TKC EXCLUSIVE QUESTION: WILL MIDTOWN KANSAS CITY SUFFER NEXT TOY TRAIN STREETCAR CONSTRUCTION NIGHTMARE?!?

Business along Main Street Kansas City often endures, crime, infrastructure neglect and a constant stream of homeless vagrants hassling customers. The new threat of streetcar construction adds yet another concern for merchants along this embattled corridor.

Nevertheless, the impact of a recent vote earned optimistic coverage from a local trade mag . . .

KC Biz Journal: Streetcar rolls toward Midtown as businesses prepare for pain, progress

However, we shouldn't forget . . .

STREETCAR SUPPORTERS WERE EXCEPTIONALLY HOSTILE TOWARD ANY BIZ COMPLAINTS AGAINST TOY TRAIN CONSTRUCTION THREATENING BOYCOTTS AND SOCIAL MEDIA BACKLASH AGAINST ANYBODY WHO DARED TO SPEAK UP!!!

Local biz dude STRETCH was quickly silenced when streetcar supporters promised to SHUT HIM DOWN if he continued to speak out against the streetcar. Notice that he's mostly quiet on the topic nowadays . . .

Even worse, the denizens of the downtown restaurant scene confronted threats from politicos & their consultants after DOCUMENTATION THAT STREETCAR CONSTRUCTION CAUSED YEARS WORTH OF DAMAGE TO RESTAURANTS ALONG THE LINE . . .

Examples from the not-so-distant past . . .

Pitch: Main Street's most respected chefs wonder how they'll survive streetcar construction

TKC: Streetcar Restaurants Suffer Toy Train Construction Nightmare

Perspective . . .

Supporters of the streetcar claimed that new biz created by the transit route would more than make up for the loss in revenue during construction. Sadly, that was only a promise to restaurant owners while employees lower on the food chain like servers, bartenders and other wait staff never received compensation for lost income. Now that the "starter line" is complete service industry workers near the loop report that biz is pretty much back to normal but without the massive influx of new customers they were promised.

And so, with little acknowledgement of any biz hardship or inconvenience caused to residents & small bizz . . . KC threatens to repeat the cycle on a much bigger scale IF Federal funding comes through . . .

Developing . . .