http://www.buckeyeinstitute.org/blog/2009/08/25/passenger-rail-already-exceeding-estimates/ Up To The Minute Analysis Of Ohio Public Policy Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:34:40 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.1 hourly 1 http://www.buckeyeinstitute.org/blog/2009/08/25/passenger-rail-already-exceeding-estimates/comment-page-1/#comment-4860 Johnny Springfield Thu, 27 Aug 2009 05:05:31 +0000 http://www.buckeyeinstitute.org/blog/?p=4438#comment-4860 Buried in the information ORDC provided the Controlling Board is the letter of agreement between ODOT/ORDC and the small four-person consulting firm in California (Woodside) that is actually subcontracting out the work to a guy who's charging us $300-an-hour. Great gig if you can get it. These rates are even higher than lawyer rates the Ohio AG normally pays out for special counsel work. The 3C rail route is a black hole for public funding. But Ohio's "un-electeds" -- Molitoris at ODOT and Dietrich at ORDC -- are hell bent on pushing this bad, costly idea further down the wrong track. With some luck, Cincy voters can help it fall under its own weight if they pass the "anti-trolley" rail ballot in November. If the 3C boondoggle continues, Ohio waste $1.53 billion showing the world just how mired it is in the past, as train-museum trains will be stoked back up for the nearly 7-hour trip from one C to the next. Ted and his rail advisers have made a terrible choice with the 3C, one Ohio taxpayers will shot down if given a chance. And spending on this magnitude should become a statewide vote and a major campaign issue for 2010. Buried in the information ORDC provided the Controlling Board is the letter of agreement between ODOT/ORDC and the small four-person consulting firm in California (Woodside) that is actually subcontracting out the work to a guy who’s charging us $300-an-hour. Great gig if you can get it. These rates are even higher than lawyer rates the Ohio AG normally pays out for special counsel work. The 3C rail route is a black hole for public funding. But Ohio’s “un-electeds” — Molitoris at ODOT and Dietrich at ORDC — are hell bent on pushing this bad, costly idea further down the wrong track. With some luck, Cincy voters can help it fall under its own weight if they pass the “anti-trolley” rail ballot in November. If the 3C boondoggle continues, Ohio waste $1.53 billion showing the world just how mired it is in the past, as train-museum trains will be stoked back up for the nearly 7-hour trip from one C to the next. Ted and his rail advisers have made a terrible choice with the 3C, one Ohio taxpayers will shot down if given a chance. And spending on this magnitude should become a statewide vote and a major campaign issue for 2010.

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