Posted on 07/08/2010 2:20:00 PM PDT by BfloGuy
Cincinnati, which still needs about $42 million in additional state or federal dollars to fund the streetcar plan’s $128 million first phase, has applied for a $25 million “urban circulator” grant from the U.S. Transportation Department that would significantly close the project’s funding gap....
The city has identified about $86 million for the project, including $64 million in city bonds that Mayor Mark Mallory has pledged will not be issued unless the city receives roughly the same amount in state and federal funds....
Let's leave aside the obvious point that there is absolutely nothing that a streetcar system could possibly do to make Cincinnati a better place to live.
(Excerpt) Read more at reason.com ...
It's a money-hole that all of you are still paying for.
Yet every city's politicians thinks it will work for them.
Ping.
It is all about kick backs and govt contracts for their crony pals.
You see Brutalist shite in the UK a lot. A few of the buildings in London I think are crumbling. Very circa 1970s sci fi. Many of IBM’s 1970s buildings were Brutalist.
It is all about kick backs and govt contracts for their crony pals.
You see Brutalist shite in the UK a lot. A few of the buildings in London I think are crumbling. Very circa 1970s sci fi. Many of IBM’s 1970s buildings were Brutalist.
Worthless liberal ideology actualized into treadmill projects (don't go anywhere)....
Why waste money on a streetcar.
Cincinnati tried to build a subway once, didn’t work out so well. They also had a skywalk, tore it down also.Police are now trained to look the other way and not get involved. Anyone with common sense would not go downtown.
So, to get a little bit of money now (that we nationally can’t afford to borrow) going into a city (to pay for something that the city can’t afford itself) that will not help the city expand (or pay off a previous borrowing), the city is going to borrow even more money (that they can’t afford to pay back) to buy a service that nobody will use nor want....
If the cities are looking to spend money where it will actually help the cities to grow, they should look to spending it on restoring civil order.
I’ve never heard a reason why light rail would be better than a bus route in Cincinnati. If the buses were so full that you needed more than one at a time to handle the passengers, that would be a sign that light rail with multiple cars might be worth it. But that is never a complaint there as far as I know.
“By Jove, I think he’s got it!” / limey voice
You have a brilliant career waiting for you in the city planner’s office.
Ping
For 50 years the Cincinnati budget was saddled with retireing bonds of a subway system built by “Boss” Cox before WWI and abandondoned as a stupid boondogle by the reforming “Charter” government during the 20’s.
Here we go again.
Bump!
Public transportation is a abomination — a stupid socialist scheme to further chip away at our individuality. Can’t afford a car?
That’s sad for you, but NOT MY PROBLEM! Get a bicycle.
Roads too crowded? Well, then WIDEN them — or build more. You get extra points if you build them as privately owned toll roads.
I lived in the suburbs there in the 60’s and 70’s, I was told they had a good Med. school too.
OH YEAH!
Maybe they don't like anything that has "public" in its name (but make an exception for buses as the lesser evil).
The next issue of The American Conservative has some articles on public transportation that may be worth a look.
Rather than write off light rail completely, we might want to take a closer look at why some systems work well and others don't.
For a start, smaller systems don't get many riders. If you've got a single 6 mile line, it looks more like a toy train than a real alternative to the private automobile.
Where there's a larger population and a larger network of routes with stops all over a metropolitan area, people do start to view light rail, or trolleys or trams as a real everyday alternative to their private cars.
Getting to that point is a real problem, though. Probably we shouldn't have torn up the older pre-WWII transit systems.
It’s a money-hole that all of you are still paying for.
Yet every city’s politicians thinks it will work for them.”
Forcing people into ‘mass transit’ has another downside.
The punks & thugs & gang members are then able to have a captured group of targets between station stops.
For those criminals, it is like shooting fish in a barrel. They can pick & choose to their heart’s content.
If the cities are looking to spend money where it will actually help the cities to grow, they should look to spending it on restoring civil order.””
AMEN.
So would giving away $100 bills on downtown streetcorners.
Plus, it'd be less corrupt and would benefit a much larger segment of the population who's paying it.
If they have wrecks like the Houston toy train (100 plus) will that spur downtown redevelopment ? Downtown tow trucks, downtown insurance companies, downtown medical facilities ? Is that the plan ? I can see it now.
Wrecks for redevelopment !!
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