Cincinnati Streetcar Network

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Cincinnati, OH

$132,000,000.00 - 150 jobs - Transit Program

43% voted critical - 57% voted not critical - 3395 votes cast

Yes

Wiki Description

1 General Description
2 Points in Favor
3 Points Against
4 Further reading

General Description

Cincinnati's downtown and Over-the-Rhine have been undergoing a revival for the past decade, with a lot of new development focusing on the Gateway Quarter, Fountain Square and Main Street -- along with The Banks and the West Fourth districts. There are two primary employment centers in the city: the neighborhoods surrounding the University of Cincinnati and "Pill Hill," and the central business district. Due to the geography of the city, with steep hills and neighborhoods separated by the geographic challenges, Cincinnati has been a city of insular neighborhoods since the dismantling of its inclines and its comprehensive pre-World War II streetcar network. The proposed Cincinnati Streetcar Network has the potential to connect these neighborhoods and major employment centers while at the same time encouraging private development along the line.

In 2007, the city unveiled plans for a 3.9-mile, $102 million (2010 figures) streetcar line. Such a line would contribute $2 billion to the city's economy, and would take two to three years to construct, contain 18 stops, and cost $2 million to $2.8 million annually to operate. Fares would be 50 cents and daily ridership would initially be 4,600 per day in 2010, rising to 6,400 by 2015. An extension to the University of Cincinnati and hospital complex would be included as part of phase one or two.

Points in Favor

The streetcar is a powerful catalyst for economic development. Although the improved transportation provided by the streetcar will improve the character and feel of the city, the greatest benefits come from the streetcar’s ability to focus and spur investment all along the route.

In other cities, building a streetcar line has been an effective way to increase investment and development in their urban cores.

Portland has seen $2.8 billion in added value to the city. Tampa’s streetcar line stimulated $1.1 billion of development. Little Rock’s route brought $700 million into the city. Even Kenosha, Wisconsin, a metro area with1.9 million fewer residents than Cincinnati’s metro, has seen $175 million in added value along their streetcar line. Streetcars promote growth add economic development in a myriad of different ways. The make downtown housing more affordable, bring in more customers to support downtown retail, improve property values, create a more vibrant city, and increase public safety by keeping more eyes on the street which improves the overall business climate.

The Streetcar is a powerful tool for stimulating economic development. In Portland (Oregon) an investment of $72 million dollars has yielded $2.28 billion in economic development, 7,248 housing units, 4.6 million sf of office, institutional, retail and hotel uses, and allowed the number of cars per unit of housing to be reduced.

A streetcar system can help revitalize Cincinnati by stimulating economic development and by making Cincinnati a more vibrant place to live. The streetcar is somewhat about moving people, but it’s more about making place.

Statistics show that Cincinnati and Portland have much in common; except that Portland is growing and attracting educated young people and Cincinnati is not. The streetcar system in Portland is now about seven miles long. If it were overlaid on Cincinnati, it would run from the Purple People Bridge to the West End. An investment of $55.9 million dollars yielded $1.6 billion in new development by 2004. This is a multiplier of 28.5 to 1 ($1,600,000,000 divided by $55,900,000). A study by the Hovee Company showed that by 2006, the economic benefit had grown to $2,500,000,000. Most of this development clustered within three blocks of the track alignment. In fact, the closer to the alignment, the more development. There is a pyramid of increasing value that follows the track alignment. Two (of the many) potential alignments for the streetcar tracks along with their respective areas of expected development. The first runs from the Banks up Elm to Findlay Market and back to the Banks via Race. The other runs up Main from 3rd to Central Parkway, west to Elm, north to Findlay, south on Race to Central, east on Central to Sycamore and south to 3rd.

A condo-builder has to spend about $50,000 to build two parking spaces per unit. If the streetcar can lower the ratio of cars to units from two to one, the price of the condominium will fall by $25,000. If the homeowning couple can operate one car rather than two, the two people can save $ 4,000 per year. This money can go to buying a more expensive unit, an education for their children, or an upgrade to their lifestyle.

If we use the 28.5 to 1 multiplier from Portland (see above) an investment of $100 million in building a streetcar system will yield $2.85 billion in economic development. Cincinnati Streetcar Development Group 1 February 2007 p. 2 of 2

The increase in property values will lead to an increase in taxes. If this increase is one percent, by year twenty the City will have $28.5 million to bond. If the City bonds this amount at 4.75%, it will have $368 million to invest in infrastructure. Once the $100 million cost of the streetcar is paid off, there will be almost $229 million available for other projects.

Unlike individual projects in which the benefits of tax payer dollars are enjoyed by the developer and the user, investments in the streetcar- which is public infrastructuretaxpayer dollars are enjoyed by the developer, the user and the public.

The state of public transportation in America is a disgrace compared to the rest of the world. Starting a system of streetcar transportation would be a worthwhile step toward the reduction of traffic and an associated decrease in our dependence on foreign oil for refinement into gasoline.

Points Against

This project is opposed by the Cincinnati Chapter of the NAACP, the Green Party, the Libertarian Party, Hamilton County Business Owners, and the Coalition Opposed to Additional Spending and Taxes. These groups form the WeDemandAVote.com coalition and are gathering signatures on an initiative petition to require voter approval prior to spending taxpayer dollars on rolling stock or right-of-way acquisition. However city officials continue to force this project down citizens' throats despite widespread public opposition.

100% of the area proposed for streetcar coverage is presently served by taxpayer subsidized municipal buses. In fact, most of the proposed streetcar route directly overlaps existing bus routes, further congesting downtown streets. No plans for integration between bus and streetcar systems have been proposed.

The route conspicuously avoids vast sections of the urban core, providing poor transportation coverage. Proponents tout the economic development potential of streetcars in other cities, but have confined the proposed route solely to portions of the urban core that are already fully developed. This plan is not "shovel-ready" because the route needs to be reworked in order to provide full transportation coverage, and full economic development coverage before it can be viable.

Costs for the project (capital and operating) will be shouldered by all 330,000+ city residents. But the project will only serve perhaps 20,000 citizens in the urban core. Excitement among the few beneficiaries of the system is, of course, very high. However loathing for this latest political boondoggle is even greater among the much larger number of taxpayers who receive no benefit from it at all.

Tax increment financing is well established in the project area, but provides minimal funding, due to poor route selection explained above. This is the primary source of the vast disparity between payers and beneficiaries. Proper route selection would allow most project costs to be paid for out of real property appreciation in the area served, the residents of which are also the primary beneficiaries. The current proposal cannibalizes existing infrastructure budgets in non-served areas.

It's estimated that 40 permanent jobs will be created as part of the streetcar program. They include 15 drivers for the seven planned cars, 10 maintenance workers, 5 managers, and 10 office and clerical staff. That's about $4.5 million per job for a $183 million capital project.

This project requires another year of public hearings and reengineering before it will be a viable infrastructure project, therefore it is not "shovel-ready." This project is confined to a tiny portion of the Cincinnati metropolitan area which is already fully developed, so the stimulus effect will be negligible. Long term jobs created by this project are far too costly to justify. Therefore, this project is not suitable for inclusion in the stimulus bill.

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