Quick reminder from our blog community about the costs hitting the working-class amid the toy train rigged vote.
Here's the word:
Streetcar Expansion Price Tag
Anyone that shops at Costco or Home Depot in the City should consider how the trolley extension will be financed before casting their ballot:
- sales tax of 1 percent on sales within the TDD boundary
- special assessment on real estate within the TDD boundary
- supplemental special assessment on surface pay parking lots within the TDD boundary. The maximum rate for the supplemental special assessment on surface pay parking lots will be $54.75 per space per year.
The initial streetcar line has been popular with tourists. Instead of threatening to overburden residents who are paying more taxes; let them come up with a plan where those that use it, pay for it. This is the model used for other tourist attractions in the area. Kansas City has the only free trolley system in the US & possibly the world.
##########
You decide . . .
There needs to be a fare. If it goes down main to the plaza. KC must start charging a fare.
ReplyDeleteTrolleyville USA here we come!
ReplyDeleteIf you charge to ride it, it will keep the negros off it
ReplyDeleteThey'll get a government subsidized boarding pass from Slyyyyyyy
Delete
ReplyDeleteWho ever rides it needs to pay, and it will keep it safer.
8:04, safer maybe, but not safe. Safe like the city buses are safe.
ReplyDeleteCostco and Home Depot have big parking lots. Wonder if they will just absorb the additional taxes or will the pass them along to their customers?
ReplyDelete24 billion tourists can't be wrong.
ReplyDeleteToot toot. Hoot.
Looking forward to losing a lane on Main.
Collecting a fare is simple. Other cities have vending machines at each stop. You buy a ticket and hop aboard. It is the honor system enforced by occasional checks by security folks and backed up with big fines if you get caught without.
ReplyDeleteJust one dollar and the blacks won't ride it and it will be much safer and pleasant
ReplyDeleteWhat would be an appropriate fare to ride the trolley? The base bus fare is $1.50. Because of the novelty of the streetcar, it probably should be somewhat more. Would $3 be about right?
ReplyDeleteBased on the ridership numbers as reported by the trolley folks, instituting a $3 fare would come close to covering half of their operating budget. It is way past time for the tourist to start paying for this attraction.
ReplyDeleteCostco and Home Depot will have to hire security to monitor their parking lots so they don't turn into an all day free park-n-ride lot like has happened in the River Market. So of course the extra costs will be passed on to the shoppers at the stores. Same thing will happen in brookside near UMKC. The neighborhood streets within 2 blocks of the streetcar will be wall to wall cars parked all day leaving nowhere for the residents to park.
ReplyDeleteWe don't need the streetcar extension. We have the perfectly capable Max bus already running on Main to Waldo. If they ultimately win and build the streetcar extension, it should stay off Main and either run on Gilham or Broadway.
ReplyDeleteCould there be an exclusive blacks only trolley? Reduced fare rides. Routes to the hood. KCPD wouldn't have to worry about a thang!
ReplyDeleteA more useful service for the taxpayers of KCMO would be free shared car services, rather than free streetcar rides.
ReplyDeleteCan his City afford to be giving away free rides to the tourist? Make them pay!
ReplyDelete