[sustran] Re: Assistance Requested - Cincinnati Light Rail Proposal

[Todd Alexander Litman]

There is considerable research indicating that rail transit stations can 
significantly increase nearby property values and support local economic 
development, provided that other factors are in place, including consumer 
demand for transit-oriented housing and business locations, and appropriate 
local development policies.

There are two components of this effect. One is an economic transfer: 
people value transit accessible locations more than transit inaccessible 
locations for housing and commercial activities. In addition, transit 
oriented development can provide efficiencies of agglomeration, that is, 
higher density development can increase the productivity of certain types 
of business activities (which is why certain types of stores and industries 
tend to locate in major commercial centers). Although this second factor is 
difficult to measure, it suggests that transit services can provide large 
economic benefits if they they provide a catalyst for more clustered 
development.

See:

Jeffery J. Smith, Does Mass Transit Raise Site Values Around Its Stops 
Enough To Pay For Itself (Were The Value Captured)?, Geonomy Society 
(www.progress.org/geonomy), 2001; available at the Victoria Transport 
Policy Institute (www.vtpi.org/smith.htm).

"Transit Evaluation" Online TDM Encyclopedia 
(http://www.vtpi.org/tdm/tdm62.htm)

"Transit Oriented Development" Online TDM Encyclopedia 
(http://www.vtpi.org/tdm/tdm45.htm)



At 03:16 AM 10/29/2002 +0000, you wrote:
>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
>
>
>
>
>_________________________________________________________________
>Unlimited Internet access for only $21.95/month.  Try MSN! 
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>


Sincerely,
Todd Litman, Director
Victoria Transport Policy Institute
"Efficiency - Equity - Clarity"
1250 Rudlin Street
Victoria, BC, V8V 3R7, Canada
Phone & Fax: 250-360-1560
Email: litman at vtpi.org
Website: http://www.vtpi.org