Dohoney: Streetcar Has $17.4 Million Shortfall, "Needs More Funding"" (Cincinnati: new home, neighborhoods)

[kjbrill]

Originally Posted by Chemistry_Guy

The streetcar will be the panacea for all of the ills of Cincinnati. It will bring development, jobs, prestige, and peace and it will chase away all of the poverty, drugs, gun violence, and premarital sex that curses our fair city. Anyone who is not willing to take a bullet so that the streetcar may live is selfish and delusional. Merely sitting on the tracks has been known to cure hemorrhoids. The estimated 15 trillion dollars of economic impact should more than offset the minimal cost of the construction and operation- in fact the construction companies really should build the thing for free because the family of anyone involved in building of the streetcar is promised seven generations of prosperity by the lord in heaven.

I like your analogy. It is about time both sides of this controversy began to show some human regard for each other. The snide and worse remarks from each side all are beneath what should be expected of thinking people. The longer this goes on the more the citizens of Cincinnati are being held up as just buffoons to the rest of the country. A sad state of affairs for our city and area.

Why don't the officials go ahead and release construction contracts? It won't be the first time projects were started with inadequate funds. They have the funds to build what, one-half, two-thirds or more? So build it, then when the funds are running out say well do we stop now or will you fund the rest? Someone has to step up with the gumption and the fortitude to say enough is enough, we are going forward with this 1st Phase come Hell-or-High-Water Cincinnati deserves better than yet another election referendum.

[abr7rmj]

Originally Posted by kjbrill

I like your analogy. It is about time both sides of this controversy began to show some human regard for each other. The snide and worse remarks from each side all are beneath what should be expected of thinking people. The longer this goes on the more the citizens of Cincinnati are being held up as just buffoons to the rest of the country. A sad state of affairs for our city and area.

Why don't the officials go ahead and release construction contracts? It won't be the first time projects were started with inadequate funds. They have the funds to build what, one-half, two-thirds or more? So build it, then when the funds are running out say well do we stop now or will you fund the rest? Someone has to step up with the gumption and the fortitude to say enough is enough, we are going forward with this 1st Phase come Hell-or-High-Water Cincinnati deserves better than yet another election referendum.

Hopefully, the hiring of the new project manager who had wild success with The Banks and Fort Washington Way, not to mention projects in Washington, D.C., will be the catalyst for momentum. It's crystal clear that the majority of Cincinnatians want this streetcar - it passed two referendums aimed at killing it; a pro-streetcar mayor and council repeatedly get re-elected; and even today's Enquirer poll shows healthy support.

Unfortunately, the opponents are louder and have the WLW mouthpiece. It's really never worked for in the end though. Their shouting gets heard, then quickly dismissed.

[jmecklenborg]

Not only were those two charter amendments defeated, Chris Smitherman and Chris Finney keep going around on talk radio saying the "city" is responsible for the "confusing" ballot language. No, THEY are the ones who wrote the ballot language. That's why "yes meant no", because of THEM.

Our talk radio hosts are such clowns that they either:

a. don't know that they actually wrote the ballot language
b. know and knowingly let them say what they say
c. are con men who feel no guilt in confusing the hell out of the public


I mean, of late these hosts keep using the phrase "low information voter". Actually it applies at least as much to their audience, and they are knowing and willing agents in the mass confusion of Cincinnati's residents.

[unusualfire]

If people would put half as much energy into making this work than opposing it. This would be an amazing town.

[abr7rmj]

Originally Posted by unusualfire

If people would put half as much energy into making this work than opposing it. This would be an amazing town.

Ding ding ding ding ding

The contrast between the progressive crowd that wants to grow this city and make it elite vs. the no-to-everything, obstructionist, meddling, anti-growth, bury-the-streetcars-in-the-empty-subway-tunnel-and-cancel-the-whole-thing "hens" (I'm going to start using that word) is striking.

[hensleya1]

I'm going to take the liberty of reordering a few posts I've seen in the past two pages:

Originally Posted by abr7rmj

The contrast between the progressive crowd that wants to grow this city and make it elite vs. the no-to-everything, obstructionist, meddling, anti-growth, bury-the-streetcars-in-the-empty-subway-tunnel-and-cancel-the-whole-thing "hens" (I'm going to start using that word) is striking.

Why, yes it is. Just check out the vitriol and hatred that comes when somebody dare oppose the sacred cow of Mark Mallory and Roxanne Qualls, no matter how reasoned or grounded in economic reality.

Originally Posted by jbcmh81

The vitriol that comes from the anti-rail crowd sometimes seems pathological

Originally Posted by abr7rmj

They're also the same lunatics who never utter a peep...

Originally Posted by motorman

For all purposes, he's a living, breathing embodiment of hatred towards Cincinnati.

For some reason, I'm not feeling the love - especially since I never called anyone a name, or questioned anyone's sanity.

You guys crack me up. And it's why I will stand by and fiddle while the streetcar goes down in flames.

I'm loving the tantrums I see when the streetcar crashes up against the hard rocks of economic reality.

[WILWRadio]

Personally I hope it is completed and becomes a success. But the economic realities that go along with such a project cannot be ignored. Can it sustain itself over the long haul is the real question. Obviously some cities can and do support Street Cars and Light Rail and that is because people are willing to use these kinds of mass transit. If people in Cincinnati are willing to spend a buck or two to ride it and it needs limited or no tax payer dollars (eventually) to support it, then that would be the ideal situation for everyone. People need to realize at one time Love may have made the world go round. These days Money makes the world go round. Crumbling infrastructure in many metro areas increases taxes and spending and the cost of living is rising for everyone. Government as well as private individuals need to learn to live within their means or they wind up in bankruptcy court.

[TomJones123]

Originally Posted by hensleya1

And it's why I will stand by and fiddle while the streetcar goes down in flames.

The reason you aren't feeling the love is because it's obvious you are coming through here trying to gloat in a perceived failure. Mind you, no one ever said the streetcar would fail or the city would not be able to come up with the money. They just said it was over budget. That happens all the time with projects. But you COASTIES love any shortcoming in the city. How else can you anti-types draw your negative comparisons. That organization shows that they are nothing more than vultures and parasites.

[jmecklenborg]

>For some reason, I'm not feeling the love - especially since I never called anyone a name, or questioned anyone's sanity.

When reading somebody's posts on the internet, it's pretty easy to tell when they've got issues. And you most certainly have issues.

[abr7rmj]

It's not just here that hen doesn't feel the love. With repeated failures of referendums aimed at stopping the streetcar, re-election of pro-streetcar councils and mayor, Enquirer polls that show continued public support, ongoing construction of the streetcars and route, constant news of new development on the streetcar route, residents moving into downtown by the boatload and apartments/condos being snapped up before they're even completed, etc., it's easy to see why opponents feel like they're spitting into a hurricane.