Transportation (LIGHT RAIL) thread: Cincinnati needs BOLD leadership to tackle our legacy of disinvestment in transportation! To be a Great American city, we must lead like one. “Make no little plans,” as Daniel Burnham said.

I was proud to support the successful Issue 7 campaign to reinvent SORTA and our roads. Finally, we will have a regionally funded @cincinnatimetro system and BRT!

Now, I am equally convinced that Cincinnati needs to consider Light Rail Transit (LRT) to connect our growing downtown with the booming job centers like @CVGairport, @amazon hub, and our dense corridors with high growth potential like the West Side over the WHV!

Historically, disinvestment in our complex multimodal transportation systems broke the backs of our cities and separated urban communities from growth and opportunity. Our cities were literally destroyed. With that in mind, I am committed to BOLD change for Cincinnati.

It should be noted that the @GOP Platform has supported (LRT) many times. In 2004: “Republicans support, where economically viable, the development of a high-speed passenger railroad system as an instrument of economic development and enhanced mobility.”

In 1968: Our metro transit systems—the lifelines of our cities—have become tangled webs of congestion which not only create vast citizen inconvenience, discontent and economic inefficiency, but also tend to barricade inner city people against job opportunities in suburban areas.

President @realDonaldTrump is on the record as a supporter of LRT.

Read the Growth and Opportunity (GO) Study that @CityOfCincy received in 2008 from KMK Consulting, @BrookingsInst and @RCLCO. It provides a framework that our city and regional policmakers need to follow! Bike and pedestrian infrastructure matters! https://www.uc.edu/cdc/niehoff_studio/programs/great_streets/go_cincinnati.pdf

Want to reduce crime? Make neighborhoods walkable as Jane Jacobs said. Her idea that an active “sidewalk ballet” makes neighborhoods safe and vibrant is true. So many neighborhoods like Westwood, Price Hill, Bond Hill, Roselawn, College Hill deserve immediate action!

With a commitment to high growth corridors and walkable neighborhoods, we can turn a nightmare into a dream. “A comprehensive urban plan ... should be developed to create and reinforce walkable, transit-oriented, mixed-use neighborhoods.” -GO Cincinnati Report

These are actions the City can and will take but to accomplish our REGIONAL goals we will have to work together even though our region is so disjointed. A big reason is the forgotten history of BIG GOVERNMENT housing policies that segregated America: https://www.npr.org/transcripts/526655831

We must resist the urge to continue down this anti-growth, small-minded, racist, and classist path. We need LIGHT RAIL TRANSIT to generate new jobs, new housing, new density, new redevelopment, and new riders throughout our region.

But how to pay for it? I believe we need a new tool called Transportation Development Districts (TDD). The @kcstreetcar in Missouri uses the Main Street Rail TDD to fund the majority of its successful streetcar system. https://kcstreetcar.org/transportation-development-district/

Local communities need tools like TDDs in their toolbox. I know our Statehouse delegation can make this happen. Here’s more info on Missouri’s legislation: https://www.modot.org/transportation-development-districts-tdds @BillSeitzOH @GoBrinkman @AbramsforOhio @SedrickDenson @brigidekelly @cingram32 @CecilThomasOH

Another reason I like TDDs, they require the support of those in the district who are most closely affected by transportation projects.

Lastly, we need our Federal officials to send money back home and to fight for us! @RepSteveChabot @senrobportman @SenSherrodBrown @RepThomasMassie @realDonaldTrump @RepBradWenstrup Our region of 2+ Million depends on your leadership. We need our tax dollars to work our region!