One of the most brilliant things we've read this week regarding the TOY TRAIN sent from our blog community . . .
KCMO Streetcar Transit Divisions?!?!
With the heightened state of division and racial tensions in this country, I wonder if it's time to seriously ask the question if the Streetcar is the new "Troost Avenue of Public Transportation".
It raises the question, why do people want a Streetcar from the Plaza to City Market when we already have a very competent Max bus serving the same route? The Streetcar is no faster than the Max bus, so why are people saying we need a Streetcar?
And more importantly, why do they not want to ride a bus? Is the truth based in an ugly reality of racism? Do the Streetcar fans think that buses are only for people of color or poor people?
If you look at all the photos and videos of people riding the streetcar, it's usually mostly white people who think it's an amusement park ride. People who ride buses know that buses are more than amusement park rides. It is the means of how they get to and from their jobs, hospitals, schools, etc. The bus is not just to take people drinking on the Plaza or Power and Light district like the Streetcar, although now that the Max bus runs to 2 pm on weekends, it can do that as well.
When the Streetcar expansion vote failed in the past is because there was a plan to bring it east on Linwood or other streets to the black neighborhoods. And those voters saw nothing wrong with a bus and didn't want to add $400/year to their tax bill for a streetcar.
So now the Streetcar proponents think they can get the expansion to pass if they limit the vote to only going south to the Plaza.
Or in other words, to white neighborhoods.
##########
Busses are for black folk, streetcars are for white hipsters. Except for Sly, never seen a black person on the streetcar.
ReplyDeleteThe public thinks it's an amusement park ride, because IT IS AN AMUSEMENT PARK RIDE.
ReplyDeleteSold to empty-headed electeds as a hip "don't be left behind" trendy fad by urban futurists and a couple local shysters who have no actual responsibility for anything, and all at public expense for decades of debt.
And, of course, the MAX bus goes much FASTER than the streetcar and can maneuver around accidents and closed streets.
Outrageous water and sewer bills; 52 homicides year-to-date; crappy streets; and generally poor services for residents, regardless of a ridiculous poll that supposedly shows how swell everything is in KCMO.
All aboard!
Good column for once on TKC.
ReplyDeleteThis explains a lot of the reason why the east side voted against the streetcar in 2014.
But the city claims the Streetcar gets 6,000 riders per day. Haha! I guess that means the bus only gets about 200 riders per day.
ReplyDeleteTony's Fact Free Zone, where Northlanders can pretend midtown is a "white neighborhood" unchallenged by reality, that those pictures all over the Internet of full streetcars with people of all ages and races are not real and only "white hipsters", and where fake bus advocates come to suddenly care about transit and race.
ReplyDeleteIt's a beginning. The city plan for expansion if the street car and their limited smart city plan are the reasons they lost the $50 million DOT Challenge. But, that's okay.
ReplyDeleteThere is no culture here.
...of...
Delete4:13 nails it.
ReplyDelete4:57, Actually Columbus, Ohio, won the Smart City competition mainly because of their investment in Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) that we could do in Kansas City and would be better than the Max bus. https://www.transit.dot.gov/us-department-transportation-announces-3745-million-bus-rapid-transit-columbus-ohio
ReplyDeleteThe streetcar fanatics seem to be some kind of weird fact resistant species who've apparently risen from the dead and the past.
ReplyDeleteThey feed on the blood of taxpayers.
Smart city application had nothing to do with the the streetcar, and KC already has 2 BRT lines like Columbus is trying to get, plus the city (thanks to actual transit advocates) is working on one on Prospect. The Prospect line actually was included in the smart city application, as was autonomous transit to and from the airport. But don't let facts fuck up your little story...
ReplyDeleteI love it when 4:13 chimes in. So funny...if it weren't totally true and painful. Great summation of what it really is. The only thing left out is the fact that elected tore virtually every building down in the purported "historic" 18th Vine Jazz District that was in fact historic and replaced it with 80's style buildings. Funny, they never tore down George Washingtond home and built something unrelated to him and called it historic. 18th Vine District doesnt qualify for historic designation. Its too far gone.
ReplyDeletePoliticians that keep trying to put items on ballots over and over yo defeat the voteqrs will should be hunted down and not only killed but tortured.
ReplyDeleteNothing to it. Just canvas and research the new TDD area along Main St. then mail in ballots to 400 pro streetcar junkies and 100 against streetcar expansion.
ReplyDeleteThe public will never notice how the victory was attained.
Just like the starter line deal.
Why would any thinking person, black or white, obligate themselves for $400 per year for a "free" streetcar? It goes downtown. How many southland residents go there on a regular basis? Very few people work downtown nowadays, and most rational adults would rather buy overpriced drinks in their own neighborhoods. This idea is from the "consultants", which is another word for contractors who want to spend other people's money. When was the last time the city or its agencies hired a consultant who recommended NOT spending money on a project?
ReplyDeleteStreetcar = Boondoggle.
ReplyDelete"Smart city application had nothing to do with the the streetcar, and KC already has 2 BRT lines like Columbus is trying to get, plus the city (thanks to actual transit advocates) is working on one on Prospect."
ReplyDeleteThanks to "actual transit advocates" like trolley boy who fumed after the streetcar was turned down 70-30 and swore up and down the east side voted against the Prospect MAX and, therefore, the east side was not going to get a Prospect MAX?
Columbus probably won because the adults are in charge there and there is no toy choo choo either in existence or being planned. Face it, folks. Our great-grandparents changed from fixed rail street cars to buses because buses are cheaper and flexible. Buses are transit. Toy choo choos are amusement park rides.
Same 6 commenters, same six half-baked arguments. You lost, kids. Grow up.
ReplyDelete^^^ Are you counting yourself?
ReplyDeleteLooks like the earlier post about reconciliation was just the same bullshit... Dominus vobiscum faggot....
ReplyDeleteThe jihad against the streetcar continues!!! Allah be praised!
ReplyDelete^^^^ that's very racist, jon.
ReplyDeleteI think you hit the target. The street car is white hipster transport, buses for the other folks. There are virtually no black riders, because they do not live anywhere near the streetcar. It would have been better to take the 120 million and have free Uber service within the central core. At least people could then get a lift to work.
ReplyDeleteDriving through downtown KC on a business day is like driving through a ghost town. The sidewalks are all but deserted. There is almost nobody there. The slow-moving trolley creates traffic jams. This creates the illusion of a bustling business district. See? Downtown is a happening place!
ReplyDeleteExcept that it is not.
This column proves the adage that even a blind squirrel finds a nut occasionally. For once, TKC has said something that makes sense and is probably reflective of the truth.
ReplyDeletePeople who ride the bus HAVE TO. People who ride the streetcar are going to lunch or having fun.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that we charge people to get to work and give FREE fun rides to people in the FINANCIAL DISTRICT, says all there is to say about the fern bar "boys" who keep pushing for more street car route.
Is there NO shame -- POOR LITTLE RICH "boys" riding the trolley, telling in a video how cool it is.
Toot toot. Hoot. Clunk. Chardonnay or Chablis with your brie?
ReplyDeleteThere are a few things which will spur development downtown and the city core.
ReplyDeleteOne may be a street car. Is this a waste of money? Maybe, but we will not know for sure until we see if the street car actually is responsible for increased development along its routes. I say it is 50/50.
On the other hand, the 18th and Vine experiment has proven that it is a financial failure time and time again. Throwing more money at this venture is truly a waste and makes one wonder why the city counsel would support this.
Did anyone notice that the last streetcar versus minivan accident was a streetcar mini van? At least the pic looked like that.
ReplyDelete