“(The signs) are about giving people a glance at what the streetcar route will look like,” said Mallory, who added the project would boost the local economy and add to downtown developments like The Banks project.
Despite garnering the endorsement of many city officials and business owners, the streetcar must still go through one more test with voters. A petition with thousands of signatures was submitted to and accepted by the Hamilton County Board of Election to put the issue on the ballot.
Multiple groups — the Cincinnati chapter of the NAACP and the Coalition Opposing Additional Spending and Taxes among them — worked throughout the summer rallying opposition for the streetcar and signatures for the petition.
“I think it’s a marketing ploy,” said Mark Miller, treasurer of COAST. “They need to rally their troops. They’re doing anything to inflate the buzz.”
In 2009, Miller said the streetcar was a novel idea, but now, as more details develop, voters are not as receptive to the idea.
The failed 3C corridor — a proposed passenger train that would take riders from Cincinnati to Columbus or Cleveland — was not mourned when Gov. John Kasich shut down the idea when citizens learned more about the project, Miller said.
“The devil is always in the details,” Miller said. “We’re in much of the same position in the city now.”
Mallory, however, said he will continue to work on the project as though it was already given the green light.
“I don’t live in a world of ‘what ifs,’ ” he said. “The voters said yes in 2009, and they’ll say yes again.”
The signage, which cost nearly $3,000, was paid for out of the streetcar fund, which Mallory emphasized must be used solely for the project.
“This is money that cannot be used to hire police officers, firefighters and to keep our pools open,” Mallory said. “Because if it could, we would hire police officers, firefighters and keep our pools open.”
Currently, the streetcar is planned to run a three-mile loop around the business and art districts downtown. Construction is slated to start in the late fall or early winter.
Aside from being a new form of public transportation, the project will do two things, City Manager Milton Dohoney said: increase competitiveness of Cincinnati and help local businesses at the same time.
“The road to being competitive is not paved with asphalt,” he said. “It’s paved with rail lines.”
Contact this reporter at (513) 755-5073 or gando@coxohio.com.
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