead of enduring the decades-long struggles seen recently in New York City, Seattle, and elsewhere.

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Business Development News Politics

Blue Ash City Council spurns COAST during airport vote

The Blue Ash Municipal & Safety Center was the scene of high political drama Thursday night. After 90 minutes of public comment, with zero Blue Ash or Cincinnati residents speaking in favor of Blue Ash rescinding its 2006 agreement to purchase 130 acres of the Blue Ash Airport from the City of Cincinnati, by a 6-1 vote Blue Ash City Council did just that.

Ordinance 2012-41 authorizes Blue Ash’s city manager to rescind the 2006 transfer of title of the Blue Ash Airport from the City of Cincinnati. On August 29, that title will be briefly transferred back to the City of Cincinnati and Cincinnati will return approximately $6 million in payments it has received to date from Blue Ash. After appropriate paperwork is signed, Blue Ash will immediately return the $6 million to Cincinnati and title will be returned to the City of Blue Ash. After the airport operations cease on September 1, Blue Ash will gain full possession of the property and can commence construction of a long-planned park.


COAST leader Chris Finney takes notes as the City of Blue Ash voted against his personal wishes. Photograph by Jake Mecklenborg for UrbanCincy.

This unusual procedural step is necessary because after the cities of Blue Ash and Cincinnati signed their 2006 agreement, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) restricted Cincinnati’s use of the proceeds. Specifically, the FAA prohibited Cincinnati from using any of the $37.5 million for non-airport capital improvements. Since 2007, Cincinnati has planned to use $11 million of the Blue Ash Airport sale to fund construction of the Cincinnati Streetcar, with the remainder programmed for roadwork and other capital improvements.

At Thursday’s meeting, Blue Ash City Council scolded the local media for not having informed the public that it was the FAA who suggested that Blue Ash rescind the sale as a way for both parties to achieve their goals on schedule. The paperwork to be filed on August 29 allows for the avoidance of an estimated two years of litigation in federal court, meaning Blue Ash’s annual payments to the City of Cincinnati can continue uninterrupted. Cincinnati can use those capital funds however it sees fit, and Blue Ash can proceed with converting 130 acres of the Blue Ash Airport into a park.

The planned park was promised to Blue Ash voters who approved a .25% city earnings tax in 2006. Revenue from this tax has already paid for construction of a new city recreation center and the new Cooper Creek Event Center adjacent to the municipally owned Blue Ash Golf Course.
The facts of the situation as described above were entirely absent from the 90 minutes of emotional citizen comments that proceeded council’s action.  Speaker after speaker, led by Mary Kuhl of Westwood Concern and various members of COAST, incited the crowd into raucous clapping and heckling of Blue Ash City Council.

Chris Finney, COAST’s central figure, threatened Blue Ash with a ballot referendum that would rescind the rescinding of the 2006 sale of the airport to Cincinnati, creating a legal mess his law firm would no doubt attempt to be hired to untangle.

After public comments, five of the seven city council members explained their rationale for voting to approve Ordinance 2012-41. All voiced frustration with the local media’s inability to factually report the situation and called out Chris Finney and COAST for unethical behavior. Several Blue Ash council members reported that Finney had called them at home, and described his actions as an effort to extort Blue Ash. One council member went as far to sarcastically call Finney “The World’s Greatest Lawyer”, while another simply referred to him as a coward.

After city council presented the facts and context that Chris Finney had distorted or omitted in his week-long media blitz, there was no heckling to be heard as Ordinance 2012-41 was approved.

As council returned to its routine business after the nearly two-hour episode concocted by same man who has brought so much chaos to Cincinnati’s municipal affairs since the early 1990s, the crowd that had been calling for Blue Ash Council’s heads earlier in the evening quietly shuffled out of the building.

The misled public, however, had no opportunity to redirect their ire at Finney since he had left the building more than an hour earlier.

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Up To Speed

New iPhone will expose Cincinnati’s lack of open data

New iPhone will expose Cincinnati’s lack of open data.

With the imminent introduction of the next generation iPhone from Apple, the new phone and iOS interface is poised to eliminate Google Maps in favor of Apple’s own mapping software package. The move, which will come by fall of this year, provides driving directions but relies on third-party applications to provide transit directions. The Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority (SORTA) is one of the top ten agencies that does not provide the necessary open data necessary to create a transit app to replace Google Maps. More from The Atlantic:

The strategy relies on a pretty big assumption, and third-party developers need open data to build these tools…Many cities still aren’t sharing their data, including big ones like Atlanta, Phoenix, and Detroit. Along with hundreds of other metros, these cities do provide their transit data directly to Google for use in Google Maps, using a standardized format Google developed known as the General Transit Feed Specification (or GTFS). Giving data to Google is not, however, what developers mean when they talk about “open data.”

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Up To Speed

Brookings Institution reports that far too many Cincinnati jobs lack transit access

Brookings Institution reports that far too many Cincinnati jobs lack transit access.

A new report from the Brookings Institution reinforces what UrbanCincy reported on 10 months ago. According to the report, 41 percent of the Cincinnati region’s jobs are in neighborhoods completely devoid of public transit. What is perhaps even worse is that the report finds that more than three-quarters of Cincinnati’s working-age population cannot reach a typical job in under 90 minutes. More from the Cincinnati Business Courier:

Businesses must be more aware of public transit service when they decide where to locate, and regions must look at other ways to link suburbs where a growing number of jobs are located…That’s especially important here, where the region has developed major centers of commerce in outlying counties such as Boone in Kentucky and Clermont and Butler in Ohio, said Mark Policinski, executive director of the OKI Regional Council of Governments transportation planning agency.

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Business Development News

Thousands of new residents now calling downtown Cincinnati home

Downtown Cincinnati Inc. (DCI) has released its eighth annual State of Downtown Report. The findings show continued improvements throughout the Central Business District, Over-the-Rhine and Pendleton neighborhoods.

“New, world-class office development, active retail leasing and expanded entertainment options demonstrate that downtown is thriving,” Gina Gartner, DCI’s Director of Stakeholder Services, stated in a prepared release. “In addition, the growing residential community, from The Banks to Over-the-Rhine, is actively engaged in making downtown a great place to live.”

Customers enjoy the newly opened 1215 Wine Bar & Coffee Lab in historic Over-the-Rhine. Photograph by Randy A. Simes for UrbanCincy.

The 36-page report touts the continued population growth in the urban core, and points to more than $1.3 billion worth of development either currently under construction, or in planning stages. This, DCI officials claim, is evidence of a resurgent downtown area.

“Downtown continues to enjoy major growth and development within its neighborhoods, old and new, from Fountain Square to the East Eighth District and The Banks to Over-the-Rhine,” explained DCI President David Ginsburg. “With this growth, it becomes even more important to connect visitors, residents, employees, developers, and others to the wealth of options downtown has to offer once they are here.”

One way in which boosters envision connecting the growing number of people with the growing number of destinations downtown is through critical transportation investments like the $99.5 million first phase of the Cincinnati Streetcar and future enhanced bus service.

Downtown Cincinnati population growth chart provided by Downtown Cincinnati Inc.

The report also highlighted 12 percent residential growth credited, in part, to the addition of 300 new apartments at The Banks which are 100 percent leased. The surge of new residents comes at the tail end of a period where the downtown area has added more than 5,000 new residents.

The residential growth at The Banks was complimented by ongoing population growth in historic Over-the-Rhine and throughout the Central Business District. And while the second phase of The Banks may not get underway for another six months, officials are excited about 88 additional apartments that will soon come online at The Reserve at 4th & Race.

“A 12% increase is significant and adds greatly to the vibrant city we work toward every day,” Ginsburg noted. “And, though it was not a surprise to DCI or its partners, the more than 25% drop in crime over the past ten years can be credited to the continued commitment of the Cincinnati Police, the City of Cincinnati’s Public Services Department, the Cincinnati Parks, Downtown Cincinnati Inc., and others.”

Perhaps tying the positive trends in residential growth and crime decreases with one another, are the brightly colored Downtown Ambassadors seen out on the streets every day, which have also recently begun servicing parts of Over-the-Rhine.

The report also found that 28 retail establishments opened in the downtown area in 2011, and that hotel occupancy rates surpassed the national and local average at 63 percent.