What It Means to Me, Part 1

While most of this blog focuses on news related to the streetcar proposal, we think it’s important to understand the intensely personal reasons that people might support it.  So here we begin a series called “What It Means to Me,” in which we’ll offer our personal stories about how the streetcar would be important in our lives.

And beyond the gaggle of us here, we’ll post your stories too! Either leave a comment after this post, or send us an e-mail.

So without further ado:

I was born in San Francisco to two people that I still say are among the bravest Americans who ever lived. In their youth, they were both shuttered off to a WWII internment camp and spent the duration of the war there. I was, of course, too young to be there myself, but their descriptions made it seem so present to me. Nothing else has taught me so well the utter importance of freedom and fairness, and the enduring power of the human spirit.

We lived near downtown, in a small community between the Castro and skid row. It wasn’t the nicest neighborhood in the city, but I had a good childhood. There I met the most fascinating people and experienced the diversity that life has to offer.

That interest in the plight of others is probably why, when it came time for me to head off to college, I decided I wanted to be a lawyer. Still wet behind the ears, I was merely 18 when I left my parents in San Francisco and moved to Chicago to study at Loyola University. The years I spent there were a blur of academia and romance, and are a story for another time. When I finally received my JD, I was hired by a large firm in the Loop. It was a firm some that some might describe as bi-polar, given its range of clientele from big corporations to residents of Cabrini Green. It was there that I first met my future best friend and wife, Sarah, with whom I’ll soon be celebrating 10 years.

It was about seven years ago that we relocated to Cincinnati, both following interesting job opportunities. Sarah was a few months into our first son during the move, and the realtor steered us toward the typical places for new families. We knew we wanted something more than just good schools and soccer fields and insisted on looking to places closer to the center city. It didn’t take us long to find a beautiful little house in Hyde Park, where we’ve lived ever since. Our kids, now 6 and 4, have gone to good pre-schools and this neighborhood has provided decent access to our jobs downtown.

Cincinnati, though, is the first city where I’ve that I couldn’t get everywhere I wanted to go with public transportation. In fact, this is the first city in which I’ve even owned a car. Driving has never been a great hobby of mine, and I wouldn’t mind getting rid of the thing. So when I heard about the proposed streetcar plan, I got excited. I’ve been doing some volunteer work in Over-the-Rhine, and I’ve seen the neighborhood transform over the last year. We’ve seen such a transformation that Sarah and I have been considering a move into the neighborhood. With all of the arts institutions and new stores and restaurants, it’s really becoming the kind of neighborhood where someone can find anything. And of course, the proximity to work would be incredibly valuable.

The streetcar would only clinch the deal for us. If I could take a streetcar to work every day, I might even forget that I’m in the Midwest. (Not that I have a problem with the Midwest.) All of these old, mid-size cities like Cincinnati were built for streetcars, and they have the capacity to be connected like that again. So let’s make it happen!