Part of Brookside push back against the Toy Train is concern over neighborhood impact and noise.
In order to calm that concern Kansas City has offered a totally unhelpful example of what locals can expect on City Hall's Youtube channel.
Check it:
Streetcar Noise Level Video
If KCMO was a quaint European village on a lazy weekend . . . This video might be helpful:
Sadly, this isn't even original footage from an expensive Spanish junket that City Hall burecrats recently enjoyed during the winter months . . . And given that Internets noise can be adjusted with a gesture or a mouse click, it's not that great in determining what Brookside neighbors can expect in their back lawns.
More in a bit . . .
They Live - (they lie)
ReplyDeleteBelieve me these things are not quiet and people are going to regret it when they are running through their neighborhoods.
I'm far more worried about the sound of all that money being flushed down the toilet forever.
ReplyDeleteI'm more worried about the noise and danger of the 55 mph traffic on BKS boulevard. But unlike you angsty 20-something e-whiners, I actually live in BKS (and also in the real world).
ReplyDeleteStreetcars are "too noisey"? Shee-it. If you live on the trolley trail (like me) you live next to a mini freeway.
You guys should stick to your other lies like streetcar will kill children and KC isn't dense enough like Tuscon and Charlotte.
Wait, I read the save our TROLLEY trail FB page and it said streetcars are noisey and that this is also all a big secret vote and that the taxes will be based on what I bought my house for, as opposed to its appraisal (which is like 1/3) and a bunch of other lies!!
ReplyDeleteSay it aint so Paddy Touhey, Danny Coffee, Bry-Bry and TKC!!!
Why do they have to lie if no one really wants streetcars even though EVERY light rail initiative has passed in Brookside and Waldo and the MAJORITY of people at ALL the meeting clearly favor it, except when sue-em Sue and Suzie from Parkville stop them from talking and bully them and start meeting with pronouncements like:
"NO PRO STREETCAR COMMENTS WILL BE ALLOWED"
I mean, if they are REALLY LOUD and LIE ALL THE TIME (verifiably, aka, THEIR GOING TO STEAL THE TRAIL!!!!!!!!!) and if they call people names (HIPSTERS WANT IT!!!!! EVERYONE WHO SUPPORTS IT IS A PAID CONSULTANT!!!!) doesn't that mean their right because they are loud???
Tell me TKC, PADDY DANNY and Bry-Bry. Tell me what to do please, please, please. I need your leadership and you hilarious spoofing Russ Johnson cartoons to make up my mind!!!!
I lived a block from the system in SLC.
ReplyDeleteYou can be against the street car, but if you argue based on noise, you will lose.
Actually, that kinda is the TKC mission statement.
When you assert that every single fact supports your point of view, without recognizing that someone else might have a modicum of reason, you get dismissed.
Fact check:
ReplyDeleteSLC has a light rail line.
The SLC streetcar only opened 3 months ago
its noisy ..... waaaaaah
ReplyDeleteIt appears the one person in Brookside who supports the streetcar and who probably works for a contractor that will benefit from the work doesn't have much to do today. Perhaps, since he's not busy, he can tell us why we should build a streetcar in Brookside, which is more than adequately served by bus lines including the MAX that run mostly empty. (I know. I actually use them.)
ReplyDeleteIf we were talking about a streetcar or rail from downtown to the airport people might listen. In fact a streetcar from downtown to the airport might just satisfy the streetcar and airport improvement nutcases and give us something we can use.
9:07 The groups aligned against the streetcar boondoggle are very careful not to print falsehoods. Groups formed in response to the organized effort to fast track expansion of the downtown streetcar line. Though opposition started with Brookside residents concerned about the trail, the focus has shifted to shutting down the entire TDD for the financial damage and debt it will impose not only on Brookside and Waldo but the entire city.
ReplyDeleteOn the issue of taxes we often describe the TDD taxing scheme as a triple tax.
The first tax, the special assessment on residential properties within 1/2 mile of the trackline, are as follows: $.70/100 ASSESSED value. The equivalent number for MARKET value is $133/100,000. Some early presentations by pro streetcar elements and a KC Star article confused Market and Assessed values quoting a $133/100,000 ASSESSED value as the tax which yielded a tax figure roughly 1/5th the actual assessment. Assessed residential value is 19% of market value, not 1/3rd.
$.48/100 ASSESSED value for businesses.
$.40/100 ASSESSED value for non-taxed properties such as non-profits, churches and private schools if the market value is greater than $300k.
$1.04/100 ASSESSED value for property owned by the city.
This information is not displayed prominently anywhere in the various sites purporting to inform the public about the streetcar.
The second tax is the regressive 1% sales tax that hits the entire TDD which is most of KC south of the river.
The third tax relates to the first set of taxes. As you may recall the city properties are taxed at $1.04/100 ASSESSED value. That is money that will not be going to other city functions like schools, police, firefighters, infrastructure repairs and replacement. Any funds the city pays to further the streetcar push (they are already funneling PIAC funds to this effort)come from the taxpayers. What are the chances Sly & Co. will not be asking us to fund these newly developed "shortfalls" with new revenue enhancements? It is as predictable as the sun rising tomorrow morning.
Since you brought up the subject of lies, 9:07, lets list just a couple that the streetcar cheerleaders are fond of telling.
Lie #1. "This isn't for you people who are going to pay for it. It's for the people 30, 50 or 100 years from now".
It boggles the mind how these geniuses think they can accurately predict what transit needs will be in the future when we are seeing more mainstream acceptance of small electric vehicles and now even self driving cars are being tested. Remember that streetcars were deemed obsolete in the '50's (1950's) and now they are merely quaint. The St. Charles streetcar through New Orleans garden district is lovely. Ummm, smell the magnolias, but it is tediously slow if you actually want to get somewhere. Streetcars are highly unlikely to become anything more than what they are now. To say that spending the kind of money proposed in a city such as ours that struggles on so many fronts would be irresponsible is a profound understatement.
To be continued............
As unsafe and out of place the stupid Trolly would be in Brookside, it would be twice as bad gashing though Waldo.
ReplyDeleteKeep the silly thing Downtown.
3:46, agree. This streetcar scheme IS the great train robbery and it makes light rail sound like a no brainer (it's not).
ReplyDelete3:46, agree. This streetcar scheme IS the great train robbery and it makes light rail sound like a no brainer (it's not).
ReplyDeleteAnyone that claims streetcar noise will be a problem will be proven a complete idiot. Plenty of reasons not to support a streetcar but noise is not one of them.
ReplyDeleteGreat chapter from the novel "Fun with Fake Numbers and Other Liea My Uncle Rexie Told Me to Tell You" by Paddy Tououuuoouhey.
ReplyDelete