Part of city's old streetcar system returning

Grassroots leaders are bringing a part of Cincinnati's original streetcar system back.

A new nonprofit organization being formed to promote the city's latest streetcar system will be called the Cincinnati Street Railway, Haile U.S. Bank Foundation Vice President Eric Avner announced Tuesday at a Believe in Cincinnati streetcar meeting.

The Cincinnati Street Railway was the name of the transit agency that ran the city's original streetcar, which stopped operating in the early 1950s.

The new organization will focus solely on growing ridership, selling naming rights and sponsorship, and community outreach, Avner said. It also will plan the festivities surrounding the scheduled opening of the Downtown and Over-the-Rhine streetcar loop in September 2016.

"It will work with the fun-focused side of the streetcar," Avner said.

The Haile Foundation was instrumental in saving the streetcar project from being permanently canceled in December 2013, when the organization and private donors committed $9 million to help run the rail circulator for the first decade.

The city will continue to own and pay to run the streetcar, and SORTA will be in charge of daily operations and maintenance.

"We're focused on building the streetcar and paying for it, and we definitely needed a committee that could be focused on some of the other things," City Councilwoman Amy Murray said.

Cincinnati Street Railway plans to hire an executive director by September, and it will have a board of directors. A handful of city officials also will serve as liaisons to the organization, including Murray, who chairs council's transportation committee. Nonprofit organizations perform similar roles for streetcar systems across the U.S, including in Portland, Seattle and Tampa.

Cincinnati Street Railway will be faced with the challenge of trying to sell advertising and naming rights to a business community that has been mostly silent on the controversial streetcar.

The city's previous administration had hired a Cleveland-based consultant to sell streetcar sponsorships and naming rights, but it was unsuccessful and the city did not renew the company's contract in December.

Cincinnati Street Railway plans to sell sponsorships and naming rights on a commission basis.