Emilio Estevez Advocates for Cincinnati's Streetcar

"Actor and director Emilio Estevez, who has a home in Over-the-Rhine, says the Cincinnati Bell Connector streetcar should be restarted, saying that it would help drive people to businesses in the urban core that have faced tough times with the Covid-19 pandemic," reports Chris Wetterich. 

Estevez called for the streetcar to reopen service in a letter to Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley, who has proposed a 2021 budget that would pay to operate a "zombie streetcar, according to Wetterich. 

The fiscal year 2021 budget calls for what City Hall sources have called a "zombie streetcar" — one where maintenance of the vehicles and system, with occasional runs without passengers. The mayor's budget has repurposed parking meter and fine revenue set for the streetcar and put it in the city's general fund. The streetcar is paid for through a special fund.

Additional words from the letter, quoted at more length in the source article, provide a cogent argument for the mutually beneficial of walkability and transit access, a tribute to the cosmopolitan qualities of Cincinnati, and a call to action for the city to provide more public transit service to residents.