[sustran] Assistance Requested - Cincinnati Light Rail Proposal

[Regina Manzo]

Hello Sustran -

There's been a request for info to help support a proposed light rail line 
in Cincinnati, Ohio - part of hard-fought efforts to get more transport 
options in a typical American metropolitan area.  The request has come to me 
in a roundabout way, and the letter is below.  If anyone can share 
statistics about property values and rail lines (that they don't drop), and 
other positive information about rail, please pass them on directly to:

Glen Brand at the Sierra Club
email:glen.brand at sierraclub.org
ph: country code 1-513-861-4001

Thanks,
Gina Manzo
urban planner
Singapore
ph +65 6738-6698

-----Original Message-----

As you may know, in Cincinnati there
is an initiative on the ballot in November to enact a sales tax to support
the construction of a light rail system in Hamilton County, Ohio.  A
description of the system is shown in this link:

http://enquirer.com/editions/2002/08/21/rail600x559.jpg

The initiative has the broad support of a coalition of the business and
civic community and was developed, in part, by the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana
Council of Governments.  If built, it would be the second light rail system
in Ohio; the only other one is in Shaker Heights, in the Cleveland area, and
it dates from the 1920s.

Glen Brand of the Sierra Club's Ohio chapter in Cincinnati sent a request to
APA's Research Department, asking for some supportive comments.  His message
related that, over the next several weeks, the usual opponents of such
projects--Randall O'Toole, Sam Staley, and Wendell Cox--will be in
Cincinnati to condemn the proposal on behalf of a coalition to stop it.

This coalition is said to have made a number of questionable claims about
the proposal. Among them: that the state and federal government would
acquire zoning period over transit-oriented zoning districts along the rail
route (not true); and that light rail causes drops property values on
adjacent parcels (not true--if it were true, Shaker Heights would have
disappeared from the tax rolls long ago).

Which leads to this question: Would the Transportation Planning Division, or
some of its leaders or Ohio members, want to offer some more enlightened
views, representing the state of the art in thinking about these issues?

I spoke to Glen last week and I know he would be
happy to hear from you.

Sam Staley's work is available online at: www.buckeyeinstitute.org
Wendell Cox's at www.demographia.com.

-------------------
Please respond to:
Glen Brand, the Sierra Club
email:glen.brand at sierraclub.org
ph: country code 1-513-861-4001




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