It was D-Day for the toy train and they pulled this one out in grand fashion . . .
KC Biz Journal: "Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Marco Roldan ruled that the new transportation development district is legal and gave the court's blessing to move ahead with a pair of elections, one that would create the TDD and one that would assess a 1-cent sales tax within that district, along with property assessments within a third of a mile of three proposed streetcar expansion routes."
Northeast News: Court approves TDD; voters get next say
KSHB: Streetcar expansion rolls on to August ballot
Here's what it looks like and the tiny sliver of local land that will be given a chance to vote for something EVERY KANSAS CITY TAXPAYER will end up supporting:
Call it a voter nullification of sorts of yet another sign that Kansas City priorities are more focused on eco-devo schemes than public safety and infrastructure.
More in a bit . . .
Don't be bitter. They stole this one fair and square.
ReplyDeleteFuck you Tony. You oppose public transport for one reason: You drive a cab on the overnight shift.
ReplyDeleteYou know that people will prefer to ride on the streetcar rather than waiting 30 minutes for a guy who smells of BO and "butt-rust" to show up driving a filthy vehicle.
3:44pm - ignorant people like you are scary. Russ & Sly have made it real clear that the streetcar is not about transportation, but solely an attempt to expand the economic development activity. Uneducated people like yourself should not be allowed to vote in any election.
ReplyDelete"You drive a cab on the overnight shift."
ReplyDeleteLOL! Not that I was aware of. Sadly, that must be another job that I'm doing horribly and not getting paid for . . . But seriously, NO. I don't drive a cab. Nothing wrong with that but I did graduate from UMKC and have work toward my masters.
So I guess I'm under-qualified to be a cabbie.
KC streetcar is bankrupting our city.
ReplyDeleteTKC hates Kansas City and he doesn't want to see us become a major league metropolis because it would threaten his brand.
ReplyDeleteSly won again. Told you so. Most popular mayor in kc history. There it is.
ReplyDeleteThis is a tax scheme to get people to support the black hole money pit known as downtown. Or should I say keep it afloat. Downtown and the streetcar is going to become nothing more than a major tax drain, a subsidized debt hole that will never end. A complete disaster because of all the tif deals, abatement's, and property tax breaks most people can only dream of outside of the downtown city limit.
ReplyDeleteMarco Roldan....isn't he the same asshole who found the breastfeeding lady in contempt for bringing her kid to jury duty. That judge needs to get voted out.
ReplyDeletekc = detroit
ReplyDeletebecause we can't forget where the future is taking us.
If this passes we are now fairly certain that a large number of individuals will be working well into their retirement years while a small group of 388 kidults play on their toy trains and go bar hoping at everyone else's expense.
ReplyDeleteThey removed Brookside and Waldo because they knew they would be in court forever with so many citizens responding with legitimate, official, and and very real and legally sound disputes in court.
ReplyDeleteFACT!
I think I'd like to move outside of that dark area there on that map rather then be the victim of others thinking.
ReplyDeleteBoy do I feel sorry for anyone who votes for this. Especially young people who are going to end up being the bag holders in another 30 years.
ReplyDeleteWow, look at those service routes. These trains will be covered in vibrant street art before you know it.
ReplyDelete4:42, that's a big part of the problem. A lot of the young people with stars in their eyes don't realize they'll be paying for this boondoggle for as long as they live in KCMO, and it will NEVER be the "cool," wide-reaching mass transit they think it will.
ReplyDeleteThis hideous monster has morphed to the point to where SAVE KANSAS CITY needs to be the battle cry.
ReplyDeleteKCMO will file for bankruptcy in less than 7 years.
ReplyDeleteLol no they won't
Delete"Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Marco Roldan ruled that the new transportation development district is legal and gave the court's blessing to move ahead with a pair of elections, one that would create the TDD and one that would assess a 1-cent sales tax within that district."
ReplyDeleteWow trolley is only a penny! Jee whiz!!!!
While against the light rail, I am throughly exhausted by the unrelenting sniveling that Tony does about this issue with no hope for policy change.
ReplyDeleteHave you ever considered the stages of loss? For the love of God, get past denial. That stupid bear poster will become objective sooner than the light rail will stop.
Lean over, grab ankle, and stop whining!
Wow City Council voted to finance further studies with a loan-debt ($10 Million) today also. Was Russ Johnson and team waiting for a phone call from the courthouse with their rubber stamps armed and ready?
ReplyDeleteThis is clearly out of freaking control. These people are trying to kill us. Economic genocide.
Anyone who can't see through this bullshit will get what they deserve not what they expect 6:00.
ReplyDelete4:42: By the time this bills come due, today's hipsters will be tomorrows suburbanites. They'll no longer be living within the TDD. It's those of us who wiped their little asses when they were babies who'll have to clean up this mess.
ReplyDeleteAnd 6:00: the only thing Mensa boy is waiting for is a call from his post-council gig.
For the select voters in KC who get to fistfuck everyone else on this deal:
ReplyDeleteWELCOME TO DETROIT
any time some one writes FACT! at the end of a statement, it's not.
ReplyDeleteD Bonds were discontinued in 1946.
ReplyDeleteWTF are “Series 2014D Bonds” some kind of CK exotic financial instrument? Played by crooks?
But but but the tonys Johnson county anony internet lawyers promised this was unjust undue boondoggle and illegal
ReplyDeleteITS NOT FAIR (to ignore my uninformed opinion)!!!!!!!!!
We'll the city can use the $10 million loan from the bankers in Pittsburgh for the studies to shift around and make it look like the city is solvent.
ReplyDeleteKind of like play money. When the shit hit's they have the taxpayers as guarantors. The people who guarantees to pay for someone else's debt (screw ups) if he or she should default on a loan obligation.
Just the fact City Council is borrowing money to do "studies" let alone $10 million should be setting everyone's alarm bells off.
ReplyDeleteI can only surmise they are insane at this point and in need of medical intervention.
I would surmise they understand what infrastructure costs are in the real world and you simply do not...because you are a reactionary, low-information, knee jerk, internet howler
ReplyDeleteShame on you Sly!
ReplyDeleteCity Council just loves gambling with other peoples money.
ReplyDeleteHey lets do some some studies! Mensa! See how smart we are with other peoples money!
It don't matter if the toy starter route is just getting started. It's already a success!! Lot's of free money to play with!
ReplyDeleteThink like a Mensa!!
I think we should build big infrastructure projects with no environmental impact studies, because I'm a white suburban male over age 35 who doesn't really know what that means, but still feels like everyone should listen to and respect my uninformed opinions!
ReplyDeleteI think we should build big overpriced streetcar projects because I'm a white male jackass from Nebraska who doesn't really know what real efficiency means, but still feels like everyone should listen to and respect my uninformed opinions!
ReplyDeleteNice to know this is City Halls priority while citizens get woken up almost every night from gun shots and police helicopters all over the place over in the "vibrant" Hyde Park and 39th and Troost area.
ReplyDeleteIf anyone actually thinks that Sly and the council have any expertise in municipal finance, or mcuh of anything else about managing a city for that matter, they really have never had conversations about public policy with these folks.
ReplyDeleteAll the current electeds will be long gone to their post-public service jobs and the millenials will be living with their young families in safe neighborhoods with yards for the kids and really good schools in the suburbs and those unfortuante to still be residents of KCMO will be paying the bond payments of $10-15 million a year for decades.
A 2-year financial commitment for a 3- year fad.
The adults have left the building.
Ck better pray the poor blacks forget to vote.
ReplyDeleteGlad the starter line was completed so quickly, under budget, and is now running, and the streetcars are packed with millennial business giants going to work every day, and it's such an incredible success exceeding everyone's expectations fifty times over!!
ReplyDeleteAnd the development. Wow! Who would have ever thought developers would be so confident and eager to build they literally turned away tax breaks and incentives because downtown is such an incredible place to set up shop, make profit, and they are voluntarily paying more in taxes then required just to be good corporate citizens!
Actually the silence I'm seeing on this right now might not be a good omen for Sly, Russ, Dave, Staubio, and their 388 or so groupies.
ReplyDeleteI suppose when opponents talk about how expensive the boondoggle is, and how it will not accomplish any of its goals, they are lying and “flinging rocks”, but when the proponents fund special elections, pretend the streetcar will usher in world peace, and buy off the local politicians to ram the boondoggle thru, that is all A-OK. You know, cause we somehow need to start paying off that $50-100 trillion debt the evil automobile owes to the poor, oppressed rail transit groups.
ReplyDeleteThe subsidies, not the streetcar, are spurring the development downtown.
ReplyDeleteNever realized Mensa people are actually dumb asses until now. It's no wonder they require an even dumber electorate.
ReplyDeleteAnd yet not a single comment about the MoDOT sales tax. Lemmings
ReplyDeleteThen, after they move to the suburbs for the "great schools" for 10 years and their children move to cities with good public transportaiton and walkable neighborhoods, they will realize, like so many others, that living in the suburbs is shitty for older people, too, and they will downsize and move right back into the city, where they can be around the things most elderly people say matter to them: transit stops, grocery stores, pharmacies.
ReplyDeleteSo KC will continue to lose a shrinking demographic (child-rearing couples), wil becoming more attractive to the growing demographics in America, young people who want transit, old people who need transit, and middle age middle income people who don't care think "where will I park" is the most important question ever asked.
Sounds like a win.
But you guys enjoy the echo chamber of suburban angst. Rage on, impotent internetters, rage the fuck on...
I hate to see all this money wasted but nothing puts people in their place like losing an election. I think we can defeat the TDD formation in August if we get a large enough turnout, and that will put the streetcar off longer than a judge ruling against them. That'll buy us 2-3 years until they're back attempting to build *just* the main street extension. We need a proactive solution to turn people off of streetcar before we become saddled with a generation of unmanageable debt. There are better transit solutions that cost much less.
ReplyDeleteKC's MAX bus was actually ranked higher than the Seattle streetcar for return on investment.
Good. Because we'd be getting MAX service to Prospect in this plan. You talked me into it.
ReplyDelete11:41: You're going after a carrot to get a big stick up the ying yang.
ReplyDeleteAnd 8:41: Just because a person passes the Mensa test does not mean he has common sense or emotional intelligence--witness the famous water bottle incident.
Of course you don't have to spend half a billion for one MAX bus... That'll fuck up our ROI.
ReplyDelete