Some short notes on a couple items in Soapbox this week. First, an excellent opinion on the streetcar.
It should be noted that the proposed Mill Creek Expressway/I-75 project will essentially add one single lane of freeway in both directions of I-75 between the Western Hills Viaduct and Paddock Road, while also revamping on/off ramps, and will cost an estimated $642.5 million. That's an extra lane of freeway for 7.9 miles, plus revamping interchanges. ...In addition to the $642.5 million Mill Creek Expressway project, the Through the Valley project will engage in an additional widening exercise from Paddock to I-275 at the cost of an additional $149 million (at least).
...Coincidentally enough, if the full stretch [of the streetcar] to the zoo and back were implemented, it would be a route of roughly 7.9 miles, the same stretch of widening on I-75.
So we have critics carping on the profligacy of spending $185 million versus a whopping $800 million for freeway widening.
The second item I noticed was about the apparent success of the first Pecha Kucha night in Cincinnati.
"PK Vol. 1 was such a huge success," says official organizer, Greg Lewis. "It demonstrated that the same desire that got PK started in Tokyo six years ago is present here in Cincinnati today."
Uh, I don't mean anything negative, but I know that technology groups around the region have been doing these presentations for last two years. They may not have been as flashy, and certainly none were in as cool a venue as the CAC, but they have been around. You may have heard them mistakenly referred to as Machu Pichu talks, or Pikachu presentations, but PK has been present in Cincinnati for a while now. So thanks for participating. :)
