Happening Right Now!
Cincinnati Streetcar wins $15 Million state grant
“The state’s support is recognition of the project’s merits,” Dohoney said. The grant, he added, “puts Cincinnati one step closer to a streetcar system that will have a transformational effect on the city.”Read the Cincinnati Enquirer article here:
Click here: Cincinnati lands $15M streetcar grant cincinnati.com Cincinnati.Com
Why we need streetcars
Suspend the notion they're toys for Yuppies. Modern streetcars are serious transportation that will enable Cincinnatians to live easily in our urban neighborhoods. Streetcars are car-competitive, meaning people will use them instead of driving. With people walking more and waiting at streetcar stops, our sidewalks will be safer and retailers will have regular customers. Downtown and Uptown visitors will be able to park once and visit numerous destinations on the line.We need to repopulate our city. We need more jobs for Cincinnatians, many of whom leave to find employment. We need to keep our young people here and attract newcomers by providing better opportunities. When Cincinnati last had streetcars, many people worked close to home and could buy things in their own neighborhoods. They walked more. Of the 172,000 Cincinnatians we have lost since 1950, fully 20% of them moved from Downtown and Over-the-Rhine alone, and these are just two of the neighborhoods to be served by the streetcar project. Half the households in the streetcar district have zero cars; streetcars will help those citizens get around. The streetcar will encourage people who work in Uptown to live in Avondale, Clifton and Mount Auburn, reducing road and parking congestion and air pollution. Who is not in favor of that?
Cincinnati City Council plans to construct the Cincinnati Streetcar between the Banks and Avondale, and it is feasible to extend the system to the West End, Northside, Clifton, Walnut Hills, Evanston, Hyde Park, the East End, and other close-in neighborhoods. The cities of Covington and Newport support the Cincinnati Streetcar project and could easily connect to the system.
Modern streetcars travel silently and smoothly, and the overhead wires are barely visible. You board at curb-level without steps. You can bring your bike on board. The Cincinnati Streetcar will be a relatively small consumer of electric power, and people traveling by streetcar rather than driving will cut their greenhouse emissions in half.
Because the land and buildings near the streetcar line will become more valuable, property in the streetcar district will yield more property tax revenue for our schools. People who work and live in new and renovated buildings along the streetcar line will pay city earnings taxes which fund police, parks, and other public services in all of our city’s neighborhoods.
Economists determined that for every dollar spent to build and operate the streetcar over the next thirty-five years, almost three dollars of Present Value benefits will be realized. This is an astonishing rate-of-return for any kind of project, public or private.
We are doing this for the long run. No electric railway that has opened in the United States since 1945 has ever gone out of business.
Please vote "No" on Issue 9.
