The downtown station for the 3C was planned for Eastern Avenue near the Montgomery Inn Boathouse. When nearby residents found out loud stinky diesel trains a day would rumble through their quiet upscale community up to 12 times a day, they stormed a City Hall hearing and had it relocated near Lunken Airport. Sharonville would be the primary Cincinnati station, despite Issue 9's failure.
Today, Bill Sloat at The Daily Bellwether reports that it may be moving to Bond Hill, again keeping passengers away from downtown. Two sites near the old Norwood Showcase Cinema site are under review.
Noticably absent from any consideration is the failed Riverfront Transit Center Boondoggle. After taxpayers spent some $40 million to build a state-of-the-art train station in the heart of downtown, nearly bankrupting the stadium fund in the process, that bride remains stranded at the altar. How many empty train stations can one city afford?
The beauty of this fiasco is that any change in station location must be submitted to the Federal Railroad Administration, along with new environmental impact studies, to go through the evaluation process all over again. Moreover, the new site will also have to undergo review for compliance with Council's new "Environmental Justice" ordinance.
Both of these useless time-wasters should delay the 3C Snail Rail Boondoggle until Kasich is Governor, and can kill the plan.
haha hey COAST how did your pathetic Issue 9 do? That's right it failed. Nice to see you teaming up with the armchair losers at the beacon to oppose progress. Yeah, lets turn down 400 million to add increased travel options to our citizens, sure we can just give that money to another state.
ReplyDeleteWhen will you guys oppose real wasted spending and quit hiding your special interest anti-rail agenda?
P.S. As you've been told before, the Riverfront Transit Center is only a boondoggle because you made it one with your opposition to the Metro Moves plan. When its used eventually it will save millions in not having to tunnel or build a new station for light rail use. However, your group lacks foresight and seeks only to impede, procrastinate and seek special interest, short term solutions so I don't expect you to understand the concept.
The Riverfront Transit Center cost $23 million, as cited numerous times, including here: http://thephonyconey.blogspot.com/2009/07/more-lies-from-jason-gloyd-coast.html
ReplyDeleteRob,
ReplyDeleteAnd as we've cited numerous times, local governments have repeatedly lied in an effort to cover up the true cost, and avoid further embarassment. So we use the figure quoted in the peer-reviewed journal of the Transportation Research Board, which is $42 million.
It's also about half of what it would cost to extend the 4th main to Cincinnati Union Terminal. If the city would quit wasting money outright, there might be a little of it left to spend on other pipe dreams.
Rob, I'm not sure if you read the COAST blog often, but it's COAST's nature to intentionally mislead their blog readers about rail transit. See: http://caast-usa.blogspot.com/2009/12/why-does-coast-lie-about-rail.html
ReplyDeleteOh, and check out how they edit other peoples tweets to drum up fake support for themselves: http://cincinnati.blogspot.com/2010/01/coast-caught-lying-again.html
"Contraversy"?
ReplyDeleteAnonymous
ReplyDeleteOops. Good catch. Thanks. Fixed it.
COAST,
ReplyDeleteI'm well aware that the $42 million you cite is ACTUALLY the cost the included the roadway decking on top in addition to the $23 million the transit center cost. As explained previous times in the comment section of your blog, the only other option would have been dirt fill, and 2nd street would still have costed around $20 million. So quit distorting the facts.
CAAST,
I'm a fairly regular peruser of COAST's blog... so I'm well aware of the constant attempts at deceiving the public.