TKC BREAKING AND EXCLUSIVE NEWS!!! CITY HALL CONSIDERING KANSAS CITY TOY TRAIN STREETCAR JUNKET TO SPAIN!!!
Today, word of a bit of international tourism on the taxpayer's dime has rocked City Hall and sent Kansas City toy train streetcar advocates offtrack.
To wit . . .
CITY HALL IS CURRENTLY CONSIDERING A JUNKET TO SPAIN IN ORDER TO VISIT TOY TRAIN MANUFACTURER CAF AND WITNESS THE STREETCARS IN ACTION!!!
The tour is slated to start in Zaragoza and then continue through a few other beautiful Spanish townships and cities.
Preliminary cost per person: $2530 . . . Right now there are only a couple of people on board but once word gets out, there should be more workers signing up for the fantastic voyage.
The Spanish junket to CAF headquarters is kinda strange given that Mayor Sly and so many other toy train supporters made a big deal that the (Urbos 3) streetcar would be manufactured in the United States.
A KICK-ASS KANSAS CITY INSIDER tells us this . . .
"This doesn't make any sense. At the press conference everyone made it clear that the streetcars would be built in this country. What can City Hall employees possibly learn from a visit to Spain? If they want to do research, I suggest they have a nice dinner at La Bodega and then start heading to the manufacturing site in Elmira, New York."
Behind the scenes, this junket is still in the planning stages and KICK-ASS KANSAS CITY INSIDERS hope that this post will kill it before it costs this town any cash.
Amid budget austerity, a City Hall hiring freeze and an overall Kansas City money crunch . . . Word of this City Hall junket consideration to Spain has many transit advocates fearing that streetcar expenses are starting to resemble a runaway train.
Developing . . .
Just one of many funding requests that should be laughed out of the Mayor's office.
ReplyDeleteJust make sure it's the La Bodega on the MO side of the state line.
ReplyDeleteMore money down the drain. If you want to see how streetcars run go to Memphis of Boston
ReplyDeleteWill they take a suitcase of money with them too? Sounds just like the P&L District. Only mobile.
ReplyDeleteProof of any of this?
ReplyDeleteAnyone you'd like to identify by name? Willing to go on the record as a statement of FACT? Something that can be verified with an independent source, and not seem like another made-up disguised "rumor" which is actually the sound of your streetcar ax grinding away?
There is always more and it is always worse.
The calling out of non-facts on this blog will not stop because the non-facts don't stop.
Shut up David Johnson
ReplyDeleteSure are a lot of assistant city managers commenting here. You guys are easy to spot. Who else defends the crazy shit city hall tries to get away with.
ReplyDeleteDavid Johnson is just pissed because he didn't want it announced until after the City had already bought his ticket.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that The City knows everything about streetcars and if anyone needs to be "better informed" they should be sending the streetcar critics on an education trip.
Or just not spend any more money. That's a good idea too.
Let's be honest, they figured out how yo take vacations and profit off public money by repealing conflict of interest laws. God gave them HUGE balls, so let them enjoy it. We have better things to do than complain all the time. For instance; paying taxes.
This whole project is pretty far down the road for an educational trip to be justified. When I expressed concern to the Mayor's office about a year ago, I was told that it was a "done deal" and that they were going forward. So what do they need to know about a train in Spain at this point?
ReplyDeleteThe money for Spain,
ReplyDeletewill go mainly down the drain.
Maybe they should just ride the Main Street MAX back and forth a few times between the River Market and Crown Center to see if spending a couple hundred million is necessary?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.kcstreetcar.org/kc-streetcar-faqs.htm
“How many people are expected to ride the streetcar? Forecasted daily ridership is approximately 2,700 people on opening day (2015).”
Typical little town, amateur PR BS. A responsible question like how many people are going to use this thing is answered with blah, blah, blah. No daily, weekly, monthly, special event estimates just SOME NUMBER BASED ON NO RESEARCH FOR WHO MIGHT SHOW UP AND TRY IT ONCE.
Since I kept reading that crap …
“Will the streetcar be quicker than walking if it stops every 2 blocks? Yes. It will run with traffic and dwell times at stops will be approximately 20 seconds or less.”
20 seconds or less … hmm. In what freak’n world does any Midwesterner do ANYTHING in 20 seconds or less? In the cafeteria at work they put in kiosks. Pretty easy concept right? Select what you got on a touch screen and swipe your card. Months later I was still standing in disbelief behind people who turned that into 2-3 minute stab me in the eye with a pencil while I’m wonder what fck is wrong with these seemingly otherwise normal people. I’d accept an average of less than 60 seconds in “dwell times” between stops but why go with a rational number when 20 seconds sounds so speedy and efficient. This town is a joke and its tax payers (including myself) are fools going along the ride.
spain train will cause city on the plains to go down the drain.
ReplyDeleteIs La Bodega Spanish for "boondoggle?"
ReplyDeleteShits provable. News media needs to do the small exam to pull it all out
ReplyDeleteBad TKC. Don't get the transit Nazis all pissed off. They won't be able to enjoy their crossroads martinis on first Friday
DeleteSo who at City Hall do we contact to prevent this money from being wasted on a vacation trip for the hipster doofus streetcar elites? How do we keep Dave Johnson and Staubio from screwing us taxpayers even more?
ReplyDeleteI'll bet this was Matt's idea as part of his new crony tit-for-tat marketing job.
I moved out of the crossroads after 6 yrs when the downtown “renaissance” started coming to fruition. Loved it for 4, in denial for 1 and hated it the last. An occasional weekend breakfast at YJ’s is about the only reason I’ll pay any homage to area.
ReplyDelete7:55, I'd call the department in charge of building the street car. Or go higher up the food chain.
ReplyDeleteThis is a blatant waste of money.
It's not the amount, it's the attitude.
So will they blog this trip, TKC?
ReplyDeleteLet them go on their trip to see how a streetcar works, but rather than Spain they should go to Atlanta. The cost of this junket would be at least half/person. They can see how well MARTA(Moving Africans Rapidly Through Atlanta) functions. Dilemna solved!
ReplyDeleteStreet cars built the city and some suburbs. That was how long ago? Do we want to go back in time at triple the expense or do we want to "lean forward" with REAL progress in the city?
ReplyDeleteI don't care about the vacations they pad in office. I do care about the money they have to steal to keep this lifestyle the rest of their life.
ReplyDeleteWell, I've never been to Spain, but I've been to Oklahoma. They say the ladies are all fine there, but I kinda like the music...
ReplyDeleteIt is a Dick Davis, Sherri McIntyre trip, with luggage carriers. Nothing like the city council and public works director hanging out in Spain. Probably paid with the money saved from turning off all those traffic signals.
ReplyDeleteYour town is run by gangsters. It's headed for bankruptcy court, probably sooner rather than later.
ReplyDeleteThat's why I live in JoCo. Hell, they even get the snow of the roads over here. Contrary to popular belief, there is a lot of affordable housing over here. Most of the county is not Mission Hills or Leawood. You should check it out and sell before KCMO goes down.
Remember the City Council trips to Mexico to the Gulf of Baja. I heard that the beach boys were real good at rubbing on body oil on the beach.
ReplyDeleteSeveral City Council people went down there twice.
WhaT DID THE CITY OF KANSAS CITY get from that fiasco? Well oiled?
All abroad on the tax payer paid vacation train. Why do we put up with these people?
ReplyDeleteOh 11:15, if I could answer that question, I'd be the most brilliant guy in town.
ReplyDeleteSeriously, I hope someone in power at City Hall sees this post and comments, as well as a reporter from a TV station (I've given up on the Star) and flushes out the details of this junket. And then someone stops it. A big fuss was made about these cars being built in the USA, so if a junket is required to see them being built, go to NY and see them. Sure Spain beats KC in the winter but there is NO tangible benefit to be gained from this trip.
I think 8:15 said it well: it's not the amount of money being spent, but rather the attitude it's theirs to spend on ridiculous European junkets.
Manager and Mayor: Just Say No!
By George! I think he's GAWT it!
ReplyDeleteWell done, chucker.
7:36. When you say "luggage carriers", you really mean Ralph Davis. Greatest ass kisser in city hall. He was Cauthen's boy at one time.
ReplyDeleteRalph has a history of kissing ass and cutting throats at city hall. He cut McIntyre's throat all the time while Wayne was here and Klein's throat while he was Capital Progects Director. That's some funny shit.
ReplyDeleteButt boy?
ReplyDeleteI've alerted Amy Hawley at KSHB to this. Let's see if she follows up. She was interested at the time Staubio got his payback job but she never did the story.
ReplyDeleteThanks Wes for the kick ass tip.
ReplyDeleteSorry, not letting whoever this Wes guy is take credit for my kick-ass tip!!
ReplyDelete