At the end of the week . . . Here's a summary of local bad and just a bit of good news on the Kansas City Toy Train Streetcar now in Phase Deux.
Check it:
KCUR Round-up: Council Approves Streetcar Phase II With No Brookside Extension
Pitch Notes Ongoing Kansas City Money Problems: Kansas City Council advances streetcar extension to ballot, would need to find additional $30 million to pay for it
Fact Checking From The Kemper Crew: The Overly Optimistic Estimates For The Kansas City Streetcar
Your Favorite Midtown Kansas City Shill . . . Whitney E. Kerr Sr. writes: Brookside and Waldo are essential for the expansion of the streetcar system in Kansas City.
KC Biz Journal Thinks About The Future: Where does the streetcar go from here?
Developing . . .
Where's Whitney Kerr's disclaimer about how he stands to make millions in real estate deals if the streetcar goes all the down to his Oxford on the Blue development? What a piece of self serving propaganda. Typical of the KC Star to publish something like this before fact checking who wrote it and why.
ReplyDeleteKerr is correct. The council is ape-shit crazy.
ReplyDelete"The Street Car Advisory Group needs to reconsider its recommendation and not risk the allocation of our limited resources in the wrong place."
ReplyDeleteSo Whitney Kerr is now a racist. Sending BRT down Prospect is a waste of resources. Money would be better spent sending streetcars through rich white neighborhoods for the benefit of all the highly paid mostly white people who will work at Cerner and the biotech companies.
Does Kerr even live within the proposed TDD zones. I don't think so. I don't even think he's a resident of Jackson County.
ReplyDeleteLulzers:
ReplyDelete1/2 the anit streetcar crew are not "residents" of Jackson County".
thanks for your input Parkville, Overland Park, Maryland and Northlanders.
"Grassroots"
"Totally different ppl in midtown from the ''brookside' antis"
"boondoggle hipsters serve coffee"
"renters shouldn't be allowed to vote"
"we are suddenly really supportive of buses we never have ridden on and never supported before"
"everyone agrees with me I am the majority grassroots"
"paid consultants"
Don't forget to include the Liberty boy Kevin in your list of people providing input.
ReplyDeleteDoesn't matter how much they say they need. We all know if the touted cost is $100,000,000 it will really be 500,000,000 with cost overuns.
ReplyDeleteI LIVE IN BROOKSIDE AND I DO NOT WANT NIGGERS AND WETBACKS COMING INTO MY NEIGHBORHOOD SO THANK YOU CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS.
ReplyDeleteThese streetcar people are just plain nasty, I would rather we spent the money on sewers.
ReplyDelete7:58 - No doubt a desperate streetcar supporter suffering from a major panic attack.
ReplyDeleteNasty? Streetcar supporters are setting new lows by the minute.
ReplyDelete7:12PM I LOVE YOU!!!!
ReplyDelete"Kerr is correct. The council is ape-shit crazy."
Streetcar supporters remind of the black knight in the Monte Python movie after tangling with Brookside.
ReplyDelete7:38: Do you mean "anti" or is anit something kewl I've missed out on?
ReplyDeleteDave Johnson is from Western Kansas.
ReplyDeleteRuss Johnson is from Nebraska.
Matt Stabb is from Nebraska
CARPETBAGGERS!!! All of em!
The recognition that there are some places in KC where the City can’t exert its influence has come as a shock to the Streetcar Deep State — the social media matrix of toxic sludge that labors to pretend to control everything and succeeds mainly in embarrassing itself now that they've run into the harsh wall of reality.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the show
Interesting the whole summary of Kerr's spiel is screw East KC.
ReplyDeleteKerr is at the end of the CCROW. Who is at the end of Linwood? Or Independence Ave? The city wouldn't spend money sending a streetcar through the East side unless it would be moving rich white people.
ReplyDeleteWow. Sounds like they need a street car running 87th street from I-435 down to the Felony Freeway.
ReplyDeleteThen, another one running down College Blvd. I can't believe Johnson County has been so blind to this pressing need for railed transportation.
2) A basic objective of real estate development is to add two and two and get five as a result. Kerr
ReplyDelete2 + 2 = 5
The phrase "two plus two equals five" is a slogan used in many different forms of media, but more specifically in George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four.
LOL perfect
Whitney Kerr Sr is Chief of the Ministry of Plenty (Miniplenty), which deals with economic affairs (rationing and starvation).
ReplyDeleteHow come Dave and the crew haven't been blitzing the social media airwaves with this?
ReplyDelete@kclightrail Mr. Whitney tells the cavemen where it's at #Cavemen
Because Kerr just told them they are all idiots and the East KC plan is a waste of time?
ReplyDeleteHe's not getting his private choo choo from downtown to his Oxford golf cart community that's another reason.
ReplyDelete9:51PM --> on the nose.
ReplyDeleteShut up, Whitney. Most people in Brookside do not agree with your whining missive without any cost analysis. And we are a vocal majority, not minority.
ReplyDelete10:10 WE Don't Want It ! Cost Analysis.. Pffft. NO
ReplyDeleteKerr is a real jerk. KCBJ article says there are still a few hold outs that won't sell their homes to him out on that property past 87th, and he refuses to offer anything more than pennies on the dollar for homes that have lives in for half a century.
ReplyDeleteGood, ole Whitney is now filling the role of "country gentleman". He's gray, suave and attractive. This position was formerly held by Crosby Kemper, Jr. but alas, he's now gone. Hail Whitney!!
ReplyDeleteStill laughing at the minority of brooksider (1/2 of them outsiders) who think repeating that everyone agrees with them over and over on the internet makes it true.
ReplyDeleteYou speak only for yourself, no matter which side your on.
The polls show a majority of actual residents of Brookside and Waldo support the streetcar. Only way to know for sure would have been to put it on the ballot.
These polls must have been taken at Lews on St. Patricks Day. I live in the area and have never even heard of the polls. I recently met some folks who live right by the trail, and they were so relieved they could scream.
ReplyDeleteStreetcar opposition is getting desperate now.
ReplyDeleteThey know they made a misstep in Brookside, where their support was highest, though still a minority.There is no way they can win with Brookside (a few vocal NIMBYS and the Ward Parkway Republican Anti-Tax $$) cut out.
You overplayed you hand with your hyperbole about the streetcar stealing the trail and killing children while they play and bankrupting the police dept/bus system/sewer system/water department and all the other ridiculous claims. Then the city check mated you by redrawing the TDD the way they wanted to draw it from the start. Now they don't have to deal with you and the 30 "neighborhood activists" who browse your facebook page (uh, oh, somebody knows how to use the internet and can see our frequent click-count...). In short, you made too much noise too early. Blew your wad. Classic rookie mistake.
There is zero opposition in midtown. Couple malcontent you should be really careful about parading in front of the public...
Face it. You fucked up, kids. Hired the wrong consultant. That happens when you come to eat at the grown up table but you don't have any manners. Sorry.
Just because you didn't get polled doesn't mean they did happen anymore than "recently talking to folks" confirms your already held opinion.
ReplyDeleteThe only reason I know about the streetcar is because I got a phone call polling me about my opinion on it. I was undecided at the time. The trolley track trail literally abuts my backyard and I had not heard of the plan.
Since then I did some "research", aka googling, to get a sense of what specifically was being proposed and why. After a few weeks of reading the back and forth arguments (which is how I found this blog) I found myself more conviced by the streetcar advocates than their opponents. They simply had more data, more answers, and actual plan, studies and it was all clearly laid out.
I also talked to neighbors and my children's freinds parents and most people had not heard of the plan for a streetcar to Brookside, though I think we all knew about the short downtown spur. Others were opposed to the plan, and others thought it would be wonderful to have streetcars here again (I moved in before the trail was a trail, if that dates me, in fact, there were still train tracks on it, I rmember when they tore them out).
Brookside is a pretty ideal place for streetcars, the neighborhood was built around them and grew up around them. And yes, I own (more than 1) private automobile and have no intention of giving it up, but I do like options, including buses and streetcars and whatever else.
I was also able to look up the assessment I would owe, it was not unreasonable and my home is fairly valuable, probably mid-range for Brookside. It was less than I spend annually for my parking pass were I work downtown, I can tell you that.
I have no idea what the poll says , and I suppose it doesn't matter now. I feel like instead of getting an opportunity to vote, my voice will not be heard because I didn't make up my mind immediately with very little information and "take to the streets", aka, the internet. Seems like a couple squeeky wheels decided to make the decision for all of us, and claimed to have our proxy and speak for an entire neighborhood, and while they may or may not be the actual "majority", they certainly are not overwhelmingly so, and I think if most considered residents looked over the facts and got educated they would be able to make up their minds for themselves and not have a very loud group that seems to be more than a bit bullyish cheat them of that right to speak for themselves.
&:16 and 8:03 are both David Johnson.
ReplyDelete7:16 and 8:03 are both David Johnson.
ReplyDeleteWow that's cool dude how do I vote for this thing?
ReplyDeletehey Dave @8:03. I see you are heading towards an "A" in your creative writing class at Penn Valley CC.
ReplyDelete8:03: Interesting comments, and it seems you actually put some thought into them unlike a lot of the streetcar proponents whose position seems to boil down to "I want it." My issues boil down to paying extra money for something we already have--transit. The MAX is great, and it doesn't do anything a streetcar can't do plus not being on a fixed rail, it is flexible. Perhaps there was a poll. As I said I wasn't called, and I don't know anyone who was. The people I mentioned who were relieved are real. This is anecdotal I realize, but then if you hear about a poll and don't know how the sample was selected or the questions asked, that's anecdotal as well.
ReplyDeleteI seriously cant believe anyone with 1/2 a brain cant see the screw job coming on this. How over budget is stage 1? How delayed is the roll out? As your water/sewer bills increase (thanks shitty council) to help "offset" costs of repairing our crumbling infrastructure and a ballot initiative is being introduced to sell bonds for the same problem, all the "we want to be a big city" folks are screaming that we "need" this. GTFO!
ReplyDeleteReality check. The city is crumbling literally beneath your feet. The only people that truly contribute to the tax base are being forced to flee to the West as the welfare class envelops the rest of the city like a plague. Schools are a joke. Mobs of uncivilized thugs are overrunning public (zoo) and private (Plaza Westport P&L) entertainment areas, and you idiots think a choo choo is going to "revitalize" the economy. The only thing it is going to do is give the vile scourge of the city easier access to terrorize what is left of the decent parts of the city.
I suggest the city save their money. They are going to need it as KCMO rapidly declines into East St. Louis. We wont have functioning sewers or roads but they will have to pay for midnight basketball, combat, and every other thing the "civic leaders" can scam for their own personal accounts.
I've got a better idea. Lets build this rail line and use it to deliver these drags on society to a nice "shower facility". The return line can run through a landfill to drop their worthless bodies off.
Gonna keep hold of the 'toy train' moniker because you made it it your own?
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't flow off the lips well. KC Toy Train Streetcar is a cumbersome phrase. Won't fly.
TKC just doesn't have the influence to give it a new name. Not anymore than the Grandview Mayor has enough influence to make people stop saying "Grandview Triangle" instead of "Three Trails".
Again. Not winning.
1:42 is Dave Johnson.
ReplyDelete1:42 is Dave Johnson
ReplyDeleteAgain spreading the lie that Brooksider's are racist. The bus already runs the same route as the proposed streetcar. This has nothing to do with race, or East against West. It's all about taxes and wasteful spending.
It's comical for the 84% of the metro population that DOESN'T live in KCMO to watch how the kiddie corps has captured the flag at KCMO city hall and has managed to stampede the clueless electeds into committing hundreds of millions based on the votes of fewer than 400 people.
ReplyDeleteWhat appeared to them to be a clever ruse, is now turning into a public disaster as the actual facts and costs of this fiasco continue to become more obvious to more residents and businesses.
And all the millenial renters who have no real stake or commitment in the city or have any responsiblity for bearing the costs will be on their way to the next phase in their lives when it becomes apparent even to them that downtown KCMO is never going to amount to much of an "urban environment" like the real big cities they amateurishly hoped to copy.
If an objective third-party consultant walked in and took one look at this farce, they'd recommend stopping the bleeding right now.
What a legacy!
Thanks for your input kansas, now out it in your ass.
ReplyDeleteNo one here gives a fuck what you suburban leeches think. You literally could not exist without this city.
Kcmo is the economic engine of the entire state of kansas.
Your obsession is flattering but your opinion are worthless.
Clean up your own suburban boondoggles:
World famous corporate welfare
Mediocre schools and neighborhoods
Zero economic relevence
TDDs for empty shopping mall parking lots
Unnecessary and wildly expensive highway projects to no where that no one uses and create no economx benefits yet still cost more than an entire urban transit network
No art no food no culture
No neighborhoods, just crappy subdivision with shitty throw away construction
No taste
Corruption of epic proportions at every level of government
Wealth consolidation schemes run wild
Ponzi scheme housing
Depopulation in massive swaths of your inner ring
Ghettoifictation in yor working class areas
American Taliban elected representation that makes you the nations laughing stock