Can Cincinnati finally get moving? One of my greatest frustrations about American cities, especially Midwestern cities, is a glacial like reticence to progress, moving forward, and become greater. Cincinnati has long held this reputation.
Sometimes moving forward means literally moving. An article in the Cincinnati Enquirer of January 17, 2007 brought up yet another study to bring some sort of mass transit besides busses to the Queen City. Light rail has been proposed before and this time it is a streetcar system.
The article by Jon Newberry reports that the city of Cincinnati has hired HDR, of Omaha, Nebraska, an architectural, engineering and consulting firm. They will study a proposal for a three to four mile loop streetcar line. It would run from the Ohio riverfront, through downtown, to the Over-the-Rhine district and back.
I am a great proponent of mass transit systems in the United States. Last year I joined the Citizen Advisory Committee for planning and transportation in Bloomington, Indiana, where I live. I am a strong believer that greater transportation options for Americans can improve our economies and better the quality of lives across the country.
While I have a very positive view, many in Cincinnati do not. Cincinnati is one of my favorite cities. The Queen City sits at the nexus of the Midwest, the South and the Eastern United States. It has a great deal of geographical, historical and cultural character. It has many aspects that make it a good place to live. It also has problems and challenges that many metropolitan areas share. However, the city seems to be plagued by horrible self-criticism and angst about itself. This is very apparent coming from one of its largest media outlets, radio station WLW 700 AM.
I am a WLW listener here in Indiana. WLW is in many ways your typical conservative talk radio format station. They love to turn the guns on liberals and government every chance they get. Sadly, they turn the guns on their own city just about every chance they get as well. Once again, after the article about a possible streetcar line appeared in the morning paper, that night, host Scott Sloan started knocking the idea. He made comparisons and contrasts between Cincinnati and Buffalo and Portland, Oregon. Portland has an excellent and successful mass transit system with streetcars, buses and light rail.
Instead of looking at how Cincinnati might use a streetcar system, Mr. Sloan decided to look at faults in the Buffalo system. Specifically, how a streetcar uses electrical lines that might impede auto and truck traffic in the downtown area. This has pinched businesses in Buffalo along the line. If it is difficult for all potential customers to get to your store, it is obviously hindrance. Fine, point taken, but what does that have to do with Cincinnati? So, why not just encourage city planners to look at Buffalo’s experience to learn from, rather than throw the idea out all together?
On Scott Sloan’s webpage at http://www.700wlw.com/pages/onair_scottsloan.html, he has a poll yesterday. Will a streetcar system help turnaround downtown? The choice of answers are:
Yes. It would bring everything together and downtown would boom once again!
No. We need population to feed the system, and we don't have it. Tackle crime first, then we'll see.
Sadly, Mr. Sloan’s cynicism prejudices the poll. The answers should be a yes or no. Instead, each answer is loaded. What does “boom,” mean? How are we to gauge that word in this context? His “no” answer is loaded also. We must accept his argument about tackling the crime problems first, then streetcar later.
The two seem a bit incongruous. Yes, there is overcrowding in Hamilton County lockups. Yes, there is a crime problem, specifically a horrific murder rate. Streetcars have what to do with that? Why juxtaposition the two? The murder rate always seems to be the number one topic on WLW. WLW hosts do not provide many answers to crime and most other problems, other than to stop welfare to the poor, defeat any levy for schools, and build more jails. That kind conservative lack of creativity has held back not only Cincinnati, but also the whole nation for twenty-five years. This is not to say that I am a wild-eyed liberal willing to only throw money at problems. Conservatives and Liberals have been stuck in the same paradigms for years. They are tiring and old. They are old like an old, stuck LP vinyl record.
Cincinnati once had a fine streetcar system. Like many cities, the rise of the automobile ended many a streetcar line. If you visit Cincinnati’s History Museum tucked inside the great Union Terminal Museum Center, you can take a virtual ride on an old streetcar. Here I am making the fantasy ride to the Clifton district.
There is a need for streetcars and similar transportation once again. There are economic and environmental advantages to doing it. Planned carefully, Cincinnati’s downtown can be helped by the line. It’s a nice downtown, but it can be great. It definitely needs more development. While this sort line would just be a start, I wonder how some day it would be great for someone to be able to commute to downtown, go to a Reds or Bengals game, or for a downtowner to go to the Kenwood Mall and not have to get in the car and fight traffic on I-71 or 75. Cincinnati’s environment can be helped by streetcars in reducing pollution from the cars left behind. Yes, building the lines might cost taxpayers some money. Any government that promises that private investment will pay for all of something like this is really naïve. Speaking of private investment, I would have a private company, not local government, run the streetcar line. Yes, make some money off it! At least a public/private partnership is necessary. Let us see what plans go forward, discuss them fairly and see where it goes. I look forward to it.
It must be looked at as a long-term investment in Cincinnati’s core and the entire metro area. It is an investment not only for this generation, but those to come. Cincinnati is a great city, a great region. It can be even greater. Come on Cincinnati, get moving!
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