In celebration of Bike Month, UrbanCincy has partnered with the City of Cincinnati to bring you two unique events. The first will take place on Saturday, May 14 and take bicyclists on a pedal-powered pub crawl through the city’s urban core. The second event will take place on Sunday, May 22 and give riders a glimpse into what bicycle commuting will be like along the Ohio River Trail.
Bikes+Brews is back by popular demand. Last year UrbanCincy organized this event and made five stops throughout Downtown and Over-the-Rhine. Roughly 50 people participated over various segments of the ride which began and terminated at Findlay Market. This year’s event will also begin and end at Findlay Market, but will include a total of nine stops throughout Over-the-Rhine, West End, Downtown, Newport and Covington. The ride will be led by Cincinnati brewer, and UrbanCincy contributor, Bryon Martin.
Bikes+Brews will begin at 1pm and will roughly last until 6:30pm. The event is free and open to the public, and interested participants are encouraged to join the ride for any duration and segment. The ride is approximately seven miles from start to finish (map), includes slight elevation change and two bridge crossings.
The Ohio River Trail Tour is new this year. The event will begin at Lunken Airport and take bicyclists for a ride along the partially completed Ohio River Trail. The ride will terminate in downtown Cincinnati at the Bike & Mobility Center currently under construction at the Cincinnati Riverfront Park.
Those participating in the Ohio River Trail Tour will be able to get information about future phases of the Ohio River Trail, which will link Cincinnati’s eastern suburbs with downtown, and how to successfully commute by bicycle by utilizing lockers, showers, repair facilities and bicycle parking at the new Bike & Mobility Center.
The Ohio River Trail Tour will begin at 10am in the parking lot across from Lunken Airport’s terminal building. The ride is approximately six miles (map) and contains very few changes in elevation.
2010 Bikes+Brews photograph by Jenny Kessler for UrbanCincy.
UrbanCincy has been contacted by thousands upon thousands of Cincinnatians clamoring for Google Transit to come to Cincinnati. Virtually every bus-related story published on UrbanCincy over the past three years has included at least one comment expressing this desire.
Those who ride buses operated by the Transit Authority of Northern Kentucky (TANK) have had the pleasure to use this intuitive transit planning system for some time, and most major transit systems around the country also are included. In Cincinnati, however, the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority (SORTA) has had difficulty working with Google officials in sharing data and getting the system functional for the region’s largest transit operator.
Cincinnati bus riders rejoice over Google Transit announcement
SORTA is currently working with Google and is in a testing phase for the transit mapping system, and they would like Metro bus riders to provide feedback to ensure that the service is working correctly before it goes live to the public.
Those interested in testing it out, and providing feedback, can do so by visiting Google Transit and simply entering in a beginning and end destination which you would like to travel by bus. The mapping system works exactly the same way as directions on Google Maps.
Once you give it a test drive, you can then provide feedback to SORTA by emailing MyMetroStory@go-Metro.com, or by taking their short online survey. SORTA officials are asking that feedback be as specific as possible, so when referring to something you noticed, please provide the map URL and describe the error or positive result you received.
Those who contribute before Friday, May 6 will then be entered into a drawing where three randomly selected individuals will receive gift certificates for a month of free rides on Metro. Once testing is complete, SORTA officials hope to promote Metro on Google Transit to the public this summer.
In 2010 there was no reason to believe that Cincinnati’s streetcar project was in jeopardy, as all capital funds had been identified and future casino revenues were expected to cover annual operations costs. Late in the year I expressed my optimism to a seasoned local preservationist, whose terse response took me by surprise: “You guys haven’t been burned yet”.
On Tuesday April 12, Cincinnati finally got burned. ODOT’s nine-member Transportation Review Advisory Council (TRAC) approved a budget that reallocated $52 million of federal funds from the Cincinnati Streetcar project to a variety of minor upstate projects. This decision came just five months after TRAC identified Cincinnati’s streetcar as the state’s highest-ranking project.
The “burning” actually started in March, when state representative Shannon Jones (R-Springboro) introduced an amendment to Ohio’s biennial transportation bill that read, “No state or federal funds may be encumbered, transferred, or spent pursuant to this or any other appropriations act for the Cincinnati Streetcar Project.” This two-pronged attack on the state’s allocation of federal funds to Cincinnati’s streetcar project was the thinly veiled directive of John Kasich, Ohio’s newly elected Republican governor.
For those who attended the April 12, 2011 TRAC meeting at ODOT headquarters in Columbus, Kasich’s fingerprints were obvious not just by the actions of TRAC appointees, but by the language and tone of ODOT staffers. The two-hour meeting could best be described as a kangaroo court – its outcome was never in doubt, with five or more ODOT staffers and TRAC members reciting coached lines throughout.
The existence of Jones’ streetcar-killing state legislation provided cover for the day’s proceedings, but ODOT director and TRAC chair Jerry Wray and the staffers who work beneath him nevertheless concocted justification independent of what he duplicitously called “bad legislation”.
Funding for the Cincinnati Streetcar should be dropped, Wray and ODOT staffers argued, in favor of projects that promise to improve safety, especially two upstate railroad grade separation projects.
The grand orchestration of the meeting was not limited to Kasich-era appointees and ODOT staff; during public comments a fire chief remarked that five individuals had been killed at his area’s grade crossing since his service began some twenty years previous. His message was calculated: railroads are inherently unsafe, and modern streetcars, because they run on rails at-grade mixed with vehicular traffic, are dangerous to motorists and pedestrians.
A side show to this circus was the statement made by Jack Marchbanks, who was appointed to TRAC after the March 22, 2011 meeting. Other TRAC members didn’t even know his name, but he nevertheless arrived at the April 12th meeting prepared with props — a stack of CD’s and paperwork from a 2007 Columbus light rail study — to justify his vote against the Cincinnati Streetcar. Smiling, he insinuated that the legacy of the four-year Cincinnati Streetcar effort would ultimately be a similarly forgotten stack of CD’s and spiral bound reports.
Watching the morning’s proceedings like a hawk was Cincinnati mayor Mark Mallory, who has been the face of the streetcar project since 2008. As a state senator in the late 1990’s, he was involved in the legislation that established TRAC in 1997. Its formation coincided with a 6-cent increase in Ohio’s gasoline tax that added hundreds of millions to ODOT’s annual budget. TRAC intended to keep state representatives from directing pork projects to their districts, but last Tuesday Mallory was witness to its critical flaw: that TRAC’s chair is also ODOT’s director. Because Ohio’s governors appoint ODOT’s director, a sleazy appointee of Wray’s ilk is able to intimidate ODOT staff as well as shape the agenda of TRAC.
Much credit is due to Antoinette Selvey-Maddox, TRAC’s sole southwest Ohio representative. She was the only TRAC member to challenge the day’s prevailing winds – first questioning if there was any precedent for the state legislation that blocks state allocations of federal funds to the Cincinnati Streetcar, then introducing a motion that would have seen a separate vote introduced to the process regarding the streetcar project.
The appearance of the motion clearly disturbed chairman Wray – he was not certain that votes were sufficient to defeat it. In short order it was defeated 4-3, but we must wonder, if the entire nine-member TRAC had been attendance, would the outcome have been different (two of TRAC’s nine members were absent from the year’s most important meeting)? A minute after the failure of her motion, Selvey-Maddox cast the only vote in opposition to TRAC’s 2011 recommendations.
The configuration of the meeting bears some description: it was held in the same small basement room where TRAC usually meets, with room for few people other than ODOT staffers, speakers, and media. The roughly 75 Cincinnatians who traveled to Columbus were seated in a nearby room, out of sight of both TRAC members and the media.
They watched the meeting on closed-circuit television, with poor audio. Apparently the microphone of Selvey-Maddox was not turned on, or was not working well, and so those in the overflow room did not come to appreciate her actions. The absurdity of this situation could not have been better scripted – an auditorium which could have accommodated everyone sat unused directly across the hallway from TRAC’s meeting room.
Approximately 75 Cincinnatians made the trip to Columbus in support of the streetcar. Speaking on behalf of the project were Mayor Mark Mallory, councilwoman Roxanne Qualls, councilwoman Laure Quinlivan, Cincinnatians for Progress officer Rob Richardson, and representatives from Christ Hospital, Sibcy Cline Realtors, Bromwell’s, and the University of Cincinnati. Opponents filled just four of ten allotted speaking slots, and no other opponents appeared to have made the trip.
Although Tuesday’s actions are a setback, Cincinnati is expected to announce a revised streetcar plan this week. With zero funding available from Hamilton County, and presumably zero available from Ohio until Kasich leaves office in 2014 or 2018, the attraction of additional public funds will be limited to direct federal grants (such as the Urban Circulators grant) and new or expanded local sources.
Videos produced by Jake Mecklenborg for UrbanCincy. More exclusive videos from UrbanCincy can be viewed on YouTube.
Inspired by the work of photographers Dmitry Gudkov and Angelo Calilap, a group of Cincinnati-area photographers have started a website and collective for area bicycle enthusiasts called CycleCincy. Like Gudkov’s #BikeNYC, the name #CycleCincy refers to the Twitter hashtag which allows disparate people to talk to each other about everything related to cycling in Cincinnati. The idea is to meet other people who cycle in the city and take a cool portrait of them with their bike.
The concept, initially suggested by the brains behind OTRMatters, encouraged local cyclists and photographers to team up for portraits with their rides in an urban environment. A month later, the mission behind the site has evolved to include working alongside other cycle advocacy groups in the area, including and especially Queen City Bike, and fill a previously empty niche.
“It [CycleCincy] all started as a bunch of cyclists and photographers wanting to geek it out, but I think the project also highlights the desire to have a more cycling aware culture in Cincinnati,” says Dan Reid, local cyclist and OTR resident. “I think we’ve all had our share of run-ins with ignorant people in cars and it’s a real shame that people can’t co-exist.”
Those interested in joining the crew, be it photog or cyclist, are encouraged to visit the website and register a profile, which is easily synced to a Facebook account. In addition to providing a space for fellow bikers to meet and ride, members have suggested starting a casual monthly bike co-op/building space in Over-the-Rhine, connecting to the city-wide Bike Month, and celebrating bike culture through art. Ultimately, increased cycle awareness is the key.
“I believe CycleCincy will help unify Cincinnati cyclist and in turn force a higher level of awareness amongst car drivers,” said Chad Shackelford, another CycleCincy catalyst. “The core issue shouldn’t be as much about getting bike lanes and paths as it should be about teaching awareness and respect for cyclist and their right to safely occupy roadways.”
Ohio’s Transportation Review Advisory Council (TRAC) decided to move forward Tuesday morning and reallocate $51.8 million in state-appropriated federal funds from the Cincinnati Streetcar project. The unprecedented move reverses a unanimous recommendation, by TRAC, in December to support the state’s highest-ranking transportation project based on cost-effectiveness, economic development and environmental impacts.
“We recognize that the prior TRAC recommendations overcommitted the state to more transportation projects than it could afford,” said Ken Prendergast, executive director of All Aboard Ohio. “But I fail to understand why, other than a political agenda dominated by oil, highway and exurban interests, the highest-ranking project in the state was completely eliminated.”
In previous votes, TRAC had approved and recommended money for the modern streetcar project based on a non-political scoring criteria that gave the project 84 out of 100 points. Thus, the removal of all of the project’s funding left many feeling that politics were injected into what is meant to be a non-political process. Out of all fiscal balancing approved on Tuesday, 52 percent came from the neutering of the Cincinnati Streetcar, and more than 80 percent from the Cincinnati region.
“It is unfortunate the State has injected politics into this process,” explained Cincinnatians for Progress chairman Rob Richardson. “We have a vision for providing transportation choices and it’s a shame Governor Kasich doesn’t share that same vision.”
Civic and business leaders descended on Columbus Tuesday morning in a last ditch effort to try to preserve the $51.8 million in funding for the modern streetcar project. It was estimated that nearly 100 people showed up for the meeting with the overwhelming majority showing up in support of the Cincinnati Streetcar project. A total of three people spoke in opposition to the project (Chris Finney, Tom Luken’s daughter and Tom Luken’s neighbor). Conversely, seven people (maximum allowed) spoke in favor of the project.
Specifically, a Christ Hospital representative stated that should the Cincinnati Streetcar be built the hospital would move forward with a planned $350 million expansion. Dustin Clark from the University of Cincinnati Student Government also cited a recent poll that showed 85 percent support amongst the UC student body for the project.
Cincinnati officials and streetcar supporters gather before the meeting [LEFT]. TRAC board members weigh their controversial decision shortly before voting 6-1 to reallocate the Cincinnati Streetcar’s $51.8 million [RIGHT].
Those residents and business owners left defeated, with many feeling cheated in the process. Additionally, All Aboard Ohio and the Ohio Environmental Council (OEC) condemned TRAC’s vote as the “antithesis to its legal purpose, and as anti-urban in its project selection.”
“This reversal of fortune does nothing to help Ohio’s downtowns,” said Jack Shaner, deputy director of the OEC. “It will only cart jobs and economic development to the exurbs and beyond. Steel rails, by contrast, are magnets that help keep downtown urban cores vibrant by attracting investment while reducing tailpipe emissions and raising the quality of life.”
Following the meeting, Mayor Mallory told UrbanCincy that the funding process had clearly become political, and that the City would reassess its strategy. Many expect that the project will still move forward, but with a scaled-down approach that would cut out the connection to uptown in the initial phase.
“The streetcar’s economic impact has been fully vetted by nationally-renowned experts,” Qualls said, citing a new study released last week that showed the streetcar would increase access to 130,000 jobs in the region. “Once again, the facts come down in support of the streetcar.”
Meanwhile at the meeting, Councilmember Quinlivan spoke pointedly to the support of those University of Cincinnati students and other young people.
“We know there’s a new sheriff in town, but he has not performed lobotomies on the TRAC members,” stated Quinlivan. “We’re not building the streetcar for grumpy old men; we’re building it for young people who want it. This is an essential attraction tool for young professionals.”
Photographs from April 12, 2011 TRAC meeting by Jake Mecklenborg for UrbanCincy.
In celebration of Bike Month, UrbanCincy has partnered with the City of Cincinnati to bring you two unique events. The first will take place on Saturday, May 14 and take bicyclists on a pedal-powered pub crawl through the city’s urban core. The second event will take place on Sunday, May 22 and give riders a glimpse into what bicycle commuting will be like along the Ohio River Trail.
