TKC TOLD YOU SO!!! CELEBRATE BROOKSIDE VICTORY AGAINST KANSAS CITY TOY TRAIN STREETCAR PHASE DEUX!!!
Earlier this month we told readers that Brookside activists were winning the Brookside Battle Against The Toy Train Streetcar . . .
The plan was always a bit of mystery and based on smoke and mirrors . . .
Now . . .
KICK-ASS TKC TIPSTERS SEND DETAILED WORD OF THE TOY TRAIN STREETCAR TURNABOUT AFTER RESISTANCE IN BROOKSIDE!!!
"Tonight at the Street car meeting at Wornall Baptist Church, I learned that tomorrow, as predicted some months ago, the City Commission will consider moving the South boundary of the proposed TDD from 85th street to 47th or Volker Blvd. This is an attempt to shut up the Brookside / Waldo residents who have been opposing the street car. Those neighborhoods will no longer be in the current phase II plan. This is how our City operates, whatever it takes to control what happens, to hell with the voting public. Also the current assessment area of 1/2 mile either side of the track, will be cut to 1/3 mile."
What we like here is that THIS KICK-ASS TKC TIPSTER OFFERED THE DEETS FIRST realizes that vigilance against Council Dude Russ Johnson, Mayor Sly and so many other consultants and politicos posing as activists is important.
This morning, Garrett Haake @ KSHB has a great write-up of the sitch: Streetcar committee to recommend line stops at UMKC
"Vince Gauthier, director of planning for architecture firm BNIM, told a Brookside neighborhood group that the committee would recommend expanding east along Independence and Linwood avenues and south along Main Street, but only as far as the University of Missouri- Kansas City.
"The decision not to expand the streetcar line further south into Brookside is a victory for its vocal opponents there who worried the line would change the character of the neighborhood and objected to projected tax increases that would come with being a part of the Transportation Development District surrounding the streetcar line."
And so . . .
FOR THE MOMENT MAYOR SLY AND COUNCIL DUDE RUSS JOHNSON HAVE SUFFERED AN EPIC DEFEAT AND A REALIZATION THAT NOT EVERYBODY IS BUYING THEIR TOY TRAIN STREETCAR SCHEME!!!
Sadly, a smaller line now possibly turning left represents and even more convoluted journey for this eco-devo journey now thrown off track.
Developing . . .
Expect them to come back even more persistently. The only real way to control this plan is to vote the people who devised it out of office.
ReplyDeleteWho would pay for east side expansion? There is no tax base over there.
ReplyDeleteStupid is as stupid does.
You guys understand that when streetcar opponents openly brag that they can easily draw people out of the TDD there is something horribly corrupt about this entire law? TDD reform NOW.
ReplyDeleteNothing corrupt about it. Brooksiders wit be asked to pay the tax and they won't get to vote in it. The same
ReplyDeleteWay people in New York do t get to vote on our mayor.
What is corrupt is allowing a known minority I neighborhood resident, plus a couple people like you and sue from parkville, to shriek an hollar and throw temper tantrums until you derail a plan the majority of brookside and waldo residents favor.
60% of brookside residents are not rejoicing. And the 40% who are will regret it in 10 years
Damn, Tony. How are you typing this with El Bryan riding reverse cowgirl on your lap? It must be tough to see the screen! And now he's commenting too! You guys are amazing. That's some double-jointed action right there. Well done.
ReplyDeleteAnd hats off to BKS for opposing everything that they eventually came to value, including the Trolley Trail. (Psst... while you were arguing about this, a huge out of state development company bought most of the Brookside shops. SRSLY.)
LOL@BKS
So Jan and Jim couldn't deliver the 4th to Sly?
ReplyDeleteBrookside will one day come BEGGING for the toy train to expand through BKS.
ReplyDeleteThat's the premise the PTB are working from.
So Brookside, which in large part owes its long-term success to transit oriented development, rejects the return of the street car. Well, at least they have low taxes and good schools.
ReplyDeleteProbably more than 60% of Brookside still don't know anything about the streetcar plan. Sadly,, most people are just going about their busy lives. Thankfully, there were a few people who WERE paying attention and sounded the warning alarm! The city's plan all along was to get the TDD passed under the radar by uninformed voters and apathy.
ReplyDeleteWhat color do you suppose the sky is in Sly and Russ Johnson's world?
ReplyDeleteThis is what Brookside does NOT want.
ReplyDeleteThey were going CRAZY in Louisville last week. Holy shit, read this.
http://www.wnd.com/2014/03/roving-black-mobs-too-many-to-ignore/
Bottom line is that there are people in BKS, Brian Stalder in the Northeast, who don't want to see anything new happen in the city. For whatever reason, the shithole currently known as Northeast is just perfect the way it is. Let's keep the hookers on Indie Ave. And the heroin dealing in St. John. And the bodies in the bushes on Cliff Drive. And the boarded up schools. Keep your economic development. I'm going up to my room to draw cartoons!
ReplyDeleteWaldo wanted a streetcar and now won't get one. Run a fuckin elevated rail up the middle of Brookside Boulevard and through Armour Hills. I'd support that!
ReplyDeleteYEAH!!! THats right Brooksiders!!! Why oh why would you NOT want this in your neighborhood!!!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.19actionnews.com/story/25043654/17-year-old-girl-victim-of-attack-on-rta-rapid#sthash.6ESAMSlJ.dpuf
My, the Aspergers basement dweller is up and at it early this morning. I hope the hipsters don't retaliate by holding non-stop marathons in Brookside this year.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone asked the business owners on Main Street and the folks who live within 1/3 mile from Main Street how they're going to like the added property tax? Maybe they'll be the next to revolt.
6:35: Personally insulting your opponents and their neighborhood is exactly the way to get people to see your point.
ReplyDeleteKeep it up, and you'll be lucky if all you have left is the (non) starter line.
3/25/14, 6:19 AM
ReplyDeleteBingo
And Tony, you have never told us the reason why you have a fixation against public transportation. I guess you are just stupid.
6:19 Bingo? Looks more like an illiterate temper tantrum to me.
ReplyDeleteCan anyone point to anything that Vince Gauthier has built? (Crickets)
ReplyDeleteHe talks alot but nothing ever comes of it.
Somehow I don't think that just repeating mantras like "transit-driven development, density, fixed-guideway systems, and all the rest can really be any substitute for serious and honest thinking, planning, and taking concerns or wishes of residents into account.
ReplyDeleteThe streetcar proposal is a hugely expensive undertaking with actually very little upside economic potential, which has been demonstrated by the constantly changing rationales. The origianl vote was a clever scam which would never have been approved if the vote had been offered to the very people who now are supposed to become a part of Phase II under the guise of the usual "we've come this far already" often used for cons in KCMO. And the notion that public transportation down areas like 31st Street or Linwood are going to create economic development shows just how bankrupt and empty the whole idea is.
The fact is that the original TDD doesn't come close to paying for even the initial Main Street line, so Sly and the gang are dialing for dollars throughout the city to cover up that fact and save the day.
When you summarily decide that 47th Street will be the southern boundary and not 87th Street, you've eliminated very large amounts of money from the various tax schemes that are needed to fund this fiasco.
But, if I lived in Brookside, I wouldn't in any way feel that I've saved my neighborhoods. These folks will work very hard to find a way to get the tax money whether you support its expenditure or not.
All aboard.
Wow, the haters are up EARLY this morning and they're pissed! Making up shit as usual. There are no hard numbers pertaining to Brookside's preferences aside from six year old light rail election results. That was a regional plan with a different tax structure that didn't impede the trolley trail. If Brookside/Waldo residents wanted streetcar, Dave Johnson should have been able to collect at least 200 online signatures in support; he couldn't. And the city could still move forward with their original plan.
ReplyDeleteThe CAVEman theory is also untrue, and elected representatives should be ashamed for even suggesting that. The truth is, I'm against streetcar for a number of reasons, but one is because it creates a regressive tax in the poorest neighborhoods to fund a train to the affluent ones.
Furthermore, explain to me how requiring people to get off the 24 bus at Benton and then reboard the streetcar which travels at the same speed in the same traffic the rest of the way into downtown is a transit improvement and a practical use of $150M??!
I've been working on a cheaper alternative to streetcar that is transit oriented as opposed to retail economic development oriented. It uses existing infrastructure so it saves money, it provides dedicated lanes so it reduces transit time, it serves a corridor EAST of Troost thus breaking that shameful barrier in the heart of our city, and it reinvests in our parks, boulevards, and fountains to boot.
It wasn't hard to come up with a better plan than the streetcar because the people promoting that are entirely white and from out of town, so they don't appreciate Kansas City's history or understand the way our city was designed.
3/25/14, 6:56 AM
ReplyDeleteNo you would be confusing those comments which harp on No Taxation for anything on here with the tantrums.
Polling data must have been awful. Looks like they are making the field smaller to get it passed.
ReplyDeleteelBryan, those are good points. I would point out that speaking of a viable tax base in the same post as calling Troost a "Shameful" barrier is not very realistic.
ReplyDeleteThe Toy Train is an expensive excrescence on our city's ass. Pretending that there is a viable tax base East of Troost that supports the city is disengenuous at best.
Troost is a necessary boundry that is moving West. As that boundry moves West, you can hear the ghost of Horace Greely telling business owners to follow it and go West.
East of Troost are government employees and Government cheese. There is NO tax base.
Bryan-the proposal that bus fares be free is the most logical one I've seen. That would give put the mass in mass transit.
ReplyDelete7:11
ReplyDeleteMay as well, everything else is free.
http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/welfare-can-make-more-sense-work
7:11
ReplyDeleteFREE!! FREE AT LAST!! THANK GOD ALLMIGHTY EVERYTHING IS FREE AT LAST!!!
http://dailycaller.com/2013/08/20/study-welfare-pays-more-than-work-in-most-states/
7:08 shut up.
ReplyDelete7:11, agreed, and I strongly support that.
My proposal would be voted on by all Kansas City residents, not just people east of Troost or in a TDD. It would serve the entire metro area, it would create a rapid public transit connector from South KC to just east of Downtown KC, and a safe bicycle route; the first of it's kind anywhere within 500 miles of KC.
Because of the simple design of the plan, it could be done for much less money than streetcar phase 2. and the tax burden could be shared by all the citizens of kc, keeping it extremely low. The funding mechanism wouldn't come until after the plan was adopted by city hall, but I envision a small property tax assessment.
I will continue to work to stop streetcar, because this plan has already received interest from cycling enthusiasts and Northlanders; two groups who have good reason to be skeptical of streetcar.
Way to go TKC. Now the no skills lackeys McGuirk and Hodges will be trolling TKC all day in their $100k plus city jobs
ReplyDelete7:08
ReplyDeleteShhhhhh.......
Please don't make waves in the placid pond of multicultural tranqulity in the minds of idiots.
No Corruption Huh 6:19 AM?
ReplyDeleteThat's funny, very very funny.
This Bus Driver supports the Toy Train.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.liveleak.com/view?i=fbc_1374185376
elBryan would vote for the Toy Train if Unicorns were pulling it.
ReplyDeleteFree bus would be a good start. I like the idea of more bikes too, can u say "target practice" ?
ReplyDeleteThere is no shortage of corruption in the Streetcar Supporter clique. Don't let those smiling faces fool you.
ReplyDeleteTime to take my information put it in the shredder!
ReplyDeleteWe hipsters are so pissed with you people. We'll be holding marathons in Brookside on Saturdays AND Sundays for the duration.
ReplyDeleteAnd our parents are mad at you too. So there.
"East of Troost" and "Tax Base"
ReplyDeleteMutually exclusive.
Keep pretending its hipsters who want transit in KC. The elections data and polls disagree with you.
ReplyDeleteStreetcar support in 64113 zip code, polled week of Feb 17, 2014:
Strong support: 43%
Total support: 58%
Strongly oppose: 32%
Total oppose: 36%
No one asked me, 9:13.
ReplyDeleteGo east for the votes.
ReplyDeleteGo south for the money.
Looks like neither of these scams is working.
And the bills keep rolling in.
And yet you couldn't get 200 people to sign a petition supporting the scheme.
ReplyDeleteGOD DAMN! How am I going to be able to hit the bars and get drunk from Union Station to Waldo now!!!!!
ReplyDelete3/25/14, 9:13 AM your number make no sense out of context. And they don't add up. What was the question asked, in specific wording? But that question is hypothetical, since your numbers are, too.
ReplyDeleteWith little info from the city why would anyone vote Yes in August ?
ReplyDeleteNo info on what land would be taken or ow much would be paid for it,what parking lots would be gone or business closed because of the new streetcar line.
You only have to think of the Power & Light Dist. where owners had to go to court to get their fair price which was about a $million short.
How great the Power & Light would be for KC but puts taxpayers over $7 million in the red every year.
Will a private company run teh streetcars if so how much will this cost? Will Penn Valley Park have high rise apartments? Will this stop events in the Park? So let's have full disclosure form the City before August 1.
Funny people rail against "special interests" yet we see references to link from the cato institute - a think tank of nothing but special interest opinions.
ReplyDeleteHow bout we put lotto and keno on our Streetcars? Heck we can even offer microwave pizza pockets. How bout beer at the streetcar stops. Heck even barbecue. No need to expand this out of downtown! Or even expand the TDD. Thar's money to be made right here in downtown!
ReplyDeleteStay vigilant.
ReplyDeleteThe money interests that want to expand and use the toy street car to connect to their developments will not rest. They will find another way to phaseII.
No doubt Cerner is going to have to rethink things. Maybe they can get teleportation tubes from downtown to the new campus.
ReplyDeleteThat's it 10:48!
ReplyDeleteCasino's on the streetcars!
That 64113 "poll" is bogus. VIRTUALLY NO ONE in that area wants an impractical waste of $ on rails groaning through Brookside.
ReplyDeleteVisit CK, home the worlds first Casino Streetcars!
ReplyDeleteHave to wait till Thursday, when they come out from "within these walls" and say - hey look we got a petition (thanks dave!) and everyone says - please we beg of you put streetcar through Brookside Mr. Mayor! - so everyone on the city kouncil voted aye. No nay's of course. Since obviously everyone is into this thing>
ReplyDeleteLOL
Cerner doesn't support the streetcar. Even the streetcar cheerleaders in chief admit that. They want their money so bad.
ReplyDeleteThe ship is sinking! How will Sly spin this as a positive?
Cerner won't hire hipsters. They know better that the HepC liability from tattooed and pierced employees along with the the liver damage from alcohol will be too much of an insurance cost.
ReplyDeleteCerner will get JoCo and LS employees with LOTS of cars requiring expansion of the Triangle and roads in that area. John Sharp will wet his diaper getting it done and the toxic mess left behind by the Feds at Bannister will be ignored and likely turned into a hub to take the trolley out to Grandview to connect to CenterPoint and the new pollution port from the National Nuclear Security Agency.
Just vote out sly james. And we in brookside will be very vigilant. No new taxes, and no streetcar!
ReplyDeleteAll I know is it sure would be nice to own the company that gets the contracts from KCMO.
ReplyDeleteNo matter what anyone promises, if the TDD passes, the district will have the authority to build and tax anywhere in the district. The only way to stop the line going through Brookside is to defeat the TDD.
ReplyDelete11:18: KC contracts are awarded on the friends and family plan.
ReplyDeleteIs Circo working with KCPL to be sure the city gets screwed on all the power it will take to run the streetcar?
ReplyDeleteOn which side will she end up on?
What a scam!
Lots of hysterics here, that's how you know its an internet anonymous comments shit show of misinformation, lies, name calling and blather.
ReplyDeleteI live in Brookside and didn't get called either. Not surpirsed, becaus polls DONT CALL EVER VOTER, RETARD.
Anecdotally, 95% of people I know are in favor of it in principle, most know very little about it, a few I have met are rabidly opposed and have almost no information.
Doesn't matter much now, a group of howling NIMBYs and bullies, many of whom do not live in Brookside, threw a public temper tantrum ad cost Brooksiders the ability to get informed and make a grown up decision.
A few tea-party loonies, some fake libertarian Sinquefield shills, and a bad attorney don't represent the majority of Brookside.
Neither do the circle of people I know and live with in Morningside.
For a bunch of people running around screaming about democracy, they sure were afraid to let anyone discuss, much less vote on, a streetcar proposal for the historic streetcar line in a streetcar suburb.
I think its a mistake, and one that a lot of actual citizens, not frothy mouthed lunatics, already know is a missed opportunity, and even more people would have agreed if the city had got in front of the liars and chicken littles and grumpy old fuddy duddy fearmongers, instead of caving to their childish foot stomping, but apparently the line was a kind of tacked on low priority anyway, so...
1:10
ReplyDeleteThanks for making sure we all know u live on Morningside Drive and are a really important person before u called everyone names who disagree s with u.
Go out, get into your new Saab, drive it into the Ward Parkway fountain and drown urself
Leave daddy's money to your cat.
"For a bunch of people running around screaming about democracy, they sure were afraid to let anyone discuss, much less vote on, a streetcar proposal for the historic streetcar line in a streetcar suburb."
ReplyDeleteOh, my. Talk about clueless irony. Please don't talk to anyone about democracy in this town when we have such shining examples as the one voter-approved light rail proposal overturned by the city council and the nonstarter line approved by a mail-in vote of 334 (or whatever) people.
Democracy my ass.
1:10: Lots of hysterics in your post. Is this supposed to be taken seriously or are you the secret writer of one of the manifestos?
ReplyDelete"Lots of hysterics here, that's how you know its an internet anonymous comments shit show of misinformation, lies, name calling and blather.
ReplyDeleteI live in Brookside and didn't get called either. Not surpirsed, becaus polls DONT CALL EVER VOTER, RETARD."
Not surprised. If they called every voter retard, not many people would be civil enough to repond.
"Anecdotally, 95% of people I know are in favor of it in principle, most know very little about it, a few I have met are rabidly opposed and have almost no information."
You'd have to know the positions of at least 20 people to say this accurately. If you know that many people in Morningside, I suspect they just say yes to get you to go away, and the one (of the 20) who is rabidly opposed had the nerve to tell you to go to hell.
"Doesn't matter much now, a group of howling NIMBYs and bullies, many of whom do not live in Brookside, threw a public temper tantrum ad cost Brooksiders the ability to get informed and make a grown up decision.
A few tea-party loonies, some fake libertarian Sinquefield shills, and a bad attorney don't represent the majority of Brookside.
Neither do the circle of people I know and live with in Morningside."
Information was fluid and less than forthcoming about this proposal, and to my knowledge none of the bullies and NIMBYs went around crushing water bottles whenever they encountered disagreement.
"For a bunch of people running around screaming about democracy, they sure were afraid to let anyone discuss, much less vote on, a streetcar proposal for the historic streetcar line in a streetcar suburb."
Democracy has been a joke when it comes to the streetcar, and Brookside is not a "streetcar suburb." I would imagine you have a driveway and thingy in your yard called a garage. Do you think that was where they used to park a streetcar?
I think its a mistake, and one that a lot of actual citizens, not frothy mouthed lunatics, already know is a missed opportunity, and even more people would have agreed if the city had got in front of the liars and chicken littles and grumpy old fuddy duddy fearmongers, instead of caving to their childish foot stomping, but apparently the line was a kind of tacked on low priority anyway, so..."
If I were you, after posting this diatribe, I'd be careful about calling anyone a "frothy mouthed lunatic."
Doesn't know what diatribe means
ReplyDeleteAlso, doesn't know what streetcar suburb means.
Also, doesn't know what democracy means
Also, doesn't understand how commas work
Also, doesn't understand no one cut/paste argues in comments sections
Also, doesn't speak for Brookside
304
ReplyDeleteis right on
Why did Sly move from Hyde Park ?
ReplyDeleteNo toy trains to play on
ReplyDelete1:10 HAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
ReplyDeleteOkay, I will check back later. Lets call that a mulligan.
Try again.
Brookside is most definitely NOT a streetcar suburb. yes, there is an old rail road line that was running through it and out to cities South when JC Nichols started buying up the farms and the old Kansas City Country Club land in the teens. Old JC was a big fan of the modern automobile, and designed all his new communities around shops and homes being accessible to the auto car. This is why Crestwood, The Plaza, and The Brookside Shops all have out-front parking, and every home has a driveway and auto garage. The Country Club line was reconfigured as a Trolley after public out cry about how domestic help would get to and from the new neighborhood.
ReplyDelete*does not know what streetcar suburb means
ReplyDelete**does not know, or willfully omits historical facts
ReplyDelete1:10 Hope you have calmed down, taken your meds, or smoked your dope.
Of over 1,000 homeowners near Brookside, 812 are against the street car ruining their neighborhood. Taxing houses at $500 each year, or more, just doesn't work. Increase the area tax ANOTHER one cent. Brookside shops are against the streetcar. All of them! They want a new buyer who is opposed to street cars, you dim wit.
Sounds to me like the supporters are cry babies. Waaaaa. Grow up!
When you learn to read you will be informed, then you will know why the smart folks said NO, thank you, but NO. And these same smart people are against the whole idea of ANY streetcar expansion. RIDE THE BUS!!! Repeat after me. I will ride the bus. I will not be a cry baby. I will ride the bus.
I would wager that if we stopped discussing the idea simply are "Are streetcars neat or not?" and talked about the methods the city has used to pass the streetcar, the true cost of streetcar, and alternative transit options to streetcar, most of the "overwhelming support" for streetcar would evaporate.
ReplyDeleteThe city is counting on apathy, or uninformed voters simply choosing whether or not they want a fun new toy.
Regarding the common wisdom of Brookside and Waldo were cut out of the TDD, The Pitch has a very interesting take on that; and it's more about being able to qualify for the federal grant. I have another suggestion as well; A lawsuit was filed, and most of the respondents live in the area that has now been drawn out, making their legal standings to be respondents invalid.
This is a very dirty political game that involved a lot of $$$. City Hall wants this SOOOO bad and I can promise you that it's not for OUR best interests.
It is a poorly planned idea borrowed from other cities. Kansas City can do so much better.
Morningside is a small street, 1:10. You probably have one of those dumb-assed "streetcar for Brookside and Waldo" signs in your front yard, like 5% of Brookside morons do. Rest assured, the vast majority of intelligent Brookside residents do not want this goddamned streetcar with all of its taxes and no appreciable benefit. Feel free to move to some City where you can ride a toy train. Until then, get on the bus.
ReplyDelete