Cincinnati is one of 40-plus American metropoli planning light-rail streetcar service on its city streets, the New York Times reports today. Will Boston be left behind?

“In years gone by, people would move to cities to get a job,” Cincinnati’s city manager, Milton Dohoney, said. “Today, young, educated workers move to cities with a sense of place. And if businesses see us laying rail down on a street, they’ll know that’s a permanent route that will have people passing by seven days a week.”

After looking into streetcar systems in Seattle, Tacoma, Wash., and Charlotte, Mr. Dohoney became convinced that they spur growth. “Cincinnati has to compete with other cities for investment,” he said. “We have to compete for talent and for place of national prominence.”

Can Boston's upcoming transit projects compete for federal dollars with all these Portland, Oregon-style urban visions? Two out of three of our projects involve rapid bus transit rather than light rail. And the whole thing begs the question: are we just a heckuvalot smarter than these cities that are fixated on rail? Or what?