Wednesday, December 04, 2013

Cranley Fucks-Over the Urban Core

Few are surprised the Republican backed  Mayor John Cranley led the effort to damage the Urban Core by stopping the Streetcar, but that doesn't lessen the blow to the Urban Core.  It is both sad and disappointing to see the level that Cranley continues to see the Streetcar as a threat to his plan to Suburbanize the City. 

The odds that COAST's plan to pave over all of Downtown/OTR North of 2nd Street and create the world's biggest free parking lot for Bengals games has increased. The only question outstanding would then be how much would free parking reduce the number of battered women after Bengal losses. I don't see that as COAST priority.

8 comments:

  1. Then who would use the hotels for the casinos?

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  2. Do you just like polemic, do you fancy yourself a satirist, or have you just stopped taking your Zyprexa?

    If you're really so incensed maybe you should stop writing in your shitty little blog that almost no-one reads, get off your ass and go gather signatures for a referendum. Unlike a certain former mayor and vice mayor, John Cranley isn't afraid to have what his opponents see as bad ideas put to a vote by pubic referendum. Otherwise, I'm sorry about your little choo chop train, but elections have consequences. Roughly 60% of the voters who bothered showing up--and you can't say it was all Republicans because only about 13,000 Republicans cast ballots and he got almost 35,000 votes--voted for John Cranley. It also wasn't exactly a big secret what his position on the streetcar was/is; this election was very much about the streetcar.

    So, to recap, you can sit here and rant and rave and give your "unique perspective" about some right-wing conspiracy that got John Cranley elected and how he's Chris Finney's tool--if entertaining such absurd delusions is what floats your boat--or you can acknowledge that a majority of the city (including a bunch of democrats, and judging by your blog only Democrats'opinions matter anyway; Republicans are just cavemen and 1% charlatans) voted to kill the streetcar. Accordingly, there's a strong likelihood that that's what is now going to happen. It's called democracy; if you don't like the result move somewhere more "progressive", like China. I hear they have nice public transportation.

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    1. ...Or you could just move to another city in the U.S., any number of which already have expanded transit options and haven't sought to bury their stock in even more motor vehicle infrastructure, such as Cranley/COAST's laughably quaint ''Hop-On Cincinnati'' decorated bus plan.

      The sole comfort in all of this is the lingering possibility of Cranley's utter humiliation in a court of law when the federal lawsuit comes and this project ends up costing far more than it would to finish. In the meantime, have fun running the city's urban growth trend into the ground, asshole.

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    2. John,

      The funniest part of your comment is that you don't deny the intent of Cranley and COAST: to fuck-over the Urban Core. You appear to be new to the world of blogging in Cincinnati, something I am not, so I'll try to be understanding of your ignorance.

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  3. Brian,

    First of all let me say how humbled I am that such a pillar of Cincinnati's 40-Somethings-With-Shit-Else-To-Do-Who-Sit-In-Their-Parents'-Basement-Blogging -All-Day community has deigned to at least try and forgive such a lowly village idiot as myself. As busy as you must be in your capacity as "editor in chief" of such a hallowed journalistic institution as the Cincinnati Blog, I sure am glad you've found the time to try and understand how in the world somebody could hold an opinion that's not you're own. You truly are a gentleman and a scholar, Brian Griffin. I was wrong to underestimate you, and in the future I'll do my damnedest--dimwitted though I may be--to bring something more than a knife to a gun fight.

    Let me then just briefly address your concerns re: my failing to deny your contention that Cranley and COAST intend to "fuck over" the "urban core." Really, it's quite simple Brian; unlike yourself, apparently, my cerebral cortex hasn't evolved to the extent that I've acquired such higher-order mental faculties as the ability to read another person's innermost thoughts. The fact of the matter is, I couldn't tell you what John Cranley is truly thinking at any particular moment. Alternatively, if I was in error and Cranley's "intent to fuck over the urban core" is merely your OPINION, then I'd be hard-pressed to disprove that since it is, after all, just your opinion. I will, however, offer an alternative theory: John Cranley trapped into the general unpopularity of the project, subsequently ran for office and won (quite handily, I might add) on the promise of killing it, and is accordingly now in the process of making good on said promise. Again, it seems implausible to me (though for what it's worth I'm just some idiot off the street and not an accomplished blogger such as yourself, so perhaps I'm being naive here) that John Cranley's killing the streetcar out of any personal vendetta against the "urban core" (though given the baseless vitriol you folks send his way, I suppose I wouldn't blame him.) It would seem to me that he's probably just doing what the voters sent him to city hall to do (a point that I made at length--one that is in fact supported by evidence and not mere conjecture or opinion, and one that you quite humorously failed to address, not that I'm calling you a Big Fucking Hypocrite™ or anything.)

    In any event, the hour grows late, sleep beckons and I eagerly anticipate reading whatever one-liner response you hack out when you read this in the morning. Do say hello to your parents for me when you emerge from the basement for another Mountain Dew or whatever your particular poison happens to be.

    Warmest regards,

    John

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    1. Wow, I would rank your attack on me in the top 500 of all time. Congratulations!

      To address a bit of your ramblings: What you apparently don't know is the history of John Cranley. While on city council he led an effort to turn the Main Street entertainment district (that's in OTR in case you have never heard of it) into something built around bringing in national chain bars and restaurants, aka suburbanize. That plan was thankfully ended when his hand picked consultant was revealed to be an anti-sian racist. So there's some insight you lack. He also used to be pining for an ESPN Zone, but I guess Toby Keith's sufficed.

      Second, fact, Cranley and his Cabal have damaged the urban core by this effort to kill the streetcar, in stages if they have to.

      The point of my post was NOT about discussing the mandate cover Cranley and his cronies (which I presume you are part) are desperate to find as Cranley breaks his promise of improving the financial situation when the city is forced to pay the Streetcar costs (at least most of them) whether they build the Streetcar or not. I lost track of how many things he promised to use the Streetcar money on, but other than screwing the Urban Core and killing parking plan, I don't see Cranley keeping many others. My point was that Cranley has damaged the Urban Core and he did it willingly and with clear forethought.

      Finally, I gotta point out your creepiness. I would surmise you are a Republican, so that isn't a surprise, but to look me up on Facebook? If you are going to do that, then at least read more carefully.

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  4. Brian,

    First of all, thank you for the history and geography lessons. I bet you're a total hit at Neon's trivia. I have indeed heard of the Main Street Entertainment District; though I may not live in OTR, I do visit from time to time... I always see a whole lot of development going on, lack of streetcar notwithstanding. Until Taste of Belgium, MOTR, Bakersfield, et al. pack up shop and move out, all this "damage" to the urban core to which you refer is not so much fact as it is, again, just your opinion. Now here's mine: given the momentum in OTR, demand for housing exceeding supply, (relatively) cheap real estate, and desirable location, most detached observers (ie. people who don't live in OTR and thus aren't married to the idea of having the other 300,000+ city residents subsidize a streetcar for them) expect that momentum to continue.

    Moreover, until the audit comes back, all bets are off as to the impact of potential cancellation vis a vis the city's finances. DOT has so far played ball, and the White House has agreed to give Cranley an audience on potential re-appropriation of the federal funds (another thing you folks were completely wrong about, insisting that the money would be yanked immediately and a lawsuit would ensue). The whole process has been handled in a relatively measured fashion, not that it had to be. In the event that the numbers bear out as you streetcar folks claim they will, count on council to vote to continue the project. It could be Kevin Flynn, it could be David Mann—hell, it could be Murray or Winburn, who's publicly stated that he wants the numbers before he decides either way—but one vote and you can have the final piece of the idyllic urbanite lifestyle puzzle you so dearly desire. I don't like the project personally, I think it's a colossal waste of money, the “returns” are pretty obviously overstated (and what does the CITY actually recoup from the money down?) and it isn't really deserving of being called "public transportation" since it doesn't actually go anywhere (unless, I suppose, your world starts at the riverfront and ends just north of Liberty Street). But if there really is no actual difference (accounting of course for the millions in annual operating costs into perpetuity, an inconvenient fact that people like you seem to want to gloss over) then I guess I can live with them building the damn thing and making the best of a bad situation.

    All of this is, of course, completely speculative, because the process has yet to play out. But presumption, not factual basis, seems to be your strong suit. To address a few of the presumptuous that you've made before I get on with my life and leave you to your bitching: (1) I’m a Democrat (2) I'm no Cranley "croney" (although, as I'm sure you may have figured out, I did vote for the guy), (3) I didn't creep your Facebook (although, full disclosure: I did Google you and, as I suspected, your life seems to largely consist of running this silly little blog of yours) and I'm not exactly sure where that came from. I will say, however, that what IS a bit creepy is a grown man spending so much of his time obsessively blogging with such enmity about somebody they don't even know and, as far as I can tell, whose only cardinal sin is doing what a substantial majority of voters put him in office to do. (ie. a "mandate"—and make no mistake, Cranley already has one.) If you don't like the result, you can either accept that that's how democracy works and try for the next election, or you can look to move elsewhere that better suits your worldview. My instincts tell me that you'll probably do none of above, but alas I tried.

    Anyway, hopefully this clears everything up. Good luck on your quest to get back in touch with reality. Seems like you might need it.

    All the best. Your pal,

    John

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  5. 'John Hill' (Not your real name)

    Your comments give away much about you. It's pretty clear you are one of the following:
    1)Not a Democratic, but instead just a COASTer (or akin to) playing games.
    2)A staffer (or former staffer) for one of the Conservatives (Cranley, Mann, Flynn). Most likely a junior staffer.

    Your blind use of COASTer based anti-streetcar rhetoric puts you in a small corner and your "us vs. them" language ("you streetcar folk") along with your council speak paint you even further in.

    I am not sure if it is ignorance or delusion that makes you believe that wasting 100 Million dollars on nothing, literally NOTHING, is a good thing. That is one of the more amazing things about "you anti-streetcar folk", that I just don't get. The only sanity I can place on it is the desire to destroy all things Urban, since all you know if life in the Cul-de-sac.

    A point of order to your false assumption on damage. If you seem to view Cranley as capable of being a hurricane, well, that's your fetish, but not that was not the point of the post. The damage to the Urban core is long term. Killing the Streetcar will damage the urban core in the long term in many ways, but the most simple has been turning people in the City against it, even more than they already are. That happened prior to the suspension votes. The suspension votes hurt us by costing the city money. In the future, the Feds or the State will deny the Urban core money because we will stand the risk of insane attack on projects that would make them risk to cancellation because too many people just don't like anyone not living in a cul-de-sac or driving a car.
    If by chance you are a friend of Cranley, I will stand corrected, but come on. I think #2 is most likely, so that leads me to one question:
    Did you leak the memo to the press?

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