TKC EXCLUSIVE AND BREAKING NEWS!!! INSIDERS DEMAND: KANSAS CITY NEEDS REAL TRANSIT AUTHORITY AND NOT SECRET OFF-DUTY TOY TRAIN STREETCAR POLICE!!!
Kansas City is coping with a deadly crime wave that threatens to destroy the progress promised by the highly touted toy train streetcar. Sadly, the answer to securing the line has been secretive and without any of the "community engagement" rhetoric that authorities often tout.
To wit . . .
FIRST ON TKC . . . OUR BLOG COMMUNITY REPORTS THE PLAN FOR SECRET POLICE ON THE TOY TRAIN STREETCAR LINE!!!
Here's the word from one of the most knowledgeable people in Kansas City Proper . . .
"I was talking to a firefighter friend who was training as a first responder for the streetcar, he was just a bit pissed off that the TDD is going to be hiring off-duty kcpd officers to ride the streetcar all the time. I will be interested to see if this is fact. But this would be gold mine for off-duty police."
Given rampant security problems for streetcar lines in other cities, this isn't a horrible idea but there has been very little public input about this process.
Moreover, the enforcement of streetcar policy by undercover officers is something the public has a right to debate. On the face of it, this allotment of undercover officers specially assigned to the streetcar should signal more disparity in Kansas City given mostly unprotected bus lines in the rest of the metro despite recent piecemeal efforts.
In Atlanta, a horde of homeless sleeping in the streetcar are currently causing a crisis and driving people away from the line. Giving Kansas City's rapidly growing hobo, vagrant and drifter population that is becoming increasingly violent . . . There's an important discussion the public needs to have about the LEGAL RIGHTS OF THE HOMELESS TO ACCESS PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION and security for all people on the streetcar line.
Sadly, Mayor Sly and the streetcar team started this project with minimal consent from voters in a specially carved out, gerrymandered district so including the public in safety discussions clearly isn't part of the plan.
Thankfully . . . Our blog community has already been thinking about this problem.
To wit . . .
TOP ECHELON KANSAS CITY INSIDERS ARE PROPOSING THE ESTABLISHMENT OF KANSAS CITY TRANSIT AUTHORITY POLICE TO COPE WITH THE UPCOMING TOY TRAIN CRISIS ALONG WITH RAMPANT CRIME AMID BUS LINES AND INCREASING RIDE-SHARE COMPLAINTS!!!
Yes, KC has the ATA but we're talking about unformed officers with the real ability to help people beyond themselves given that the these folks can't even keep bus funding safe.
Major cities all have transit authorities with police power/accountability and it's clear that Kansas City is playing catch-up in this effort. Kansas City Transit Authority Police would/should be specially trained to deal with special issues that confront denizens of local buses, streetcars, ride-shares, bike lanes etc. . . . If Kansas City is truly working to become an "international city" with a world-class transit system . . . The current plan to protect lines with off-duty, undercover police is not only a symptom of small town thinking but also excludes the public in crafting the best practices for protecting their rights and safety in cars, buses and along the streetcar line.
Sadly, Mayor Sly, streetcar supporters and even authorities don't really seem to like including the public in their transit schemes and the backward, small-time secretive plan for securing commuters by way of off-duty cops is more evidence of this fact. Thankfully . . . Forward thinking Kansas City leaders are pushing this plan for transit authority police ahead and our blog community is FIRST to reveal the idea.
Developing . . .
if there's not campaign donation in it for Sly. He's unlikely to pay much attention.
ReplyDeleteWhy didn't Mensa boy come up with this?
ReplyDeleteSince when did streetcar supporters care about playing by the rules. They would rather open up KC to a ton of danger when the crack down on the homeless. That's a damn shame.
ReplyDeleteForget the streetcar, it's just a toy
ReplyDeleteNot bad, I'd like to see the same attention given to the east side and not just the main st. line. But it's a start.
ReplyDeleteWe've had armed robberies, burglaries, rampant graffiti, illegal dumping, shootings, a missing person, and a car fatality in Northeast and it's not even spring yet. Good people who volunteer their time to make this a safe and friendly place are already feeling stress. Nice to know that the streetcar gets extra police resources. It's amazing to me that folks don't understand why the east side opposed the streetcar, and/or don't care. What could $115M do for our neighborhoods??
ReplyDeleteMakes sense to have a transit authority.
ReplyDeleteMore dollars down the money pit. The triumph of hope over experience.
ReplyDeleteNot allowing the homeless on the choo choo will result in a civil rights suit the city will lose.
Anyone seen the streetcar maintaining facility off 3rd St by Caddyshack? That place had to cost at least 5 million.
ReplyDelete^^^^ maintenance. Stupid auto correct
ReplyDeleteSo since these officers are already city employees wont they receive either comp time or overtime pay? This does not seem like a very wise expenditure of tax dollars, particularly when the city threatens to fire these same officers if they don't get to pick my pocket for E Tax out here in Jackson County.
ReplyDeleteJust another good reason to Vote NO on E TAX!
They will be be paid by the ATA and they're supposed to be both uniformed and plain clothed.
ReplyDeleteWhen are you going to break the mold... so tired of your overuse of needless, not so cute words. Like "Still Winning". And "Toy Train." And "epic" and 'slapdown", and "Golden Ghetto"
ReplyDeleteYou still write far too much. Don't you realize most people now use small screen smartphone devices? You overwrite Everything! Too much work to read you...so I rarely do anymore.
Where are you getting "secret" and "undercover" from? They're just off duty. They will most likely be in uniform since that would be the major deterrent to criminal activity. They are not waiting for people to become victims and then catch the criminal, they're trying to deter the criminal activity. I'm not a fan of the streetcars at all but I think you're off base on your assumptions.
ReplyDeleteWhat a joke. If a firefighter is pissed of about hiring cops to keep things safe he should look in his own house. Overtime scams, fake manpower studies requiring 4 to a truck, reduced fire calls...etc. Those of us that will ride the train want it to be safe.
ReplyDeleteYou are an out of town visitor, you go to hop on a streetcar and you see a uniformed cop with a gun onboard. That's really going to make people want to ride the thing. I travel all around the world, use public transportation, and rarely see uniformed armed cops on buses, trams, subways, or streetcars. But Kansas City needs them. Interesting.
ReplyDeleteAmen!
Deleteis 10:10 harry or lloyd ? bwahahahahahah
ReplyDeletedoes yall mean to to tell me dat some city emploeees be gittin in on sum shady ass mutha fuckin over time ?
ReplyDeleteWe will need someone to bust nigger heads. Cops will do fine. They know the nigger, recognize its animal patterns and are trained to deal with them much the same way animal control officers deal with feral dogs.
ReplyDeleteNiggers will be causing all the problems anyway.
Good on KC for safeguarding the gravy, er, good riders. The 'skinny slots' parking inadequacies and tiny two mile trot that can be gramps strolled faster is embarrassment already. Those bad antics from the bus bums migrating to the touristy train would deter the pretty power lunchers and lovelies on late night pub runs.
ReplyDelete10:15, that FD vs. PD crap is faked. Sure, there are the jealous, bitter, lowlifes in small number who attempt discord between the departments. Too many ex-spouses with their loser friends, and the fiends and doofuses who can't pass drug and skills testing, are worst culprits for haters.
Off duty police killed Anthony Bruno. We need more regulation, so that kind of thing won't happen again.
ReplyDeleteWhat we need is to see the real cost of this train including security, maintenence, track laying, street sigh changing, salaries and the works. The numb nuts citizens need to see the waste before voting on E tAX
ReplyDeleteWhy not make Cops street car operaters as well and kill two birds with one stone.
ReplyDeleteAn obvious solution would be to charge a fee for riding the streetcar comenturate with the cost of running it. However that would likely result in ridership levels of roughly zero.
ReplyDeleteMAYOR SLY JAMES SHOULD BE IMMEDIATELY RECALLED, THROWN OUT OF OFFICE AND LAW SUITS FILED AGAINST HIM AND ALL HIS PATHETIC CRONIES !!!!
ReplyDeleteMatt "Nebraska" Staubio is the parking gestapo chief. He organizes and directs his secret snitch squad downtown.
ReplyDeleteare the off duty police officers going to clean up the shit, vomit, and the urine from the homeless that will be using the toy train transit?
ReplyDelete^^^^^^^ That is actually a really good point.
ReplyDeleteWill we have streetcar authority janitors?
Has Sly and the Gang figured out this all of this shit is coming from the blind bandito?
ReplyDelete10:10: Perhaps you're over-reading. At any rate you're still reading.
ReplyDeleteRobby may be blind, but hes also a corrupt piece of shit.
ReplyDeleteYou guys are fucking losers.
ReplyDeleteHow many days before the first murder on rails?
ReplyDelete