SORTA is next...they want more of your money.

This is a big deal.

There is no question that public transportation is an absolute mess in Cincinnati and Hamilton County.  Fares are up, service is dramatically reduced, and SORTA is facing massive deficits.

So, if you were a SORTA Board member in the midst of this mess, what would you do?  Of course, you'd agree to take over operations of the money-losing streetcar and make your fiscal mess even worse.

That's exactly what happened, despite warnings from COAST, our local Congressman, County Commissioners, members of the Ohio legislature, Governor Kasich, the Police Union, the Firefighters Union, the CODE Labor Union, the NAACP, the Baptist Ministers, and Westwood Concern.

Now, SORTA is making its "move."  It is conducting a phone survey of Hamilton County residents.  A COASTer received the call last night.  The survey consisted of a few dozen questions all of which circled back to, "would you support a tax increase if it would allow SORTA to create or expand xyz service."  Undoubted the survey is at taxpayer expense, and undoubtedly it is part of a plan to put a tax increase before the voters this fall.

And you can be assured that COAST will mount a withering offensive to fight this confiscatory tax for a poorly-led agency that could be doing good work. In short, we will make sure SORTA pays a dear price for their foolish support of the streetcar.  And this tax push is the place to start that.

Portland -- Camelot of Rail Transit -- Struggles to pay the bills!

"Reduced revenue and federal funding, combined with unsustainable employee costs, are making it difficult for the Oregon city to stay on top."

Read the profile in "Governing the States and Localities" here.  It ain't a pretty picture where Mayor Mallory wants to take us:

leaders of a region long known for a commitment to multimodal transportation will have to increase fares and reduce service to balance budgets in 2013...

Transit systems nationwide are facing budget shortfalls similar to those of Portland -- and in some cases vastly larger.

Take note: While this train wreck is happening all around us, the business community is sitting on its hands.

Breaking news: Streetcar costs Cincinnati FAA funding for Blue Ash Airport

The Streetcar folly is the gift that keeps on costing and costing and costing.

We are not sure if it is the Mallory/Qualls cabal that disappoints us more, or the business community sitting on its hands while Cincinnati burns.  Where is the Chamber in this mess?  The Cincinnati Business Committee?  Hello, is anyone desirous of avoiding running this train of a City into a brick wall?  Hello?  Is anyone home?

This from a COASTer this AM:

Did you happen to see on of the reasons why the FAA is not awarding a grant for Cincinnati to prop up the flailing Blue Ash Airport??? They were going to use some of the money for the trolley.

Blue Ash Airport faces shutdown this year

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20120304/NEWS/303050029/Blue-Ash-Airport-faces-shutdown-year?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

"...The FAA has balked at giving Cincinnati funding to reconfigure the airport because the city wants to earmark money from its sale of the airport land for non-airport-related uses, possibly including the streetcar project...."

Will the media ask the hard questions at the Streetcar groundbreaking Friday?

• Mayor Mallory, your budget numbers don't add up.  Duke Energy says they won't move their lines at ratepayer expense.  That's a $13 million gap in your budget numbers.  

• Mayor Mallory, MSD says they won't pass the cost of moving sewer lines on to ratepayers.  That's another $5-8 million funding gap.

• Mayor Mallory, if you don't move those utility lines, and rather build on top of them, that's a design, operational and safety nightmare.

•  Mayor Mallory, what exactly is the plan to address these massive gaps in your plan to build the trolley?  How do you plan to finish the project on time and in budget?

•  You say you have no plan?  You say you are still in negotiations?  You say you will address this later?  Isn't that a recipe for fiscal or operational disaster?  Aren't you condemning the taxpayers to pick up the gaps in funding as they arise, especially stating the project knowing of $18 million in unfunded costs?

• Are you serious, Mayor Mallory?

Will the media rain on the parade with Ray LaHood and demand that our City fathers either tell us their plan, or admit that they have no plan, and that they plan on sticking it to us when the pieces fall apart about nine months from now?

Cincinnati media, face it.  You blew it on the stadium fiasco that blew up after it was too late.  Please ask the questions now, at the front end of the project, before we bankrupt the City as Bedinghaus and Neyer bankrupted the County.

$52 million here, $18.7 million there, and pretty soon it adds up to real money

Mayor Mallory and his merry band of thieves on Cincinnati City Council are desperately trying to hold out an appearance to the public that the Cincinnati Streetcar vision remains "on track."  Um huh, yeah.

Yesterday held two developments in the Streetcar world.  

First, Duke Energy issued an dramatic blow to the project, stating that negotiations on underground utility relocation (gas, electric and chilled water) were at an impasse with the City because the City was demanding ratepayers eat $18.7 million in excess costs, and the City proposed an unsafe distance between the tracks and utility lines.

Second, as the project appeared to be rapidly falling apart, Mayor Mallory in a "remain calm" moment issued a press release from his conference in D.C gathering streetcar fanatics from across the USA.  In that release, our esteemed Mayor said "let me assure you that we are moving forward on the Streetcar."  

But reading between the lines of the Mayor's press release, it is clear that the City has no "Plan B."  Either Duke relents and subsidizes the City's trolley folly, at the expense of ratepayers regionally, or the City can't move forward with the Streetcar project.  

In other words, even hiking parking meter charges, filling fewer potholes, and diverting casino revenues that have not yet started to flow the City can't fill that new $18.7 million cost overrun, and the project is not going forward.

Thus, we now see that this ruse that streetcar groundbreaking is awaiting an opening in Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood's schedule for a ceremonial visit is complete bunk.  The reality is that the Mayor's men don't yet have their Streetcar act together.  It's already three months behind schedule and $25 million over budget, and they haven't even broken ground yet. 

This blow, of course, follows by one year, the loss of $52 million for the project when our brave and visionary Governor Kasich killed state funding of the project. (Thank you, Gov'na.)

The City continues to pay the Black Knight role of "its just a scratch" and "it's merely a flesh wound," but $52 million here and $18.7 million there, and pretty soon it adds up to real money. 

God, this is fun to watch. 

Streetcar hitting rough waters

At City Hall, Mayor Mallory and Milton Dohoney are singing a song of sweetness and light regarding Streetcar construction.  Indeed, they have promised to start construction now for more than a year.  But behind the scenes, engineers and planners are fretting that the project can't happen -- at least within budget.

There are loads of problems with building the system -- something COAST and others have been saying all along.  But now, the reality of budgets, law, and physics are such that the project is becoming more problematic by the day.

The biggest (but by far not only) obstacle: utility line relocation.  Underneath the streets of downtown Cincinnati lie miles of sewers, electric lines, gas lines, telephone lines, cable TV and internet lines, and even chilled water lines.

It is irresponsible from an engineering perspective to build improvements on top of such utility lines, other than simple paved surfaces that can be torn up such as parking lots or streets.  The City, in contrast, intends to build the continuous 18-inch concrete slab with embedded steel rail lines on top of these lines.

This will have several bad consequences:

(a) first, all of these utility lines will need to be maitained and eventually replaced.  This is a question of when, not if.  Further, with a 40-ton streetcar rumbling over the top of 100-year-old brick sewer lines, construction on top of the sewers may well accelerate their deterioriation.

(b) then, when they need to be repaired or replaced, repeatedly over the years, the operation of the streetcar (which cannot detour around the construction) will be disrupted.

(c) the cost of tearing up and replacing the streetcar improvements will be significant, and additional time for utility repair will be incurred.  This also means a prolonged period of disruption of vehicular street traffic.

(d) the cost of the repair and replacement of the utility lines will also rise, due to the additional work and time needed for the repairs.

It will cost between $20 and $40 million to relocate these utility lines to accommodate streetcar construction.  Of that, the City has budgeted only $6 million as part of the $110 million Streetcar budget.

The City's plan to pay for all of this?  They intended to shift the cost to the utility ratepayers, a hidden tax increase (extending outside the City) to subsidize this ill-conceived project.

However, that plan has not been well-received.  The Water works is controlled by City Council, so they will pay to relocate the water lines.  But Duke Energy has steadfastly maintained that the costs associated with electric lines, natural gas lines and chilled water lines simply will not be passed on to ratepayers -- the City must pony up the money, money the City does not have.  We understand that Cincinnati Bell and Time Warner have maintained the same position with respect to their utility infrastructure.

And bravely, the Hamilton County Commissioners, led by Chris Monzel, have instructed MSD not to spend a penny on sewer relocation costs.

So, Mayor Mallory and Milton Dohoney have a small hole in their budget for their beloved Streetcar.

With these realities, what will they do?  Some say they will just scrap the project.  Others believe they will proceed irresponsibly to build on top of these utility lines.  Still others contend that they will simply start construction and announce, of course to their shock and disappointment, 80% of the way through the project, that they have run out of money, necessitating a tax increase or taking on more debt to complete it.