Newsbreak: Governor Concerned Charter Amendment Could "Exclude Cincinnati."

Ohio Governor Ted Strickland

Ben Fischer of the Cincinnati Enquirer did a great job blogging about the Governors recent speech in Loveland, Ohio. Strickland, When asked about the charter amendment ballot initiative being pushed by COAST and the NAACP, Strickland had this to say: “I think Cincinnati and Cincinnatians would have to obviously make the decision if they want to be excluded from a system that will be interconnective, not only with Columbus and Dayton and Cleveland, but Chicago and other major, major cities as well."

Acknowledging the people's right to vote on the issue if and when the petition is verified, Strickland also added that he hopes voters in Cincinnati realize the COAST/NAACP charter amendment could "potentially have a detrimental effect upon the city." Strickland also acknowledged he "would have to look at the legal implications" of the amendment, but let's take a look at the current ballot language: 

The City, and its various Boards and Commissions, may not spend any monies for right-of-way acquisition or construction of improvements for passenger rail transportation (e.g., a trolley or streetcar) within the city limits without first submitting the question of approval of such expenditure to a vote of the electorate of the City and receiving a majority affirmative vote for the same.

With that kind of ballot language, Cincinnati could be delayed from or potentially kept out of consideration for not only the proposed Ohio "3C" High Speed Rail project, but a national high speed rail network connecting it to other major cities. Even if Cincinnati was featured in those networks, an amendment to the city's charter like this could further complicate and delay Cincinnati's involvement in maintaining and improving the project, making other cities and locations nearby better candidates. Apparently this charter amendment isn't just about the streetcar, it affects all passenger rail projects. Maybe we should heed the Governor's warning and take a good hard look at the legal implications?

City Names Project Team for Proposed Streetcar

City Manager Milton Dohoney hires same firm that planned and designed Riverfront Transit Center.

Parsons Brinkerhoff is the preferred City vendor for the proposed streetcar project.

Well, seems the city is at it again: That's right, moving forward with the proposed streetcar project. On June 11, 2009 Mayor Mark Mallory and City Manager Milton Dohoney announced the Cincinnati Streetcar Development Team. The engineering frim of Parsons Brinkerhoff was awarded the contract to help build the streetcar project. You may remember that name, it's the same company that built and designed the Riverfront Transit Center.

Some local groups have gone so far as to call the Riverfront Transit Center an "Epic Failure." According to Urban Dictionary, an "Epic Fail" is a term often used by pre-teen's on the internet that can be described as: "The highest form a "fail" known to man."  Was the Riverfront Transit Center that much of a letdown, though? Upon doing some basic research it seems that the Transit Center is actually a sound design that could easily be adapted for various forms of rail and by planning ahead it would save the taxpayers millions by not having to front the cost of tunneling to build a new underground station/hub or an expensive above ground one. Not to mention, the right-of-ways at the entrances to the center are secured for future use. The city also leases the center and it's adjoining parking areas to System Parking, allowing them to collect a share of the revenue from the parking operations which fill up anytime there's a large event downtown like Oktoberfest, Taste of Cincinnati, Reds games, Bengals games etc.

As far as the criticism of Parsons Brinkerhoff goes, it seems they have a good amount of experience, if we're going to build a streetcar looks like this firm knows what they're doing. Some of their work includes:

• - Caliornia Amtrak/Acela High Speed Rail Study and Planning
  
• - Eastside Light Rail Corridor, Los Angeles
  
• - Fort Washington Way Reconfiguration
  
• - Salt Lake City Light Rail configuration
  
• - Reconstruction of the World Trade Center site and the Freedom Tower
  

A full list of their work can be found here. So we have a firm who has done work with successful transportation and rail projects all across the world and a city who used this firm to plan ahead and design a transit station that could potentially save tax payers millions in the future, yet the charter amendment being pushed forward by COAST and the NAACP would significantly prevent this transit center from ever being utilized and the money that would no longer be used for the streetcar wouldn't go back to the citizens of Cincinnati, but to other city's eager to take in federal rail dollars. Seems like the taxpayers and citizens would be the real losers if that charter amendment passes...