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Item by item review of remaining streetcar construction

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The team managing the city's streetcar project is being asked to take a look at the remaining construction items and decide what's needed and what can be left out to save money.  

 
Mayor John Cranley, City Manager Harry Black, council members Amy Murray and Kevin Flynn and the streetcar officials met Thursday for more than an hour behind closed doors.  
 
The discussion followed a report this week that in worst case scenarios there is only about $80,000 left in the project contingency budget.  
 
Mayor John Cranley said that is unacceptable with months of construction to go.
 
“The city manager was very clear with the streetcar team that they need to go and identify items of this project that can still be cut to have the cushion necessary to bring in on time and under budget,” Cranley said.
 
City Manager Harry Black said the streetcar team will be reviewing the remaining project piece item by item.
 
“They’ve got all the information that they need, they just need to go through the remaining project schedule from a granular perspective and make a basic determination, is this something that’s needed or is this something that’s desired,” Black said.  “And if it’s something that’s desired, then that’s when we look at that and make a determination as to whether or not it remains in the scope or we take it out.”
 
Black said the exercise should not take long to complete.  
 
Cranley said he will not support any additional money for the streetcar's construction cost.  
 
Council could approve more funding, but it would take six votes to overcome a mayoral veto.  
 
The city has allocated $148 million to build the first phase of the system in Downtown and Over-the-Rhine.
 

Jay Hanselman brings more than 10 years experience as a news anchor and reporter to 91.7 WVXU. He came to WVXU from WNKU, where he hosted the local broadcast of All Things Considered. Hanselman has been recognized for his reporting by the Kentucky AP Broadcasters Association, the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists, and the Ohio AP Broadcasters.