Today is 60 days after streetcar track bids were opened...and still no progress

Yes, yes, this week marked the momentous time in the six-year saga of the Cincinnati Streetcar that the "Savior," the great John Deatrick, was hired to fix everything that ails the project, but....


Other than that, COAST had calendared to note that today marks the 60th day after the Cincinnati Streetcar track bids were opened and the City realized -- or at least it was revealed to the public for the first time -- that the City's cost estimates for the project were as much as 50% too low.

Now the City Manager admitted, amazingly, that the City thought the bids would come in high (yeah, he admitted that he knew his budget was off budget!), but even he was shocked, shocked, at how bad his estimates really were.

The 60-day mark is important because City fathers had indicated that they needed that much time to re-work the design and budget to bring the cost down within initial estimates.  And, of course, that is largely a pipe dream, like so many things (everything) about the Streetcar.

Each day that goes by the project gets behinder in schedule, and overer in budget; in short, boondogglier.